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Liv T. Dávila

Associate Professor

Research Interests

My research focusses on languages, literacies and communication writ large as they relate to learner identities, educational experiences, and broader social processes (e.g., of inclusion or exclusion).  While this research has primarily focused on adolescent immigrant and refugee learners in public K-12 institutions, as well as their families, and teachers, I also explore language access and equity in other community and institutional contexts, such as immigrant-serving organizations, and in medical education.

Overarching research foci:

  • Multilingualism and learning in school and society
  • Intersections of language and literacy, race, ethnicity, gender, and social class
  • Qualitative research in applied linguistics: ethnographic methods, discourse analysis, sensory/embodied methods

Education

Education, Ph.D., University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Teaching English as a Second Language, M.Ed., University of North Carolina at Charlotte
Comparative Education, MA, University of Minnesota
Anthropology, French, BA, Grinnell College

Additional Campus Affiliations

Associate Professor, Education Policy, Organization and Leadership
Co-Director of Graduate Studies, Education Policy, Organization and Leadership
Associate Professor, Women & Gender in Global Perspectives
Associate Professor, European Union Center
Associate Professor, Biomedical and Translational Sciences
Associate Professor, Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies

Recent Publications

T. Dávila, L. (2023). Immigrant Outreach and Language Access During First Year of the COVID-19 Pandemic. Applied Linguistics. https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/amad035

Dávila, L. T., & Doukmak, N. (2022). Immigration Debated: Central African Immigrant Youth’s Discourses of Fairness and Civic Belonging in the United States. Equity and Excellence in Education, 55(1-2), 118-132. https://doi.org/10.1080/10665684.2021.1997364

Dávila, L. T. (Guest ed.) (Accepted/In press). Introduction to Special Issue: Researching Language Teaching, Learning and Policy in Refugee Resettlement Contexts in the United States: Researching language teaching, learning and policy in refugee resettlement contexts in the United States. Linguistics and Education, 70, Article 101056. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.linged.2022.101056

Dávila, L. T., & Susberry, V. (2021). Multimodal and multilingual co-authoring in high school social studies ESL classrooms. In D. Shin, T. Cimasko, & Y. Yi (Eds.), Multimodal Composing in K-16 ESL and EFL Education: Multilingual Perspectives (pp. 55-71). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-0530-7_4

Dávila, L. T. (2021). Newcomer refugee and immigrant youth negotiate transnational civic learning and participation in school. British Educational Research Journal, 47(4), 855-871. https://doi.org/10.1002/berj.3702

View all publications on Illinois Experts