Clara Vaz Bauler | Faculty Profiles

Diplomas/Degrees

Ph.D. in Education with emphasis in Applied Lingusitics and Cultural Perspectives and Comparative Education, University of California, Santa Barbara (2012)

M.A. in Portuguese Linguistics, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (2007)

B.A. in English and Portuguese with emphasis in teaching English as a Second and Foreign Language, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (2004)

Professional Experience

Dr. Clara Vaz Bauler has a Ph.D. in Education with emphases in Applied Linguistics and Cultural Perspectives and Comparative Education from the University of California, Santa Barbara. She draws from thirteen years of national and international classroom teaching and work with English Language Learners from preschool to adult levels to inform her practice. She has worked as a world languages and ESOL teacher educator since 2008. Her research focuses on academic language development among bilingual learners, integration of TESOL principles and practices into content area instruction, and the use of web-based collaborative tools to support multilingual learners’ writing skills. She has also led workshops for New York City pre-school special education teachers as well as elementary and secondary teachers in Long Island.

Recent Courses

First Year Seminar: Multilingualism In Schools And Society

Practicum In Tesol For Teachers Certified In Other Areas

Sociolinguistic Perspectives In Adolescence Education

Student Teaching In Tesol: Pre-Certification

Tesol I: Developing Literacy Skills In The Esl Classroom

Theories Of Second Language Acquisition; Socio Cultural Considerations

Teaching Philosophy

In thinking about the guiding principles that orient my practice as a teacher, I immediately think of dialogue. Dialogue, according to Paulo Freire, is “an existential requirement, an encounter that allows us to pronounce and enact the world with others.” In this perspective, dialogue involves the idea that teachers and students learn together with each other. By engaging in genuine dialogue, teachers become learners and learners become teachers. This process involves humility, trust, mutual admiration and respect, as well as the belief that teacher-students and student-teachers can together construct knowledge and transform their worlds. It is my hope that in every educational encounter I have with students, we commit to be working together as partners, co-instructors and learners to design learning-rich as well as culturally and socially-responsive educational environments.

My main goal as a teacher has always been to foster and facilitate a collaborative and potentially transformative learning environment in which every member is responsible for each other’s growth. My ideal classroom is a place where teacher and students form a community of peers that not only strive for cultivating an affectionate atmosphere, but also challenge and push each other's thinking. This classroom demands that teacher and students take risks, and are not afraid of considering alternative and less explored ways of thinking and acting in the world. This classroom also demands attentive listening and openness to being moved by other people's ideas and concerns. In this context, students and teacher not only develop “skills,” but also engage, together, in a critical dialogue and process of discovery and exploration.

Research Interests

Trained in Applied Linguistics, I see my research as interdisciplinary, firmly grounded in practice, and deeply concerned with real-life problems. In this perspective, language permeates our everyday activities, shaping our interactions with others and the world. My work is heavily influenced by Michael Halliday’s functional view of language, which posits that meaning is an integral part of the choices we make as speakers and writers (Halliday, 1994).

As a language educator, I am interested in pedagogical practices that can better support multilingual learners to navigate and experience schooling in the United States, where multilingual learners face the enormous challenge of learning language and content simultaneously. In this regard, my research questions focus on two of the main problems multilingual learners currently face: 1) developing the necessary academic skills to become active participants in both college and K-12 education, and 2) being afforded more meaningful and culturally-sensitive instructional opportunities that effectively help them succeed.

My research agenda includes three interrelated strands. The first strand examines how digital media technology can be used to support multilingual learners’ academic writing skills while valuing their voices and composition strategies. The second strand examines ways to better prepare pre-service teachers to effectively work with English Learners. The third strand examines ways content and language can be integrated to better support English Learners.

Articles

Kang, E., Swanson, L., & Bauler, C. V. (2016). Making science real: Supporting English learners in argumentation and explanation through authentic tasks. Science Scope, 39(8), 27-34. Retrieved from http://www.nsta.org/middleschool/

Bauler, C. V. & Scalzo, J. (2016). Interdisciplinary project design: Integrating language, content, and technology for working with English learners. Issues in Teacher Education, 25(2), 69-88.

Bauler, C. V. (2013). Online forum discussions and the development of opinions in college-level ESL writing. The CATESOL Journal, 24(1).

Bauler, C., Chun, D., & Galstad, J. (2013). Collaboration as design: Online forum participation in ESL, German and Mathematics classes. In L. Ngo, S. Goldstein, and L. Portugal (Eds.), E-Collaboration in Teaching and Learning.

Bauler, C. V. (2012), Multiletramentos na era digital: uma reflexão crítica para a educação (Multiliteracies in the digital era: a critical reflection for education). Revista Escrita, 14.