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 emphasis 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 from preschool to adult levels to inform her research and practice. She has worked as a world languages and TESOL teacher educator since 2008. Her research focuses on affirming and naturalizing multimodal and multilingual practices via digital media.

Personal Statement

With a focus on Applied Linguistics and Sociocultural Perspectives, Dr. Bauler’s scholarly work bridges sociolinguistics, teacher education, digital literacies, and multilingual education, with a deep commitment to affirming multilingual learners’ cultural and linguistic identities.

Dr. Bauler’s research critically examines how dominant standard language ideologies continue to shape educational practices, often to the detriment of culturally and linguistically diverse students. Her recent scholarship advocates for a paradigm shift toward more multilingual, multimodal, and inclusive pedagogies in both K–12 and teacher education settings.

Across her teaching, scholarship, and service, Dr. Bauler is driven by a mission to reimagine education as an inclusive space where language is seen not as a barrier but as a resource—and where digital tools are leveraged to center students’ diverse voices.

Key Research Areas:

Translanguaging and Multilingual Education Digital Literacies and Multimodality in Teacher Preparation Standard Language Ideologies and Linguistic Diversity Culturally and Linguistically Responsive Pedagogies Asynchronous Communication and Virtual Exchange Dialogic Teaching and Learning Practices

Recent Courses

Community,Schools And Society

First Year Seminar: Multilingualism In Schools And Society

Sociolinguistic Perspectives In Adolescence Education

Sociolinguistic Perspectives In Childhood Education

Tesol I: Developing Literacy Skills In The Esl Classroom

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 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 sociolinguist and critical discourse analyst, I am interested in unveiling unjust and often hidden educational practices that propagate language shaming and discrimination in news media and social media. As a language educator, I am interested in pedagogical practices that validate and affirm multilingual students' funds of knowledge and linguistic-semiotic resources. I advocate for the naturalization of multilingualism and multimodality in language teaching and learning spaces via digital media technology.

My research agenda includes three interrelated strands. The first strand examines how digital media technology can be used to leverage minoritized multilingual students’ writing to center their voices, linguistic-semiotic resources and composition strategies. The second strand examines ways to better prepare pre-service and in-service K-12 teachers to unveil pervasive and harmful raciolinguistic ideologies and deficit perspectives in their work with students in both virtual and face-to-face environments. The third strand examines ways translanguaging practices can be affirmed and validated in science and STEM.

Books

Liu, L. B., Mohammed, N., Bauler, C. V., Lin, C., & Kapur, K. (2025). Funds of knowledge in teacher education: Sustaining local diversity amidst global standards. IGI Global.* https://www.igi-global.com/gateway/chapter/378582

Lin, C. & Bauler, C. V. (2023). Reimagining dialogue: Identity, language and power. Multilingual Matters. https://www.multilingual-matters.com/page/detail/?K=9781800414716

Chapters

Bauler, C. V. (2025). Funds of knowledge and ways of languaging: Podcasting in teacher education. L. B. Liu, N. Mohammed, C. V. Bauler, C. Lin, & K. Kapur. Funds of knowledge in teacher education: Sustaining local diversity amidst global standards. IGI Global.

Bauler, C. V., & Licata, G. (2024). Unsettling Second Language Acquisition Theories through Raciolinguistic, Crip, and Translanguaging Perspectives. International Perspectives on Critical English Language Teacher Education: Theory and Practice, 155.

Bauler, C. V. & Karanović, V. (2023). Twitter as thinking communities: Responding, reacting and acting on linguistic discrimination. In C. Lin and C. V. Bauler (Eds.), Reimagining dialogue: Identity, language and power. Multilingual Matters.

Bauler, C. V., Thornburg, D., Ceballos, O., Pineda, C., Kogan, E., & Sorri, P. (2022). Tackling problems, finding solutions: Creativity and collaboration in cross-cultural virtual exchange during a pandemic. In S. Hilliker (Ed.), Virtual exchange as a way to support SLA: Studies on language learning through online interaction. [Trends in Applied Linguistics]. De Gruyter.

Bauler, C. V. & Kang, E. J. S. (2021). Exploring teacher residency candidates’ perceptions of preparation to support immigrant students in elementary classrooms. In R. M. Reardon & J. Leonard (Eds.), Learning to read the world and the word: School-University-Community collaboration to enrich immigrant literacy and teacher education. IGI-Global.

Bauler, C. V., Wang, X. L. & Thornburg, D. (2020). Developing global-mindedness in teacher education through virtual and international intercultural experiences. In L. Baecher (Ed.), Study Abroad for Pre- and In-Service Teachers: Transformative learning at the global scale. London: Routledge.

Bauler, C. V. (2019). Speech acts and cross-cultural pragmatics. In N. Erdogan & M. Wei (Eds.), Applied Linguistics for teachers of culturally and linguistically diverse learners (pp. 223-238). Hershey, PA: IGI Global.

Bauler, C. V. & Licata, G. (forthcoming). Unsettling Second Language Acquisition theories through raciolinguistic, crip, and translanguaging perspectives. In A. F. Selvi & C. Kocaman (Eds.), International perspectives on critical language teacher educator: Theory and practice. Bloomsbury.

Articles

Bauler, C. V. (2023). Have we learned anything? Raciolinguistic ideologies in remote learning public discourses. Journal of Critical Study of Communication & Disability, 1(1).

Brea-Spahn, M. R. & Bauler, C. V. (2023). Where Do You Anchor Your Beliefs? An Invitation to Interrogate Dominant Ideologies in Speech-Language Pathology. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 14.

Lee, O., Bauler, C., Kang, E., & Ocol, T. (2022). “Doing” science, using language: Professional development to promote science and language integration with a focus on multilingual learners. NYS TESOL Journal, 9(1), 3-15.

Bauler, C.V. (2021). 'Flipgrid netiquette': Unearthing language ideologies in the remote learning era. English in Education, 3, [Special Issue: Grammar in schools: politics, policies and pedagogies].

Bauler, C. V. & Kang, E. J. S. (2020). Elementary and ESOL teachers’ resilient co-teaching practices: A long-term view. International Multilingual Research Journal, 14(2).

Bauler, C. V., Kang, E. J. S., Afanador-Vega, A., & Stevenson, A. (2019). “My partner always helps me”: Exploring two co-teachers’ practices to support writing in a first-grade linguistically diverse elementary class. TESL-EJ, 23(2).

Swanson, L. H., Kang, J. S., & Bauler, C. V. (2019). Revealing a bilingual science teacher's dynamic views and practice about science and language teaching through dialogic reflections. Cultural Studies of Science Education, 1-21.

Bauler, C. V. (2019). Crafting argumentation: Two multilingual writers’ discursive choices in online discussions and persuasive essays. Cogent Education, 6(1).

Kang, J. S., Swanson, L., & Bauler, C. V. (2017). “Explicame”: Examining emergent bilinguals’ ability to construct arguments and explanations during a unit on plate tectonics. Electronic Journal of Science Education, 21(6), 12-45.

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.