I am an ethnographer of young children’s bilingual and biliterate journeys. I bring an interdisciplinary orientation to my work, having been trained in Human Development, Sociolinguistics, and Education, with a focus on the language, literacy, and cultural experiences and practices of bilingual populations. My program of research documents the complex and varied ways in which emergent bilingual children use their dynamic linguistic and cultural funds of knowledge to learn and interact with teachers and peers in school contexts where two languages are used for instruction. I also investigate teachers’ languaging practices in dual language classrooms, and the ways in which teachers draw on emergent bilingual children’s developing expertise and experiences to support their engagement with language- and literacy-based activities and experimentation with new language forms. A related area of research is education policy, with special emphasis on schools’ and districts’ interpretation and implementation of restrictive language instruction policies that aim to eradicate bilingual education and the rights of language-minoritized children to learn in their own language.
At The Ohio State University, I co-direct the Buckeye Childhood Bilingualism Research Lab with Drs. Sarah Gallo and Francis Troyan. In the lab, Drs. Gort, Gallo, and Troyan and a group of graduate students engage in the study of language and literacy development for young students from Latino immigrant families across the educational contexts of home, school, and community.
MY OWN BILINGUAL JOURNEY
Casa Batlló, Barcelona, Spain (July 2014)
I not only study bilingualism, I live and breathe it. I grew up speaking Spanish in Cuba, where I was born. At the age of eight, I emigrated to the United States. My family settled in multilingual and multicultural Miami, where my bilingual journey began. After studying Psychology as an undergraduate at Brown University and then earning an M.Ed. and teaching certifications in elementary, bilingual, and ESL education at Boston College, I taught third graders in a Spanish/English transitional bilingual education program in Lawrence, MA for several years. Propelled by the many questions that emerged from my work with newly-arrived immigrant and U.S.-born Latino children and their families, I pursued doctoral study in Developmental Studies, specializing on the literacy, language, and cultural practices and processes of bilingual populations (Boston University, Ed.D., 2001).
Ziplining in the Costa Rican rainforest, August 2008
I am currently Associate Professor of Language and Literacy Education in the Department of Teaching and Learning, College of Education and Human Ecology, at The Ohio State University. I am core faculty in two PhD areas of study: Language, Education, & Society (LES) and Multicultural & Equity Studies in Education (MESE). I am also Faculty Associate of the Crane Center for Early Childhood Research and Policy and Faculty Affiliate of OSU’s Latino/a Studies Program.
My daughter is a native (Spanish/English) bilingual. She has lived in three different states and traveled the world, making friends along the way … in Spanish and English.
Taking a break in Pablo Neruda’s backyard, Isla Negra, Chile (August 2011)
Making our way through the Norwegian fjords, June 2010.
Admiring the beauty of Lake Como, Italy, August 2015.
Throughout this site, I share some of my work and other helpful resources for those working with and/or raising young bilinguals. I invite you to browse these pages, as well as the following links, to learn more about my work:
PLEASE NOTE THAT AS OF SEPTEMBER 1, 2016, I MOVED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO, BOULDER. YOU CAN CONTACT ME AT mileidis.gort@colorado.edu.