Multilingual Learners in Schools (MLS) Lab

Lab Details

Director: Dr. Luciana C. de Oliveira
Location: Oliver Hall, 1015 W. Main St., Room 2090C, Richmond, Virginia 23220
Phone: (804) 828-3382
Email: deoliveiral@vcu.edu 

Our research group has several ongoing research projects, all related to teaching multilingual learners in K-12 schools. Our projects include:

1. Types of scaffolding for multilingual learners
2. WIDA Standards* and teacher preparation: Examining sample texts for language functions and features

This research team, Multilingual Learners in Schools (MLS), is dedicated to understanding literacy and language demands and opportunities in learning the content areas (English language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies) for multilingual learners and teacher preparation for such work. Multilingual learners as a group include students who are bilingual and not receiving additional language support and students who are classified as English language learners and receive additional language support in K-12 schools.

This group emphasizes mentorship and scaffolding as key components of members’ experiences and currently engages doctoral-level students. We host research group meetings every two weeks, giving members an opportunity to collaborate on presentations and publications and share current research findings. Our group is interdisciplinary and welcomes new members who are interested in the issues described above. Our dissemination efforts reach local, national, and international scholarly audiences via publications, presentations, and professional development.

Multilingual Learners in Schools (MLS) Research Lab mission

The Multilingual Learners in Schools (MLS) Research Lab mission is to advance understanding of language and literacy demands and opportunities in learning the content areas (English language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies) for multilingual learners and teacher preparation for such work.