- Associate Professor, Educational Psychology, School of Education and Human Development
I specialize in bilingual education (2-language instruction) and biliteracy development, particularly for Hispanic, English learners (ELs)/emergent bilinguals (EBs). My research focuses on three areas: biliteracy (STEM) discourse development in adults (teachers) and children, professional identity formation in pre-service bilingual education teachers (teacher candidates), and mentor-coaching for teachers. Methodological articles that I have published include: (1) primers for health professionals--practitioner research (action research) and collaborative, analytical autoethnography (CAAE); (2) and a methodological quality scale (the Methodological Quality Questionnaire [MQQ]) for systematic reviews published in Sage Open, an open access journal.
Additionally, I have worked on transdisciplinary teams as an expert in issues related to second language acquisition, bilingualism, biliteracy, and teacher professional development. My ongoing collaborations with social work and health promotion researchers have produced several publications, such as evaluations of health literacy assessment instruments translated for limited English proficient (LEP) adults and comparisons of machine versus human translations. As a result, I am now looking at natural language processing (machine language) as a tool to increase content area literacy for ELs/EBs.
Currently, I am completing a research study, funded by Texas A&M Presidential Transformational Learning Grant ("Health Literacy Page-by-Page: Incorporating Graphic Novelettes into Stem Inquiry Lessons"), on the use of graphic novelettes by pre-service teachers as a STEM curricular resource.
- M.Ed. in Public School Administration, St. Thomas University - (Miami Gardens, Florida, United States)
- Ph.D. in Educational Psychology, Texas A&M University - (College Station, Texas, United States)
- M.A. in Spanish (Philology), University of Wisconsin - Madison - (Madison, Wisconsin, United States)
- B.A. in Spanish (Literature), The University of Texas at Austin - (Austin, Texas, United States)
Academic Articles18
- Acosta, S. T., Chen, X., Goltz, H., Goodson, P., & Padron, Y. (2021). A Case Study of Novice Bilingual Education Teachers Conducting Action Research and Diffusing Teaching Innovations. URBAN EDUCATION. (9), 1576-1607.
- Acosta, S., Garza, T., Hsu, H., & Goodson, P. (2020). Assessing Quality in Systematic Literature Reviews: A Study of Novice Rater Training. SAGE OPEN. 10(3), 2158244020939530-215824402093953.
- Acosta, S., Garza, T., Hsu, H., Goodson, P., Padron, Y., Goltz, H. H., & Johnston, A. (2020). The Accountability Culture: a Systematic Review of High-Stakes Testing and English Learners in the United States During No Child Left Behind. EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY REVIEW. (2), 327-352.
- Hsu, H., Lee, K., Bentley, J., & Acosta, S. (2019). Investigating the Role of School-Based Extracurricular Activity Participation in Adolescents Learning Outcomes: A Propensity Score Method. Journal of Education and Learning. 8(4), 8-8.
- Chen, X., Goodson, P., Acosta, S., Barry, A. E., & McKyer, L. E. (2018). Assessing Health Literacy Among Chinese Speakers in the U.S. with Limited English Proficiency.. Health Lit Res Pract. 2(2), e94-e106.
- BEFB470 Biling Assess & Monitoring Instructor
- BEFB474 Biliteracy Biling&dual Instructor
- BEFB476 Content Area Instruction Instructor
- BESL613 Span/eng Biliteracy Instructor
- BESL619 Second Lang Acqusition Instructor