- 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/instructional coaching for early career 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)
- B.A. in Spanish (Literature), The University of Texas at Austin - (Austin, Texas, United States)
- M.A. in Spanish (Philology), University of Wisconsin - Madison - (Madison, Wisconsin, United States)
Academic Articles20
- 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. 56(9), 1576-1607.
- 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. 32(2), 327-352.
- 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.
- 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.. HLRP Health Literacy Research and Practice. 2(2), e94-e106.
- BESL684 Profess Internship Instructor
- BESL685 Directed Studies Instructor
- BESL689 Sptp: Creat. Stem Lesson Desig Instructor
- BESL689 Sptp: Ment & App Of Creativity Instructor
- BESL691 Research Instructor
- BESL691 Research: In-ab Instructor
- BESL691 Research:in-ab Instructor
- BIED613 Span/eng Biliteracy Instructor
- BIED619 Second Lang Acqusition Instructor
- BIED683 Field Practicum In Instructor
