Acosta, Sandra individual record
Associate Professor
overview

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.

selected publications
Academic Articles20
  • Acosta, S., Liu, J., Goodson, P., Goltz, H., & Chen, T. (2023). A Collaborative and Poetic Self-Study of Transformative Learning, Professional Identity, and Teaching in Academe. Studying Teacher Education. 19(2), 225-245.
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  • 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.
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  • 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.
Theses1
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Email
sacosta@tamu.edu
First Name
Sandra
Last Name
Acosta
mailing address
Texas A&M University; Educational Psychology Department/Bilingual Education-ESL Division; 608 Harrington Tower MS 4225
College Station, TX 77843-4225
USA