I deeply value the intellectual connections I build with students through my teaching, and I prize the many new directions of thinking students open up for me.
Assistant Professor
My research is inspired by questions of diversity, equity, and access in multilingual educational contexts, especially as they pertain to the circulation of English as a ‘global’ language.
Growing up in the richly multilingual environment of New Delhi, India, I have always been fascinated by the process of language learning. I am deeply committed to the issues of equity and access as they arise in the field of education, particularly considering the role of language(s).
For the past 11 years, I have been conducting a study of language and literacy socialization of young boys at an orphanage in suburban New Delhi, India. I have been particularly interested in the circulation of “global” English within that context. More recently, since my little daughter’s diagnosis of Rett Syndrome, I have started conducting research within a disability studies framework as well. A primary aim of my work is to illuminate the role of discourses, ideologies, and everyday practices in the production and reproduction of hierarchical relations within educational systems. My research combines the analysis of educational policy and practice with methods from the fields of applied linguistics, second language acquisition, linguistic anthropology, and literacy studies.
I hope students learn about complex issues of access, diversity, and equity in all my classes, especially as they intervene within language education. I love to sing, travel, and do birding in my free time.
Learn more about Usree Bhattacharya.