In both my research and my teaching, my focus is on issues related to language, especially multilingualism, policy and practices, teacher education, and English in Sweden and Swedish schools.
I lead the research group Forum for Linguistics.
I am originally from California, but have lived most of my life in Sweden. I received a Bachelor of Science degree in Child Development with a focus on Education from San Diego State University (1991) and a Master of Education degree in Curriculum and Instruction with an emphasis in Literacy from the University of San Diego (1995). In addition, I hold a Master of Arts degree (2009) with a major in English, specializing in Linguistics, from Dalarna University.
I defended my PhD dissertation, English-Medium Instruction in Sweden: Perspectives and practices in two upper secondary schools, in 2014 at the Department of Language Education, Stockholm University. During the years 2015-2018, I was a postdoctoral researcher at the Centre for Research on Bilingualism, Stockholm University.
Before working in academia, I was a preschool teacher, a mother tongue teacher, and a primary school teacher. In 2006, I joined Dalarna University as a lecturer in English. Currently, I am Associate Professor of English Applied Linguistics.
During the autumn term of 2023, I was a visiting STINT Scholar in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction, Faculty of Education, at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, with funding from the Swedish Foundation for International Cooperation in Research and Higher Education (STINT).
Most of my teaching is within the teacher training programme at Dalarna University, especially on courses in English language learning and teaching for pre-service primary school teachers. I also supervise and examine degree projects in English and in the teacher training programme. I am currently the main supervisor for one PhD student.
My research is informed by my many years of experience as a preschool and primary school teacher, as well as a mother tongue teacher. My research currently focuses on multilingualism in educational policy and practice, teacher education, English and English-medium instruction in Sweden, and family language policy. Together with my colleague Parvin Gheitasi, I am investigating how pre-service and in-service primary teachers work with differentiation and multilingualism in the English subject. I am also a member of a larger research project, ABK (Attitudes, beliefs, and knowledge on multilingualism) with researchers from eight countries studying pre-primary and primary teachers' perspectives on multilingualism.
