Originally from Canada, Esther Bettney has spent the majority of her adult life engaged in multilingual education in Central and South America, as a classroom teacher, program administrator, teacher educator, and educational researcher. Esther’s Ph.D. research explores how bilingual and international schools in Colombia engage with innovative and just approaches to language education by moving away from an “English-only” approach. Esther is a Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction and a Project Assistant with the WIDA International School Consortium. Esther’s work reflects her commitment to celebrate, support, and advocate for multilingual students, teachers, and schools around the globe.
Studying: Curriculum and Instruction/ESL/Bilingual Education
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Lesley Bartlett
Awards & Honors: Canadian Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Doctoral Fellowship ($40,000) 2020-2022 University of Wisconsin-Madison Student Research Grants Competition ($1,200, $1,200, $1,250) 2019, 2020 Summer Fieldwork Award (UW-Madison Institute for Regional and International Studies ($3,000) 2019 Tinker Nave Research Award (UW-Madison Latin American, Caribbean and Iberian Studies) ($1,100) 2019 Phi Kappa Phi Zillman Summer Research Award ($600) 2019 International Symposium of Bilingualism 12 Conference Travel Award ($1,500) 2019 University of Wisconsin-Madison Curriculum & Instruction Travel Grant ($900, $600, $1250) 2018, 2019, 2020 Hartzman Travel Award (UW-Madison Global Education Committee) ($2,000) 2018 Tinker Nave Research Award (UW-Madison Latin American, Caribbean and Iberian Studies) ($1,800) 2018 Publications Bettney, E. (2020). Denationalized or Pluricultural: A Case Study Exploring the Negotiation of Students’ National Identities in a Bilingual School. Journal of Language, Identity, & Education. https://doi.org/10.1080/15348458.2020.1753198 Bettney, E. (2020). Research Proposal: A Multi-Site Case Study Exploring Plurilingual Approaches to Bilingual Education in Canada, Colombia and the U.S.A. Journal of Belonging, Identity, Language, and Diversity. 4(1), 21-39. http://bildlida.ca/journal/wpcontent/uploads/2020/05/JBILD_4_1_Bettney.pdf Bettney, E. (2017). A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words: Exploring Immersion Students’ Language Learning Experiences in Honduras. Colombian Applied Linguistics Journal. 19(2), 177-192. Bettney, E. (2020). Baleadas and Bilingualism: How Noticing My Family’s Engagement in Translanguaging Helped Me Find My Linguistic Place. Belonging, Identity, Language, Diversity Research Group Blog. http://bild-lida.ca/blog/uncategorized/baleadas-and-bilingualism-how-noticing-my-familys-engagement-in-translanguaging-helped-me-find-my-linguistic-place-by-esther-bettney/#more-3588 Bettney, E. (2020). Five Things We Can Do to Support Multilingual Students Online. Association of American Schools in South America (AASSA) Newsletter September 2020. http://www.aassa.net/blog/?p=4232