LSLP as a research unit, needs to address different constituencies: On the one hand, we have logistic and academic duties related to the Medellín branch and our host institution. On the other, we continue working on our regional and international projection. Addressing the needs and concerns at these levels requires a larger structure. LSLP Leadership & Support brings together several LSLP researchers with specific duties and tasks. Our organizational chart (effective as is until July 2022) features the following:
(NOTE: We include all members' Discord call sign below their names and, in some cases, their pronouns. We are also including every member's ORCID iD for reference, as that is now a requirement for all Legion members.)
- The LSLP Chair is the person overseeing the research efforts both in the local branch (#lslplegion) and the larger networks (#lslpworldwide). The chair also sends the semester reports to UPB's Provost for Research Affairs. (NOTE: in our Discord server, the Chair usually appears with the label LSLP Mobile Kommand Center)
- The Associate Chairs support the Chair in the everyday operations and decision-making processes. Within the university, they are listed as supporting faculty members.
- The Advisory Board provides different levels of support and counsel to the Chair and Associate Chairs. We ensure representation from all three teams and the two kinds of researchers we have within the Legion.
(NOTE: We include all members' Discord call sign below their names and, in some cases, their pronouns. We are also including every member's ORCID iD for reference, as that is now a requirement for all Legion members.)
LSLP's Founder and Chair
Raúl Alberto
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Bio
Raúl is at present an Associate Professor of English Education and Literacy Studies at Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana in Medellín. He finished his Ph.D. in Language and Literacy at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he had the chance to work with worldwide literacy experts such as Reading Hall of Fame members Professors Arlette Willis and Georgia García, New London Group members Bill Cope and Mary Kalantzis, and other literacy experts. He also holds an M.A. in Teacher Education from Illinois, is a former Fulbright Graduate Scholar, and was inducted to the Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi in 2009. He has been a teacher for 29 years, including almost 10 years of teaching English in language institutes, as well as elementary and secondary schools. He also taught Spanish as a graduate student, and has worked with pre- and in-service teachers since 2006, both in the U.S. and Colombia. At UPB, he chairs LSLP and is a researcher at the Pedagogy and Didactics of Knowledge (PDS) research group, leading the research line "Second Language Studies". He was the coordinator for the M.A. in Learning and Teaching Processes in Second Languages between 2013 and 2016 and is now part of the program committee in charge of chartering the Doctorate in Education at UPB-Medellín. He is the member of several review boards, including Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, Reading Research Quarterly, and International Multilingual Research Journal, to name a few. He holds the top rank of Senior Researcher, according to the Colombian Ministry of Science, Technology, since 2019. He has held Visiting Professorships at Universidad Distrital (Bogotá), Universidad del Norte (Barranquilla), Universidad Tecnológica de Pereira, Universidad de Córdoba (Montería), Universidad del Valle (Cali), and the University of Białystok (Poland). In addition, he has been guest faculty and visiting scholar at Universidad de Nebrija (Spain), Universidad de Málaga (Spain), Universidad de Córdoba (Montería), Universidad Surcolombiana (Neiva), Florida State University (USA), Marie Curie Sklodowska University (Poland), and Urals Federal University (Russian Federation) in addition to invited webinars at the University of São Paulo (Brazil), the University of West Bohemia (Czech Republic), and Vanderbilt University (USA). He also has the honor of being the only literacy researcher from Latin America featured at the Global Conversations in Literacy Research webinars from Georgia State University. He currently sits at the Literacy Research Association (LRA) Board of Directors and leads the ASOCOPI Literacies in ELT (#LitsELT) SIG. He also served in leadership duties at LRA, NCTE, and ILA over the years, including ad-hoc, award, and search committees. Research Besides the research agendas from the project, his work on literacy is also following the current debates and evolution of the notion of literacy in other languages, in particular about how the notion of literacidad (Cassany, 2005; Mora, 2011, 2012, 2016) in Spanish has become the alternative that best encompasses the current evolution of literacy research worldwide. Due to his research efforts promoting literacies research around the world, Raúl was recognized as one of the 2019 Divergent Award for Excellence in 21st Century Literacies Research Honorees. He is one of the founding members of the Transnational Critical Literacies Network (TCLN) and co-editor of the Handbook of Critical Literacies (with Jessica Zacher Pandya, Jennifer Alford, Noah Asher Golden, and Roberto Santiago de Roock, edited by Routledge, 2021) Fun Fact Just like Superman has the cape, Batman the belt, or Green Lantern the ring, Dr. Berry's weapon of choice is his Sennheiser headphones (which kind of makes him the Starlord of Academia if you think about it!). When he plugs in those to his smartphone, his Kung-Fu (or, judging from the picture, his Kung-Fro!) elevates and magic usually follows! |
Associate Chairs
Claudia
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Bio
Claudia holds an MA in Learning and Teaching Processes in Second Languages from UPB-Medellín and other degrees on Language Teaching. At present, she is an English teacher at UPB School and a Adjunct Professor at the School of Education and Pedagogy. She teaches courses at the BA in English-Spanish Education and the Graduate Specialization in ELT. As of 2018, Claudia is the instructor-of-record for the graduate seminar "Literacies in Second Languages" at the MA in Learning and Teaching Processes in Second Languages (after assisting as a TA for 4 semesters) and she is also a thesis director in the ML2 program. Research Claudia's current research aims to explore and characterize children's personal literacies in and out of school, using multimodality and multiliteracies as conceptual underpinnings. Claudia was the co-investigator on the research project "21st Century Literacies in the P-16 School Context," which featured a robust component on children's literacies. |
Tatiana
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Bio
Tatiana is at present an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Education at Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana, after six years as a language teacher for the SILECS Program from the Language Center at UPB. Previous job experiences include working as a Travel Agent Assistant constantly using languages and teaching at different schools in Medellín. Tatiana holds a B.A in English-Spanish Education and an M.A. (Hons.) in Literature, both from UPB-Medellín. She also finished her studies in Modern Languages in Italy at “Instituto Tecnico Statale per il Turismo - Liceo Linguistico con orientazione umanistica Artemisia Gentileschi” in 2007. She joined LSLP in 2014, when she was part of Phase 2 of our urban literacies study. Research Tatiana continues to explore the use of culturally relevant pedagogy and critical literacy as part of her instructional practices, while helping write different articles and research proposals in our project. |
Monica
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Bio
Monica holds an MA in Learning and Teaching Processes in Second Languages from UPB-Medellín and is currently teaching middle school English at López de Mesa School in Medellín. She also teaches courses and supervises students at ML2. Research Monica's research is currently exploring the use of multimodality and multiliteracies as pedagogical options in language education in the context of public schools. |
Advisory Board
Gloria
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Bio
Gloria holds an MA in Learning and Teaching Processes in Second Languages from UPB-Medellín, in addition to degrees in English Teaching and Acting. She is at present an independent scholar. In addition to her current interests, Gloria is now teaching (along with Mónica) the research courses at the MA in Learning and Teaching Processes in Second Languages and is actively involved in thesis direction. Besides her teaching and research duties, Gloria is also an accomplished actress, performing regularly on stage in different plays in Medellín. Research Her current research explores the aesthetic dimensions of critical literacy through the use of TheatreSport as an alternative for language learning. |
Carlos Andrés
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Bio
Carlos holds a B.A in English-Spanish Education from UPB-Medellín and is at present a teacher at Ferrini School in Medellín. He joined LSLP in 2018, as part of #TeamLaV. He is a member of #TeamLaV with experiences as a semi-professional competitive gamer. That makes him a very valuable asset for our current research. Kylo is at present helping #TeamLaV with all elements of data collection and analysis, with a special interest in how to view gamification from the perspective of an advanced gamer. In addition to his gaming background, Kylo is a cosplay enthusiast, something that might come in handy eventually as we expand our research on community and digital literacies. |
Catalina
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Bio
Catalina is pursing her B.A. in English-Spanish Education at Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana, Medellín. She will be part of the new team of researchers for Phase Four of our #TeamCaL research. This semester, Catalina and her teammates will be studying some elements of literacies theory in second languages as part of an ongoing project they are part of. |