About the Authors


Cynthia Duke Gitelman Brilliant

Cynthia Brilliant is a speech-language pathologist and ESOL special education teacher, adjunct assistant professor at George Washington University, and consultant. Her passions include special education, cross-cultural understanding, dynamic assessment, mediated learning, collaboration, language acquisition, and parental involvement.rams for English learners in the post Proposition 227 era in California.

Belinda Bustos Flores

Belinda Bustos Flores is an assistant professor in the College of Education and Human Development at the University of Texas at San Antonio. Dr. Flores’ research interests include bilingual teacher preparation, teacher belief systems, teacher ethnic identity and self-concept, and teaching efficacy. She may be reached at bflores@utsa.edu.

Anita C. Hernández

Anita C. Hernández is an assistant professor at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, working in the community in which she grew up. She received her Ph.D. from Stanford University in 1999.

John E. Petrovic

John E. Petrovic is an assistant professor in Foundations of Education at the University of Alabama, School of Education, Department of Educational Leadership, Policy and Technology Studies, 206 Wilson Hall, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487-0302.

Susan Olmstead

Susan Olmstead is a doctoral student in applied linguistics at the University of Alabama. Her research interests include code-switching and second language acquisition.

Natsuko Shibata Perera

Natsuko Shibata Perera currently serves as a board member of a dual-language immersion preschool. She received her Ph.D. from Georgetown University in 2000, and was awarded second place in the 2001 NABE Outstanding Dissertation Competition. Her research interest focuses on the relationship between second language acquisition and socialization

Francisco Ramos

Francisco Ramos is an assistant professor in the TESOL Department at Florida International University in Miami, Florida. He is a graduate of the University of Southern California. His research interests include the role of teachers’ knowledge and beliefs in the education of linguistic minorities.

Patrick H. Smith

Patrick H. Smith is Associate Professor of Applied Linguistics at the Universidad de las Américas-Puebla, where he teaches courses in bilingualism, bilingual education, and language planning. A member of the Mexican National System of Investigators, his research examines connections between minority language communities and schooling in the U.S. and Mexico.