Professional Biography

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Before joining the faculty at the University of Maryland, Melinda Martin-Beltrán earned her PhD in Educational Linguistics from Stanford University and worked as a bilingual and ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) teacher in K-12 settings in the United States and Latin America. 

As a teacher educator and applied linguist using anthropological and sociocultural approaches, Dr. Martin-Beltan has studied classroom practices and contexts that build upon the cultural and linguistic diversity of students in order to increase educational equity for language-minority students. Her research seeks to understand ways that learners (both students and teachers) engage in the co-construction of knowledge and the social processes of learning. 

She is currently leading a research project examining the Language Ambassadors program for English learners and Spanish learners in high school, funded by the Spencer foundation and the National Academy of Education Postdoctoral fellowship. She is co-PI on a federally funded project (Institute of Educational Sciences) developing a cross-age, peer tutoring reading program to support vocabulary development and reading comprehension of younger and older English learners in elementary schools.

Areas of Research

Selected Publications

Daniel, S. M., Martin‐Beltrán, M., Peercy, M. M., & Silverman, R. (2015). Moving Beyond Yes or No: Shifting From Over‐Scaffolding to Contingent Scaffolding in Literacy Instruction With Emergent Bilingual Students. TESOL Journal.  doi: 10.1002/tesj.213


Peercy, M. M., Martin-Beltrán, M., Silverman, R. D., & Daniel, S. M. (2015).Curricular design and implementation as a site of teacher expertise and learning. Teachers and Teaching: Theory and Practice, 21(7), 867-893. 

Peercy, M. M., Artzi, L., Silverman, R. D., & Martin-Beltrán, M. (2015). Meeting the demands of the ELA Common Core for English language learners: Developing vocabulary and reading comprehension skills in a language-rich classroom environment. In L. C. de Oliveira, M. Klassen, & M. Maune, (Eds.), The Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts for English Language Learners: Grades 6-12. (pp. 79-94). Alexandria, VA: TESOL Press.

Martin-Beltrán, M. (2014). “What do you want to say?” How adolescents use translanguaging to expand learning opportunities. International Journal of Multilingual Research, 8, 208-230.

Martin-Beltrán, M. & Peercy, M.M. (2014). Collaboration to teach English language learners: Opportunities for shared teacher learning. Teachers and Teaching: Theory and Practice. doi:10.1080/13540602.2014.885704.

Martin-Beltrán (2013). “I don’t feel as embarrassed because we’re all learning”: Discursive positioning among adolescents becoming multilingual. International Journal of Educational Research, 62, 152-161.doi: 10.1016/j.ijer.2013.08.005.

Peercy, M. M., Martin-Beltran, M., & Daniel, S. M. (2013). Learning together: creating a community of practice to support English language learner literacy. Language, Culture and Curriculum, 26(3), 284-299.

Martin-Beltran, M. & Chen, P. (2013). From monologue to diologue: a case study on mediated feedback in a transnational asynchronous online writing tutorial. Academic Exchange Quarterly, 17(1), 145-150.

Martin-Beltrán, M. (2012). How do teachers participate, mediate, and intervene in the co-construction of language knowledge during learner interactions? In B. Yoon & H.K. Kim (Eds.), Teachers' Roles in Second Language Learning: Classroom Applications of Sociocultural Theory (pp. 103–122). Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.

Adawu, A. & Martin-Beltran, M. (2012). Points of transition: Understanding the constructed identities of L2 learners/users across time and space. Critical  Inquiry in Language Studies: An International Journal, 9(4), 376-400. doi:            10.1080/15427587.2012.664038

Martin-Beltrán, M., Peercy, M. M. & Selvi, A. F. (2012). Collaboration to teach elementary English Language Learners: ESOL and mainstream teachers confronting challenges through shared tools and vision. In Honigsfeld, A. & Dove, M. (Eds.) Co-teaching and Other Collaborative Practices in the EFL/ESL Classroom: Rationale, Research, Reflections, and Recommendations. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.

Martin-Beltrán & Peercy, M. M. (2012). How can ESOL and Mainstream Teachers Make the Best of a Standards-based Curriculum to Collaborate? TESOL Journal 3(3), 425-444.

Martin-Beltrán, Melinda. "Bilingual Charter Schools." Encyclopedia of Diversity in Education. Ed. James A. Banks. Thousand Oaks,
CA: SAGE, 2012. 212-13. SAGE Reference Online. Web. 6 Jun. 2012.

Martin-Beltrán, Melinda, and Pamela Hickey. "English Language Learners, Teacher Preparation for Diverslty." Encyclopedia of
Diversity in Education. Ed. James A. Banks. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE, 2012. 790-95. SAGE Reference Online. Web. 6 Jun.
2012.

Peercy, M. M. & Martin-Beltrán, M. (2011). Envisioning collaboration:  Including ESOL students and teachers in the mainstream classroom. International Journal of Inclusive Education, 16 (7-8), 657-673.

Martin-Beltrán, M. (2010). Positioning proficiency: How students and teachers (de)construct language proficiency at school. Linguistics and Education. 21, 257-281. 

Billings, E., Martin-Beltrán, M., & Hernandez, A. (2010). Beyond English development: Bilingual approaches to teaching immigrant students and English Learners. In C. Faltis & G. Valdés (Eds.) National Society for the Study of Education Yearbook: Education, Immigrant Students. Refugee Students, and English Learners. New York: Teachers College Press.

Martin-Beltrán, M. (2010). The Two-Way Language Bridge: Co-constructing Bilingual Language Learning Opportunities. The Modern Language Journal.  

Martin-Beltrán, M. (2010). Developing cross-cultural competence through observation and dialogic teacher inquiry. In G. Park, H. Widodo, & A. Cirocki (Eds.), Observation of Teaching: Bridging Theory and Practice through Research on Teaching. Munich:Lincom Europa.

Martin-Beltrán, M. (2009). Cultivating space for the language boomerang: The interplay of two languages as academic resources. English Teaching: Practice and Critique September. 8(2),25-53

Teaching

Courses taught:

Contact Information

2311 Benjamin Building
Department of Teaching and Learning, Policy and Leadership
Division of Language, Literacy, and Social Inquiry (LLCSI)
College of Education
University of Maryland
College Park, MD 20742

Email: memb@umd.edu
Phone: (301) 405.4432
Fax: (301) 314.9055