PEOPLE
Principal Investigator
Julio Torres (PhD, Georgetown University) is Professor of Applied Linguistics & Multilingualism in the Department of Latin American & Iberian Cultures with courtesy appointments in the School of Education and Language Science at the University of California, Irvine (UCI). He directs the minor in Spanish/English bilingual education and serves as the academic coordinator of the heritage Spanish writing course at UCI. His research interests include heritage/second language acquisition, multilingualism, cognition, and task-based language learning. His publications have appeared in venues such as Studies in Second Language Acquisition and The Modern Language Journal as well as edited volumes and handbooks. He's the co-editor of the 2022 volume Aproximaciones al estudio del español como lengua de herencia with Routledge Press. He serves as an Associate Editor of the Heritage Language Journal. Professor Torres is the recipient of the 2014 Russell Campbell Young Scholar Special Recognition Award for the field of heritage language education and of the 2020 School of Humanities Teaching Award at UCI. He also works as a teacher educator with K-16 teachers/instructors in designing task-based instruction and curriculum for heritage language students.
Lab Manager
Nicole Vargas Fuentes is a doctoral student in the School of Education working with Dr. Julio Torres and Dr. Judith Kroll. Her current research focuses on the relationship between language and emotion, how it varies depending on language experience, and how it interacts with cognitive processes (e.g., memory). Research Team
Teresita Esquivel-Aguirre is a 5th-year first-generation undergraduate student majoring in Education Sciences & Spanish with a minor in Linguistics. Her undergraduate experiences are reflective of her interests in language-learning, bilingualism, bilingual education, and everything related to languages. From interning abroad in Thailand where she taught English to Thai primary school students to providing Spanish tours for UC Irvine’s Office of Undergraduate Admissions. After the culmination of her undergraduate journey, Teresita hopes to pursue a graduate degree related to education, curriculum development, or linguistics! 
Tram Dan is a third-year first-generation undergraduate student, double majoring in Biology and Spanish. As a trilingual student and language learning enthusiast, she is interested in different methods of foreign language comprehension, such as comprehensible input and immersive approaches. In the future, she hopes to pursue a career where she can contribute to understanding the correlation between language acquisition/usage and healthcare outcomes. 
Quinn Oeppinger is a second-year undergraduate student majoring in Spanish with a minor in Spanish-English Bilingual Education. He has a great interest in translanguaging, late bilingualism, and language learning in formal educational settings. Following the completion of his undergraduate degree, Quinn hopes to obtain a master's degree in Education and pursue teaching in bilingual education. 
Michelle Urbina is a 3rd-year first generation college undergraduate student majoring in Spanish with a minor in Spanish/English Bilingual Education. Her experiences growing up in a family of immigrant parents in a country that has historically devalued other languages and cultures has made her interested in learning about the complexities of bilingualism and culture as a Latino-American. After undergraduate she hopes to work for a school district either as an administrator or a teacher. |