Rebecca Burns, Ph.D.

education, child, language, development, language acquisition, linguist, child care, childcare, comprehension, integration, diversity, kal, american sign language, expression, expository discourse, childes, child language data exchange system, elicitation, methods, psycholinguistic, socio-linguistic, electronic orthographies, international phonetic alphabet, prejudice


Assistant Professor
College of Education
Phone: 941-359-4647
Fax: 941-359-4778
Office: USFSM B311

Dr. Burns is an Assistant Professor of ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) in the College of Education. Her primary research interest is the role of Knowledge About Language (linguistics and its applications) in pre-service and in-service teacher education and its impact on student achievement in the classroom. Dr. Burns received her Ph.D. from Colorado University in Linguistics with an emphasis on child language development. She has taught graduate and undergraduate courses in Education and Linguistics at several universities in southern Florida: Florida International University, University of Miami, Florida Gulf Coast University, and USF Tampa Campus. Her field experiences include teaching middle school language arts in Los Angeles and Colorado, administering child care programs in a rural farm-worker community in Florida, and teaching sixth grade in the RCMA charter school in rural Collier County (Redlands Christian Migrant Association). She also serves on the Board of Directors of the Alliance for Families with Deaf Children (AFDC).
 

Education

Ph.D., University of Colorado
M.A.,  California State University
B.A.,   University of Southern Colorado

Research Interests

The critical knowledge base for teaching with positive student outcomes; the critical practices for effective teacher education; first and second language acquisition, bilingualism; and language socialization in families, communities, and schools .

Selected Publications and Research

 

Teaching

Dr. Burns teaches the three stand-alone ESOL courses at the undergraduate and graduate levels. These courses, in addition to field experience and ESOL infusion through out the program of study, are requirements for graduation from the College of Education of the University of South Florida.
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