Fieldwork & Research Experiences
Current Project:
A Mixed-Method Study of Language Socialization of Iranian Immigrant/Refugee Families with Children in Bilingual Community Education Programs in the U.S.
Currently, I am collaborating with a group of Persian-speaking bi/multilingual doctoral students (Nasir Kaihan, Sepide Pazhouhi, & Roya Fathalizadeh) to conduct a national-scale study that focuses on language socialization in Iranian immigrant/refugee families with children in K-12 schools and bilingual community education programs teaching Persian in the United States.
Informed by intersectionality (Collins, 2015), I aim to:
A) examine the relations between race, language, gender, religion, socioeconomic status, education, immigration process, political climate, and cultural identities of Iranian immigrants/refugees in the U.S.;
B) understand the reproduction and deepening of racial and linguistic inequities in the education of Iranian American children in K-12 and bilingual community education;
C) explore how Iranian immigrant/refugee families navigate racialized education systems, language learning, and sociolinguistic experiences.
The study involves 3 phases:
1) Survey of Iranian immigrant parents,
2) In-depth interviews with the parents and their children attending K-12 schools and bilingual community education,
3) Self-recordings of parent-child interactions in a small number of families to gain a deeper understanding of intergenerational language socialization and identity negotiations.
This project is supported by a Racial Equity Grant through the Spencer Foundation. Read more about grant here.
The perils of relying on benevolent policy arbiters: Arizona’s return to 2000s-era English-only enforcement (Phase II: 2023-2024)
Since May 2023, Arizona's newly-elected state superintendent, Tom Horne, has led efforts to reverse the 2019 policy reform (SB1014, 2019) that made 50-50 dual language bilingual education available to students identified as English Learners after twenty years (See Kaveh et al., 2022 and a previous collaborative project listed below). In preparation for the new academic year, Arizona public schools scrambled to collect parental waivers or remove ELs from dual language programs (Gonzalez, 2023). In collaboration with Dr. Katie Bernstein and doctoral students Lindsey Brown, Brandon Yuhas, and Sepide Pazhouhi, we revisited our previous project to understand how Arizona got here, AGAIN. We conducted a critical discourse analysis of official statements from Horne and the Arizona Department of Education to examine argumentation and legitimation strategies, as well as actors and beneficiaries (Bernstein et al., in preparation)
This work has led to the following publication and conference presentation:
Paper: Bernstein, B., Brown, L., Kaveh, Y. M., Yuhas, B., Pazhouhi, S. (under review). The Perils of Policy Workarounds: Lessons from Arizona’s Return to “English-Only” Policy. Language, Identity & Education.
Presentation: Bernstein, B., Brown, L., Kaveh, Y. M., Yuhas, B., Pazhouhi, S., Cervantes-Soon, C. (2024, March) The perils of relying on benevolent policy arbiters: Arizona’s return to 2000s-era English-only enforcement. AAAL Conference, Houston, TX.
Esperanza Project: Collaboration with a Dual Language Bilingual Program in Arizona (2018-2021)
In collaboration with an ASU colleague and a team of doctoral students, I conducted a three-year longitudinal ethnographic project with a bilingual program in an urban Title I school in Arizona. The project included working with the administrators, dual language teachers, parents/caregivers, and children. Our project was initiated to collaborate with K-8 teachers. We narrowed our focus to the kindergarten grade due to fundamental shifts in 2020.
The Esperanza project led to four research studies:
1. In collaboration with my ASU colleague, Dr. Alexandra Estrella-Bridges, we conducted interviews with six Latinx K-5 Dual Language Bilingual Education (DLBE) teachers to examine their language ideologies through the lens of “racialized ideologies of languagelessness” (Rosa, 2016). We report the complexities of these teachers’ racialized language ideologies, shaped by their Examines with linguistic violence and positive reinforcement during their upbringing and teaching careers. As DLBE teachers, our participants reflect on these complex experiences to stop the cycle of linguistic violence and racialized ideologies of languageless for the next generation of bi/multilingual children in their classrooms.
This work led to the following publication and conference presentations:
- Paper: Kaveh Y. M., Estrella-Bridges, A. (2024). Pedagogies of Resistance and Healing: Latinx Dual Language Teachers Battling Racialized Ideologies of Languagelessness in Arizona. Journal of Language, Identity, and Education. https://doi.org/10.1080/15348458.2024.2319331
- Presentations: Kaveh Y. M., Estrella, A. (2023, March). Pedagogies of Resistance and Healing: Latinx Bilingual Teachers Battling Racialized Ideologies of Languagelessness in Arizona.In colloquium: Centering Ideology in Language Teaching: A Global Perspective. American Association for Applied Linguistics (AAAL) Conference, Portland, OR.
- Kaveh Y. M., Estrella, A. (2021, April). Not Bilingual Enough: Latinx Dual-Language Teachers’ Racialized Language Ideologies. In symposium: Engaging and Reimagining Racialized Notions of Citizenship, Participation, and Leadership in Bilingual Educational Settings. American Educational Research Association (AERA) Conference, Division G (Social Context of Education).
2. My research team and I worked with two kindergarten teachers (the designated English and Spanish teachers) and conducted virtual classroom observations and teacher interviews during the 2020-21 school year.
This work resulted in the following publication and conference presentations:
- Paper: Kaveh Y. M. & Buckband, C. (2024). Critically Conscious Family Engagement: Positioning Families as Co-Teachers Amidst the Covid-19 Pandemic. Equity & Excellence in Education. https://doi.org/10.1080/10665684.2024.2390503
- Presentations: Kaveh, Y.M. & Buckband, C. (2023, April). Critically Conscious Family Engagement in a Virtual Dual Language Kindergarten Class during a Pandemic. In Poster Session, Case Studies of Critically Conscious Practice in DLBE Schools, Classrooms and Communities. American Educational Research Association Conference, Chicago, IL.
- Kaveh, Y. M., Buckband, C. (2022, April 25). Re-Setting Family Engagement: Embracing ‘Co-Maestros’ in Virtual Dual Language Bilingual Classrooms During a Pandemic. In symposium: Re-setting from the Margins: Humanizing Educational Experiences with Racially and Linguistically Minoritized Students and Communities. American Educational Research Association (AERA) Conference, Division G (Social Context of Education). San Diego, CA.
3. We followed eleven mothers and one grandmother from different racial, linguistic, and socioeconomic backgrounds that supported young children participating in online schooling during the 2020–2021 academic year. We followed up with these mothers in Spring 2022, after the children had returned to in-person schooling for nearly a full academic year in the ongoing pandemic.
This work led to the following publication and conference presentations:
- Paper: Kaveh Y. M., Rodriguez-Martinez, S., Clement, V., Coughlin, A., Ozbek-Damar, S., & Buckband, C. (under review). Adelantando el Camino: Linguistic Motherwork in Dual Language Kindergarten Classrooms During the Pandemic.
- Presentations: Kaveh, Y.M., Buckband, C., Coughlin, A., Ozbek-Damar, S., Clement, V., Rodriguez-Martinez, S. (2023, April). Intersecting Pressures of Linguistic Motherwork Supporting Children in Bilingual Education during the COVID-19 Pandemic. American Educational Research Association (AERA) Conference, Bilingual Education Research SIG., Chicago, IL.
- Kaveh, Y.M., Clement, V., Rodriguez-Martinez, S., Ozbek-Damar, S., Coughlin, A. (2022, March). Mothers as co-teachers: Linguistic motherwork during the pandemic. In colloquium: Power as caring relations: An intersectional, antiracist examination of the power of mothers in minoritized language education. American Association for Applied Linguistics (AAAL) Conference. Pittsburgh, PA.
4. We conducted semi-weekly class observations and individual semi-structured interviews with 12 bi/multilingual children in the kindergarten grade to examine their identities, language beliefs, and interactions with their family members, teachers, and peers in the DLBE program. We also wanted to understand the children’s perspectives and roles as they navigated and contributed to school and family language policies while participating in online schooling from home.
This work led to the following publication and a conference presentation:
Paper: Buckband, C., Kaveh Y. M., Ozbek-Damar, S., & Yuhas. B. (2024). “Puro English and a little bit of Spanish”: Bi/multilingual kindergarteners’ language ideologies in a dual language bilingual class during the COVID-19 pandemic. International Journal of Bilingualism. https://doi.org/10.1177/13670069241236683
Presentation: Buckband, C. & Kaveh, Y.M. (2023 March) Bi-/multilingual children in dual language kindergarten: Perspectives on family language policy. American Association for Applied Linguistics (AAAL) Conference, Portland, OR.
Arizona’s distinctive path to reversing its restrictive bilingual education policies (Phase I: 2019-2021)
In collaboration with ASU colleagues and doctoral students, we conducted a critical discourse analysis project to examine the ongoing changes to Arizona language policies since 2019.
This work resulted in the following publication and conference presentations:
Paper: Kaveh, Y. M., Bernstein, B., Cervantes-Soon, C., Rodriguez-Martinez, S., Mohamed, S. (2022). Moving away from the 4-hour block: Arizona’s distinctive path to reversing its restrictive language policies. International Multilingual Research Journal. 16(2). 113-135. https://doi.org/10.1080/19313152.2021.1973261
- Presentations: Cervantes-Soon, C., Bernstein, B., Kaveh, Y. M., Rodriguez-Martinez, S., Mohamed, S. (2022, April 23). The Arizona Way to Reinstate Bilingual Education: Small Changes, Major Consequences. American Educational Research Association (AERA) Conference, Bilingual Education Research SIG. San Diego, CA.
- Bernstein, B., Kaveh, Y. M., Cervantes-Soon, C., Rodriguez-Martinez, S., Mohamed, S. (2022, March 19). Preventing damage, restoring choice: Arizona’s distinctive path to reversing its restrictive bilingual education policies. American Association for Applied Linguistics (AAAL) Conference. Pittsburgh, PA.
Unspoken Dialogues between Educational and Family Language Policies: Children as Language Policy Agents (2017-2018)
For my doctoral dissertation, I conducted a qualitative project research project in two public elementary schools in Massachusetts. The study examined connections between language policies in four immigrant families and educational language policies at two public elementary schools in the context of an English-only state policy and larger sociohistorical language ideologies in the United States.
This work led to the following publications:
- Kaveh, Y. M. & Lenz, A. (2022). “I’m embarrassed and scared to speak a different language”: The complex emotions of bi/multilingual children of immigrants in monolingual U.S. schools. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development. https://doi.org/10.1080/01434632.2022.2062367
- Kaveh, Y.M. (2022). Beyond feel-good language-as-resource beliefs: Getting real about hegemonic language practices in monolingual schools. TESOL Quarterly. 56(1). 347-362. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/tesq.3053
- Kaveh, Y. M. & Sandoval, J. (2020). ‘No! I'm going to school, I need to speak English!’: Who Makes Family Language Decisions? Bilingual Research Journal, 43(4). 362-383. https://doi.org/10.1080/15235882.2020.1825541
- Kaveh, Y.M. (2020). Unspoken Dialogues between Educational and Family Language Policies: Language Policy Beyond Legislations. Linguistics & Education. 60. 100876.
The CLAVES Curriculum (2014-2017)
While a doctoral student at Boston College, I participated as a research assistant in an IES-funded grant focused on developing a Supplemental Intervention for Comprehension, Linguistic Awareness, and Vocabulary in English for Spanish Speakers (CLAVES).
This work led to the following conference presentations:
- Jones, R.L., Kaveh, Y.M., Pedersen, J. (2017, March). Syntax Use in Small Group Discussions and Argumentative Writing of Bilingual Elementary Students. American Association for Applied Linguistics (AAAL) Conference, Portland, OR.
- Kaveh, Y.M., Pedersen, J (2016, April). The impact of Collaborative Reasoning discussion on bilingual students’ argumentative writing. American Association for Applied Linguistics (AAAL) Conference, Orland, FL.
Genre-Based Pedagogy for Bilingual Students in Mainstream Classrooms (2013-2017)
As a research assistant, conducted regular professional development following Systemic Functional Linguistics and genre-based pedagogy (Brisk, 2015) for mainstream teachers; guided teachers in applying instructional practices within their classrooms; conducted qualitative observations; performed qualitative analysis of students’ writing data.
This work led to the following publications:
- Brisk, M.E. & Kaveh, Y.M. (2019b). Mainstream Teachers for Successful Multilingual Classrooms: The Case of a School that Embraced a Genre-based Pedagogy to Teach Writing. In S. Hammer, K. M. Viesca, N. L. Commins. Teaching Content and Language in the Multilingual Classroom: International Research on Policy, Perspectives, Preparation and Practice (pp.145-167). N.Y.: Routledge.
- Brisk, M., & Kaveh, Y. (2019a). Teacher education for bi/multilingual students. In Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Education. Oxford University Press. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190264093.013.280
- Brisk, M.E., Kaveh, M.Y., Scialoia, P., & Timothy, B. (2016). Writing arguments: The experience of two mainstream teachers working with multilingual students. In C.P. Proctor, A. Boardman, & F. Hiebert, Teaching emergent bilingual students: Flexible approaches in an era of new standards (pp.138-156). N. Y.: Guilford Press.
Family language policy & maintenance of Persian: The stories of Iranian immigrant families in the Northeast, USA (2015-2017)
In this project, I worked with a group of Iranian immigrant parents in the Northeast, U.S. to examine their family language practices, beliefs, and management approaches in relation to the maintenance of Persian in areas where the Iranian community is more dispersed. The findings showed that a complex web of connections between family language policies and the sociopolitical contexts of the U.S. and Iran shaped the language profiles of the participating families.
This work led to the following publication:
- Kaveh, Y. M. (2018). Family language policy and maintenance of Persian: the stories of Iranian immigrant families in the northeast, USA. Language Policy, 17(4), 443-477. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10993-017-9444-4
