Literacy Education and Second Language Learning for Adults (LESLLA) Board of Directors
To contact the board of directors, please send an email to leslla.org@gmail.com
Fernanda Minuz, President
Fernanda Minuz began working with LESLLA students in 1992 when she was appointed by the Municipality of Bologna (Italy) to reorganise the L2 programme for adult immigrants. Since then, she has been active in the LESLLA field as a researcher, author and teacher trainer. She has participated in Italian, European, and international projects on L2 teaching. LESLLA projects focus mainly on long-distance learning, linguistic support to newly-arrived immigrant children, L2 for work and integration into the labour market; L2 for LESLLA adults; multilingualism in L2 teaching.
Recently, she co-authored Literacy And Second Language Learning for the Linguistic Integration of Adult Migrants. A reference guide (with J. Kuvers, R. Naeb, K. Schramm, L. Rocca), on behalf of the Council of Europe, and papers on heritage languages in teaching to LESLLA learners (with I. Cheffy, B. Haznedar, K. Miles, J. Kreeft Peyton, M. Young-Scholten, T. Wall). She attended and presented at the LESLLA symposia in Granada, Portland, Palermo, Pittsburgh and the 2021 online symposium and participated in the development of the Heritage Language Resources Hub on the LESLLA website.
Egle Mocciaro, Vice President
Egle is an associate professor of Italian linguistics at the Masaryk University of Brno, Czech Republic. She has a PhD in Linguistics (2007) and another one in Second Language Acquisition (2019) from the University of Palermo. For 10 years, she taught Linguistics and Second Language Acquisition at this university, with which she still collaborates closely in various research and teaching projects at the School of Italian Language for Foreigners (ItaStra). In Palermo, she also organised the 14th LESLLA symposium (2018). Her current research focuses on various aspects of morphosyntax of ancient and contemporary Italo-Romance and Sicilian and the development of morphosyntax in L2 Italian, with a specific focus on learners with limited literacy in the context of migration. Here in Brno, she leads a course on Languages and Migrations and she’s involved in various projects on similar topics, in Czechia and abroad. In 2020, she published The development of L2 Italian morphosyntax in adult learners with limited literacy (Palermo).
Colleen Brice, Secretary
Colleen is associate professor of English at Grand Valley State University (Michigan, USA), where she is section chair of Applied Linguistics and teaches courses in AL & TESOL. Her research interests include issues in second language writing, teacher education, and LESLLA. She has been a member of the board of MITESOL, the state’s TESOL International affiliate, for the past ten years, where she has served in a variety of roles, including president and conference chair.
She advocated to make LESLLA the theme of the first MITESOL conference she chaired, in 2014. She is currently co-editor of the Journal of Second Language Writing’s selective, annotated bibliography of recent scholarship. Her work has appeared in the Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, International Journal of English Studies, JSLW, and Language. In her free time, she enjoys traveling, reading, cooking for friends, going to see live music, and watching her feline housemates’ antics.
Niki Cooper - Robbins, Assistant Secretary
Niki has a B.Ed and an MA in Applied Linguistics. The MA piqued her interest in socio-linguistics and the importance of holistic, inclusive pedagogies. Niki is a PhD student researching the displacement realities of refugee background youth. This combines three passions: multilingualism, refugee education, and creative methodology.
During her 25-year career as a K-12 international school English Language Learning Coordinator, she developed an interest in identity construction and student autonomy. Advocacy work followed by way of parent, teacher and student education at a school, local, national, and international level. Supporting emergent multilingual learners’needs and using art to guide learning motivate her.
Niki works remotely from the Netherlands for Blekinge Integration & Education Centre, Sweden. Multilingual support services in the areas of healthcare, civic orientation, and education are provided to newcomers of all ages. In this environment, Niki gains rich insight into the experiences and needs of LESLLA learners.
Katie Donoviel, Treasurer
Katie graduated with her B.S. in Secondary English Education and M.A. in Teaching English as a Second Language from Northern Arizona University (NAU).
After joining the team at the English Skills Learning Center (ESLC), she was introduced to LESLLA learners for the first time. The more she works with adult emergent readers and realizes the gaps in her own formal education, the more determined she becomes to better engage this student population and help others do the same.
Katie is now the Executive Director of the ESLC, which integrates and strengthens communities by breaking language and cultural barriers. She has worked in education for 11 years, ELT for 10 years, and program administration for 8 years. She strongly believes in diversity, inclusion, and equity in all settings and strengthening communities by raising up historically marginalized voices.
Kate Van Roekel, Assistant Treasurer
Kate, MA in Education, is the Teacher Training Coordinator for the English Language Acquisition for Adults (ELAA) program of Literacy Connects, a non-profit organization in Tucson, Arizona, USA. In this role, she trains and supports the volunteers who teach Literacy Connects’ free community-based English classes for adult immigrants and refugees. Kate served as a US Peace Corps Volunteer in Chad (04-06) and Mauritania (06-07). The experience of living and working in new cultures where she needed to learn to speak and read the language sparked her interest in adult education.
She received her M.A. in Language, Reading, and Culture from the University of Arizona College of Education in 2010 and taught in the Intensive English and Teacher Training programs of the University of Arizona’s Center for English as a Second Language for six years before joining Literacy Connects. Her interests include teacher training, working with students with limited or interrupted formal education, and advocating for English language learners at the local, state, and federal levels.
Stefanie Harsch - Oria, Publications Coordinator
Stefanie is a researcher at the University of Education Freiburg, Germany, and has a great passion for supporting people to improve their skills to lead a better life, e. g. through Adult Education (B.A.), Health Education/Promotion (M.PH.), German-as-a-second language (Certificate Degree) or specifically in the field of Health Literacy (Ph.D.).
Since 2015, she has worked extensively with people migrating to Germany, a. o., as a friend, German-as-a-second-language teacher for refugees with little or no prior education, and researcher.
Her doctoral thesis, "Health Literacy as a Situational, Social Practice in Context: Insights from Three Research Projects on 'Vulnerable Groups'" (2022), included an ethnographic study on (health) literacy use and promotion in beginner Germany-as-a-second-language courses with literacy instruction. She also developed several materials and programs for teachers to promote students' well-being and health literacy.
A migrant by choice and love, she currently lives in Denmark, Germany, and Kenya and loves to explore and learn from educational programs for migrant learners worldwide.
She first heard about LESLLA in 2021 and presented at the LESLLA Symposium in 2021 (Malmö/virtual).
She is particularly excited about supporting people to make their relevant and great work visible (e.g., in publications) and accessible to others.
Véronique Fortier, Assistant Publications Coordinator
Véronique, PhD in Linguistics, is a professor at the Université du Québec à Montréal in Canada. She is involved in both undergraduate and graduate programs in Second Language Education. It is only in 2018 that she started working with LESLLA students and that she found her niche as a researcher and teacher trainer. Desiring to bridge her expertise in Instructed Second Language Acquisition with the realities of LESLLA students, she has collaborated on various research projects aimed at assisting teachers in implementing new teaching practices tailored to LESLLA learners' ways of learning (e.g., input-based tasks, presented at the LESLLA coffee break in November 2023). Additionally, she conducted a large-scale government-funded research project that will lead to the development of a teaching framework for LESLLA learners in Quebec. She presented her work at the LESLLA symposium in 2019 (Pittsburgh), 2022 (Tucson), and 2023 (Barcelona).
Enas Filimban - Membership Director
Enas is an Assistant Professor in Second Language Acquisition at Umm Al-Qura University, where she is head of the English Department’s Research Committee and a member of the curriculum committee. Her research mainly focuses on the development of educational materials for L2 learners.
LESLLA became her main interest in 2015, when Martha Young-Scholten and Rola Naeb introduced her to the Grundtvig project DIGLIN, as a research assistant. Since then, she has been involved in various LESLLA research projects, including the development of the book series, ’Simply Stories,’ and the ‘Pleasure Reading’ sessions. She is also on the board of EU-SPEAK, which provides teacher development for LESLLA professionals. She has presented her work at four LESLLA Symposiums since 2015. She also helped to organise the 2020 Online Symposium.
Xavier Muñoz, Assistant Membership Director
Xavier (he/him) is the Director of Academic Programs and Student Services at the English Empowerment Center in Virginia, USA where he oversees ESOL, family literacy, and workforce readiness programming for LESLLA and other adult learners of immigrant or refugee background.
He began working with LESLLA learners in 2012 as an AmeriCorps volunteer. Since then, he has worked in adult education as a teacher, teacher educator, and program manager. He holds an MA in TESOL from the School for International Training and an SIT TESOL Certificate. He presented at the LESLLA Symposium in Pittsburgh (2019).
He is active in TESOL, adult education, and educational technology. Recently he peer-reviewed the Using Multilingual Approaches to Support English Language Acquisition spotlight for the Enhancing Access for Refugees and New Americans initiative. And he has co-facilitated and participated in numerous EdTech Maker Spaces to evaluate, curate, and create open educational resources for adult education.
Jonneke Prins, Communications Director
Jonneke has a Master in History (Utrecht University 1982) and Master in Dutch as a Second Language (Tilburg University 2006). Jonneke was a teacher for LESLLA students at a community college in Breda from 1989 until 2020. From 2012, she supported her colleagues as a team coordinator. She helped to plan programmes for LESLLA students for making a good start in their life, after immigration in the Netherlands. By following master studies Dutch as a Second Language and Intercultural Communication at Tilburg University, her expertise deepened and increased.
In 2008, Dr Jeanne Kurvers introduced her to the LESLLA organization. Jonneke attended the LESLLA symposia in Antwerp (2008) Cologne (2010) Nijmegen (2014) and Palermo (2018). LESLLA inspired Jonneke during her career by promoting an exchange of expertise concerning the learning processes of adult migrant students who had little or interrupted formal education and by presenting examples of good education programmes in the field.
Mariet Schiepers, Assistant Communications Director
Mariet is director of the Centre for Language and Education, a multidisciplinary centre of expertise on language, education and society, attached to the Faculty of Arts at KU Leuven. Her main research themes are (technology-mediated) second language acquisition and literacy, with a focus on LESLLA-learners. She has designed and co-supervised many large-scale, interdisciplinary research and development projects, including www.nedbox.be, www.blendup.be and www.unlockproject.eu. She is also committed to the valorization of research results, by setting up professionalization programs for educators and developing evidence-based teaching materials, such as the manuals, Volop Taal en Voluit Taal. She tries to ensure her research has a real and positive impact on the field and the wider society. Mariet wants to make a difference on LESLLA's board by connecting people and organizations, to put research into practice and ensure equal opportunities for vulnerable learners.
Theresa Wall, Past President
Thank you to past board members for your dedication to LESLLA!
Andrea Echelberger, Past President 2021-2022
Maricel Santos, Team Publications 2021-2023
Annemarie Nuwenhoud, Team Communications 2021-2023
Sara Haghighi, Team Treasurer 2020-2022
Rola Naeb, Past President 2020-2021
Monica Leong, Team Secretary 2020-2022
Nicole Pettitt, Team Publications 2019-2022
Naeema Hann,
Team Membership 2018-2020, Team Treasurer 2020-2021
Rai Farrelly,
Team Communications 2018-2021
Lisa Gonzalves,
Team Treasurer 2018-2020
Jenna Altherr Flores,
Team Secretary 2018-2020
Taina Tammelin-Laine,
Team Secretary 2020-2021
Patsy Egan, Past President 2018-2020