Dr. P. Zitlali Morales

Dr. P. Zitlali (Lali) Morales is Professor of Curriculum & Instruction in the College of Education and affiliated faculty of the Latin American and Latino Studies program at UIC. Lali is the oldest of four daughters to immigrant parents from Jalisco, México. She grew up in Illinois and received a BA in Cultural Anthropology from Stanford University and PhD in Education from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Her research focuses on the linguistic practices of Latina/o/x/e bilinguals, the language ideologies of immigrant communities, language education policy, and increasing equitable access to dual language bilingual education for Latina/o/x/e and other racialized communities. She works to decenter whiteness in teacher preparation via language education and has documented the testimonios of Latina/o/x teachers in Chicago with her research team. Dr. Morales is the co-editor of the book, Transforming Schooling for Second Language Learners: Theoretical Insights, Policies, Pedagogies, and Practices by Information Age Publishing. She also serves as UIC coordinator for the Bilingual/ESL endorsement.

Morales, P. Z., Alcalá, R., Monsivais Diers, N., & Domínguez-Fret, N. (2024). ¿Estamos escuchando? Creating transformative ruptures that amplify Latinx families’ right to DLBE in Chicagoland. In M. G. Delavan, J. Freire, & K. Menken (Eds.), Overcoming the gentrification of dual language, bilingual, and immersion education: Solution-oriented research and stakeholder resources for real integration (pp. 166-188). Multilingual Matters.

Alcalá, R., Maravilla, J., Delgado, Y., & Morales, P. Z. (2022). Disrupting deficit narratives of Chicagoland barrios: Uplifting Latinx teacher testimonios. In C. D. Gist & T. J. Bristol (Eds.), Handbook of research on teachers of color and indigenous teachers (pp. 775-791). American Educational Research Association.

Alcalá, R., & Morales, P. Z. (2022). Taking pride in our languages, taking pride in ourselves: Dual language education as dignity-affirming spaces for Latinx communities. In D. J. Irby, C. Anderson & C. M. Payne (Eds.), Dignity-affirming education: Cultivating the somebodiness of students and educators (pp. 200-217). New York, NY: Teachers College Press.

Martínez, R. A., Martinez, D. C., & Morales, P. Z. (2022). Black Lives Matter vs. Castañeda v. Pickard: A utopian vision of who counts as bilingual (and who matters in bilingual education). Language  Policy, 21(3), 427-449. doi:10.1007/s10993-021-09610-3

Pacheco, M., Morales, P. Z., & Hamilton, C. (Eds.) (2019). Transforming schooling for second language learners: Policies, pedagogies, and practices. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing. Click here for the book

Morales, P. Z., Saravia, L. A., & Pérez-Iribe, M. F. (2019). Multilingual Mexican-origin students’ perspectives on their indigenous heritage languages. Association of Mexican American Educators Journal, 13(2), 91-121. doi:10.24974/amae.13.2.430

Morales, P. Z., & Maravilla, J. (2019). The problems and possibilities of interest convergence to advance multilingualism for all. Theory Into Practice. doi:10.1080/00405841.2019.1569377

Morales, P. Z., & Hartman, P. W. (2019). Positioning Spanish-language and African American Language (AAL) speakers as knowledgeable and valuable contributors in the language arts classroom. Theory into Practice, 58(3), 236-245. doi:10.1080/00405841.2019.1607654

Rumenapp, J., Morales, P. Z., & Manfredini Lykouretzos, A. (2018, November). Building a cohesive multimodal environment for diverse learners in the preschool classroom. Young Children, 72-78.

Morales, P. Z., & Rumenapp, J. (2017). Talking about language in pre-school: The use of video-stimulated recall with emergent bilingual children. Journal of Multilingual Education Research, 7(4), 19-42. Click here to access the article

Martínez, D. C., Morales, P. Z., & Aldana, U. S. (2017). Leveraging communicative repertoires using classroom discourse analysis as a tool for equitable learning. Review of Research in Education, 41, 477-499. doi:10.3102/0091732X17691741 

Morales, P. Z. (2016). Transnational practices and language maintenance: Spanish and Zapoteco in California. Children’s Geographies, 14(4), 375-389. doi:10.1080/14733285.2015.1057552

Morales, P. Z., Meza, R., & Maravilla-Cano, J. V. (2016). Latin@ students in a changing Chicago: Current disparities and opportunities within public schools. Association of Mexican American Educators Journal, 10(1), 107-129. Click here to access the article

Zitlali “Lali” Morales, Associate Professor, Curriculum & Instruction in the College of Education, is featured in an on-air Spanish interview with Univision Chicago, discussing bilingual education. She outlines the issues students and their families face and how dual immersion helps students develop both of their languages academically. To see the Spanish language interview:

¿En qué se diferencian los programas de educación bilingüe y los de doble inmersión o duales?

2010 - PhD, University of California, Los Angeles, Education
1998 - BA, Stanford University, Cultural Anthropology; History (minor)

Morales, P. Z. (2024, May). Taking a dignity-affirming stance toward transnational students’  knowledges and language varieties. Invited talk for SOWK 733: North American Migration Dynamics: Challenges, Opportunities, and Alternatives, Loyola University Chicago, School of Social Work: Migration Immersion Program in Mexico City, Mexico.

Morales, P. Z. (2024, April). Re-envisioning bilingual teacher preparation: A reparative education en español. Paper presented as part of the symposium, “Crossing Latinidades en Acción: Critical Pedagogical Interventions Around Language and Identity” at the annual meeting of the Latina/o/x Studies Association, Tempe, AZ.

Morales, P. Z. (2024, April). Give the parents what they want: Multilingual education for their children. Invited paper presented as part of the Division K (Teaching and Teacher Education) Vice Presidential session, “Who Benefits From Bilingual/Multilingual Teaching and Teacher Education? Whose Interests Are Centered?” at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Philadelphia, PA.

Morales, P. Z., Alcalá, R., Marshall, M., & Rodríguez, Y.  (2024, January). Amplifying Latinx Families’ Language Education Rights: Luchando for Urban Dual Language Bilingual Education. Invited lecture for the Institute of Policy and Civic Engagement, University of Illinois Chicago, Chicago, IL.

Morales, P. Z. (2022, September). What parents want and students deserve: Multilingual education as culturally and linguistically responsive instruction. Keynote for the FY23 State Bilingual Program Directors Meeting, in partnership with the Illinois Resource Center, Rosemont, IL.

Centering Racialized Pre-Service Teachers: A Proleptic Re-Design of Teacher Education for Leveraging Linguistic Diversity

Spencer Foundation Large Grant

P.I. Danny C. Martinez, University of California, Davis; Co-PI Ramón Antonio Martínez, Stanford University

Despite increasing diversity among teachers, teacher education programs (TEPs) remain geared towards White teachers, marginalizing teachers of color by ignoring their experiential knowledge and perspectives. This tension is especially evident in courses focusing on linguistic diversity that prepare racialized pre-service teachers (PSTs) to work with racialized students. Such language-focused courses represent potentially generative spaces for re-imagining and re-designing teacher education experiences to center racialized pre-service teachers. But how might we center racialized PSTs in courses that aim to prepare them to work in linguistically diverse classrooms without essentializing their experiences and without erasing important intra-group heterogeneity and variation?

This three-year social-design experiment will focus on three cadres of racialized PSTs from three separate TEPs, documenting their learning across a range of experiences and engaging them as co-designers of their own learning and pedagogy. Participants will be recruited from our respective language-focused courses that centralize sociocultural perspectives, where linguistic diversity is viewed as a resource for learning. This proposed re-design seeks to transform learning experiences and environments to promote equity for racialized PSTs and their future students. This study will contribute to empirical and theoretical foundations for preparing racialized pre-service teachers to teach in culturally and linguistically diverse contexts.

Spencer grant awarded to UIC researcher to rethink teacher preparation for racialized youth