About

Dr. Pacheco’s research interests include the language and literacy practices of multilingual students and how teachers can support these practices. He is currently part of three research projects that investigate 1) how multilingual students and their teachers participate in linguistically and culturally responsive biology instruction, 2) how secondary teachers support the development of virtue through examining truth, beauty, and goodness in language and literacy classrooms, and 3) how reclassified English learners participate in elementary science instruction.

Research Interests

Bilingual / Bicultural Education, Digital Tools in Qualitative Research, ESOL, Multicultural Literacy, Qualitative Research

Education

• Ph.D. in Learning, Teaching, and Diversity, 2016 Vanderbilt University's Peabody College of Education
• M.S. in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages, 2009 The City College of New York
• B.A. in Italian and English, 2006 Georgetown University and Université di Firenze

Professional Appointments

• Assistant Professor of ESOL/Second Language Education, School of Teaching and Learning, University of Florida, 2018 - Present
• Assistant Professor of Bilingual/Bicultural Education, School of Teaching and Learning, Illinois State University, 2016 - 2018
• ESL, Spanish, and English Teacher, High School of Fashion Industries, New York, NY, 2007 - 2011
• Adolescent & Adult ESL Teacher, The Lado Institute, Washington, D.C; TASIS, England; EF Dil Okulu, Istanbul, 2006 - 2008

Activities and Honors

• Vanderbilt's Otto C. Bassler Dissertation Award for Outstanding Research, 2016
• National Council of Teachers of English Alan C. Purves Award for Using Translation to Drive Conceptual Development for Students Becoming Literate in English as an Additional Language, with Robert Jiménez, Samuel David, Lisa Pray, Vicki Risko, and Mark Gonzalez, 2015
• AERA Division C Outstanding Poster Award Finalist for Composing Multilingual, Multimodal eBooks: A Study of the Digital Design Practices of Emerging Bilingual/Biliterate Prekindergarteners, with Debbie Rowe and Mary Miller, 2014

Selected Grants

Selected Publications

• Pacheco, M. B., & Brown, J. C. (2022). Newcomer Emergent Bilingual Students’ Meaning-Making in Urban Biology Classrooms: A Communities of Practice Perspective. Urban Education, 00420859211073893.
• Smith, B. E., & Pacheco, M. B. (2020). Emergent bilingual students and digital multimodal composing: A systematic review of research in secondary classrooms. Reading Research Quarterly.
• Pacheco, M. B., Daniel, S., Pray, L., & Jimenez, R. T. (2019). Translingual practice, strategic participation, and meaning-making. Journal of Literacy Research, 51(1), 75-99.
• Pacheco, M. B. (2018). Spanish, Arabic and "English-only": Making meaning across languages in two classroom communities. TESOL Quarterly, 52(4), 995-1021.
• Pacheco, M. B., Daniel, S. M., & Pray, L. (2017). Scaffolding practice: Supporting emerging bilinguals' academic language use in two classroom communities. Language Arts, 95(2), 63-76.
• Daniel, S., & Pacheco, M. B. (2016). Translanguaging practices and perspectives of four multilingual teens. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 59(6), 653-663.
• Pacheco, M. B., & Miller, M. E. (2015). Making meaning through translanguaging in the literacy classroom. The Reading Teacher, 69(5), 533-537.