Director of Bilingual Authorization (BILA)
Associate Professor
Carolina Serna began her teaching career in 1991 in the Culver City Unified School District as a third grade bilingual teacher. Her teaching experience at the elementary level in rural, inner city and suburban settings, and at the university level continue to inform her teaching and research.
Her areas of research include literacy development in sociocultural contexts, teacher preparation and bilingual education as they relate to linguistically and culturally diverse students. Her recent research focused on English learners on the central California coast who speak Triqui, an indigenous Mexican language.
Serna welcomes the opportunity to prepare future teachers through a Christ centered education that will equip them to make a significant spiritual impact in the lives of their students.
Presented on "Emergent literacy development of trilingual students: Triqui-speaking kindergarten students on the Central California Coast," January 2020.
Presented on "Effective interpretation practices for Spanish, Triqui, and Mixteco speaking parents," November 2019.
Presented on "Emergent literacy development of Triqui-speaking students on the Central California Coast," March 2019.
Presented on "Improving students’ literacy skills while preparing future teachers," March 2019.
Presented with three teacher candidates (R. Yang, S. García, V. Smith) on "Using the language experience approach to teach emergent literacy," March 2018.
Presented keynote address on "Language diversity on the Central California Coast," December 2016.
Co-presented with Dr. Cortes on "Best practices in communicating/interpreting with Spanish and indigenous speakers," March 2016.
Research presentation on "Kassel English Colloquium," 2015.
Co-presented with Dr. Cortes on "Best practices in communicating with non-English speaking parents," April 2015.
Presented on "Indigenous English learners: Triqui-speaking students on the Central California Coast," March 2015.
Biola University