Dr. Sabrina F. Sembiante

Sabrina F. Sembiante, Ph.D., is an associate professor of TESOL and Bilingual Education in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction and doctoral coordinator of the Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction program. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Miami in Teaching and Learning with an area of specialization in Language and Literacy Learning in Multilingual Settings. She also served as a postdoctoral researcher at The Ohio State University’s Crane Center for Early Childhood Research and Policy before coming to FAU.

Her research agenda comprises three interconnected objectives: (1) To document the varied and complex ways teachers and children use their multiple languages and modes in preschool contexts; (2) To promote the inclusion of bi/multilingual speakers’ rich, fluid languaging practices to support their learning in school; (3) To explore how functional language instruction can provide emergent-to-advanced bilingual students with meaningful access to content area knowledge and discourse. Her academic orientation is sociological in nature, comprising of the intersections of bi/multilingualism, social justice, and education. In her research, she employs ethnographic, discourse-analytic, and statistical approaches to analyze textual and video data documenting sociocultural influences on participants’ language and literacy development. As doctoral coordinator of the Ph.D. program in Curriculum & Instruction, Dr. Sembiante is also dedicated to mentoring doctoral students in research and publication methods with a particular focus on literature review methodology.

She has presented her research at over 68 inter/national conferences and authored more than 50 articles and book chapters, disseminated in top tier journals including Language and Education, Bilingual Research Journal, International Multilingual Research Journal, Foreign Language Annals, and Journal of Early Childhood Literacy. In 2018 and 2020, she was the recipient of the FAU College of Education Scholar of the Year Award at the Assistant Professor rank. She was recognized as the FAU College of Education Scholar of the Year at the Assistant Professor rank in 2018 and 2020, and nominated for Distinguished Teacher of the Year in 2021 for the College of Education at FAU.

• Researchgate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Sabrina_Sembiante
• Academia.edu: https://fau.academia.edu/SSembiante
• Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=emnokPsAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=sra

Education

• Postdoctoral Researcher, Crane Center for Early Childhood Research and Policy, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, 2013-2014.
• Ph.D. in Teaching and Learning, with a specialization in Language and Literacy Learning in Multilingual Settings, University of Miami, Miami, FL, 2008-2013.
• M.S.Ed. in Education, with a specialization in Foreign Language Education and TESOL, Florida International University, Miami, FL, 2007-2008.
• B.A. in International and Cultural Studies; French Minor; TESOL Certificate, University of Tampa, Tampa, FL, 2004-2007.

Instruction

• TSL 4080 Introduction to Theories and Practices of TESOL
• TSL 4081 TESOL Issues and Practices
• TSL 4324 Content Area ESOL Strategies
• EDG 7944 Research in Curriculum & Instruction
• EDG 7758 Trends in Analyzing Instructional Practices

Selected Publications

*Denotes doctoral student advisee

1. Bengochea, A., & Sembiante, S. F. (2023). A review of the methodological characteristics of vocabulary interventions for emergent bilinguals in preschool to sixth grade. Review of Education, 11, e3386. https://doi.org/10.1002/rev3.3386
2. Sembiante, S. F., Restrepo-Widney, C*., Bengochea, A., & Gort, M. (2023). Sustainable translanguaging practices in support of the vulnerable language: Honoring children’s ways of “Showing” and “Telling” in a dual language bilingual education preschool. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 26(8), 928-942. https://doi.org/10.1080/13670050.2022.2161814
3. Sembiante, S. F., Bengochea, A., & Gort, M. (2022). Morning circle as a community of practice: Co-teachers' transmodality in a dual language bilingual education preschool classroom. Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, 1-32. https://doi.org/10.1177/14687984221144232
4. Massy, P.*, & Sembiante, S. F. (2022). Pedagogical practices, curriculum development, and student experiences within postsecondary music education: A systematic literature review. Journal of Research in Music Education. https://doi.org/10.1177/1321103X221128172
5. Antonelli, M.*, & Sembiante, S. F. (2022). A Systematic review of research on LGBTQ educators’ experiences and LGBTQ curriculum in K-12 U.S. public schools. Multicultural Education Review. https://doi.org/10.1080/2005615X.2022.2087031
6. Sembiante, S. F., Yeomans-Maldonado, G., Johanson, M., & Justice, L. (2022). How the Amount of Teacher Spanish Use interacts with Classroom Quality to Support English/Spanish DLLs’ Vocabulary. Early Education and Development, https://doi.org/10.1080/10409289.2022.2039872
7. Williams, L.*, & Sembiante, S. F. (2022). Experiential learning in U.S. postsecondary teacher preparation programs: A review of the literature. Teaching and Teacher Education, 112, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2022.103630
8. Sembiante, S. F., Cavallaro, C. J.*, & Troyan, F. J. (2021). A sociocultural perspective on language teacher candidates’ development of systemic functional linguistics. Language and Education, Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/09500782.2020.1833909
9. Sembiante, S. F., Salinas, C. Jr., Ramírez, J. A., Vásquez-Colina, M., & Silva, Y. (2020). Using testimonios to uncover privilege and prejudice in experiences for faculty members with foreign English accents in higher education. Meridians, 19(2), 295-320. https://doi.org/10.1215/15366936-8308398
10. Finardi, K., Sembiante, S. F., Amorim, G., & Veronez, T*. (2020). Internationalization in two global south-north loci of enunciation. Educação Temática Digital, 20(1), 1-21.
11. Bengochea, A., Sembiante, S. F., & Gort, M. (2020). Exploring the object-sourced transmodal practices of an emergent bilingual child in sociodramatic play. Journal of Early Childhood Research. https://doi.org/10.1177/1476718X20938078
12. Cavallaro, C. J.*, & Sembiante, S. F. (2020). Facilitating culturally sustaining, functional literacy practices in a middle school ESOL reading program: A design-based research study. Language & Education. https://doi.org/10.1080/09500782.2020.1775244
13. Sembiante, S. F., Bengochea, A., & Gort, M. (2020). “Want me to show you?”: How emergent bilingual children use their multimodal resources to engage in the practices of show-and-tell activity. Linguistics and Education, 55, 1-30. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.linged.2019.100794
14. Bengochea, A., Sembiante, S. F., & Gort, M. (2020). Attracting and responding to an audience: Preschoolers' multimodal composing in show-and-tell activity. Language Arts, 97(3), 135-145. https://library.ncte.org/journals/la/issues/v97-3/30413
15. McMahon, B. M.*, & Sembiante, S. F. (2019). Reenvisioning the purpose of early warning systems: Shifting the mindset from student identification to meaningful prediction and intervention. Review of Education, doi.org/10.1002/rev3.3183

Selected Conference Presentations

*Denotes doctoral student advisee

1. Sembiante, S. F., Restrepo-Widney, C.*, & Gort, M. (2024, April). “I’m not a friend of you": Emergent bilinguals’ socioemotional and semiotic exploration in dramatic play. Submitted for presentation at the 2024 annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Philadelphia, PA.
2. Sembiante, S. F., Theophile, K.*, & Gort, M. (2024, April). Emergent Bilingual Preschoolers’ Reading Engagement in Read Aloud: Pathways into Reading Motivation. Submitted for presentation at the 2024 annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Philadelphia, PA.
3. Sembiante, S. F., Bengochea, A., Restrepo-Widney, C., & West, T. M. (2024, March). Monolingual and multilingual in-service teachers’ conceptualization of translanguaging pedagogy in a teacher preparation program. Submitted for presentation at the 2024 annual meeting of the American Association for Applied Linguistics, Houston, TX.
4. Massy, P*., & Sembiante, S. F. (2023, April). A Decade of Research in Postsecondary Music Education: Pedagogical practices, curriculum development, and student experiences. Paper presented at the 2023 annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Chicago, IL.
5. Sembiante, S. F., Restrepo-Widney, C.*, Bengochea A., & Gort, M. (2023, April). Sustainable translanguaging pedagogy: Supporting preschoolers’ “showing” and “telling” in a dual language bilingual education program. Paper presented at the 2023 annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Chicago, IL.
6. Sembiante, S. F., Restrepo-Widney, C.*, Bengochea A., & Gort, M. (2023, April). Verbal and embodied socioemotional instruction in preschool: A systemic functional paralinguistic analysis. Paper presented at the 2023 annual meeting of the American Association for Applied Linguistics, Portland, OR.
7. Sembiante, S. F., & Bengochea A. (2023, March). Emergent bilingual preschooler’s narrative discourse and transmodal practices in Spanish and English story retells: A longitudinal qualitative analysis. Paper presented as part of an invited symposium entitled Strengths-Based Approaches for Examining and Supporting Narrative Development in Young Children to the 2023 annual meeting of the Society for the Research of Child Development, Salt Lake City, UT.
8. Restrepo-Widney, C.*, & Sembiante, S. F. (2023, March). A systemic functional paralinguistic analysis of teachers’ socioemotional instruction and emergent bilingual preschoolers’ socioemotional learning. Paper submitted to the 2023 annual meeting of the American Association for Applied Linguistics, Portland, OR.
9. Bengochea A., Sembiante, S. F., & Gort, M. (2022, April). Multimodal depth-of-vocabulary instruction: A cross-genre analysis of a preschool teacher's vocabulary instruction in Spanish read alouds. Paper presented at the 2022 annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, San Diego, CA.
10. Sembiante, S. F., Restrepo-Widney, C.*, Bengochea A., & Gort, M. (2022, April). “Show me how you can practice that”: A dual language preschool teacher’s multimodally-supported socioemotional instruction. Paper submitted to the 2022 annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, San Diego, CA.
11. Troyan, F. J., King, N., & Sembiante, S. F. (2022, April). Harnessing SFL to learn to translanguage in a French immersion classroom. Paper submitted as part of a symposium to the 2022 annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, San Diego, CA.
12. Sembiante, S. F., Bengochea A., & Gort, M. (2021, June). “I made the prince castle”: How emergent bilingual preschoolers’ talk and multimodal practices support block play. Paper accepted to the 2021 annual meeting of the Sociolinguistics Symposium 23, virtual meeting.
13. Sembiante, S. F., Bengochea A., & Gort, M. (2021, April). Morning Circle as a community of practice: Co-teachers' transmodality in a dual language preschool classroom. Paper accepted to the 2021 annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, virtual meeting.
14. Sembiante, S. F., Bengochea, A., & Gort, M. (2021, March). Emergent bilingual preschooler’s multimodal practices in support of their speech genres in block play. Paper accepted at the 2021 annual meeting of the American Association for Applied Linguistics, virtual meeting.
15. Bengochea, A., & Sembiante, S. F. (2020, May). Supporting children’s multimodality in culturally and linguistically diverse early childhood contexts. Paper session at Building Bridges IV Conference, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia. ISBN: 978-3-6632-8679-9.