Brittany L. Frieson is an assistant professor of Bilingual/Bicultural Education at the University of Texas at Austin where she teaches courses on language acquisition and language policy in the undergraduate and graduate programs. Dr. Frieson is a former language and literacy teacher of linguistically diverse children in the Research Triangle area of North Carolina of five years. As a former teacher, she taught alongside wonderful colleagues in many subject areas including ESL, language arts, and mathematics in the elementary and middle grade levels. Her award-winning research focuses on critical perspectives of bilingual education, Black languages and literacies, and justice-oriented pedagogical practices in literacy and bilingual education. Specifically, her research also centers on justice for multilingual Black children participating in elementary, Spanish/English, dual-language bilingual education (DLBE) programs.
Her scholarship has garnered national recognition through several awards and programs including, 2021 American Association of Applied Linguistics Outstanding Dissertation Award, 2020-2022 NCTE Cultivating New Voices among Scholars of Color Fellow, 2020 International Literacy Association Outstanding Dissertation Award, and NCTE Professional Dyads and Culturally Relevant Teaching (PDCRT) Program. Her scholarship appears in Race Ethnicity and Education, Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, Reading Research Quarterly, Bilingual Research Journal, Teaching and Teacher Education, The Reading Teacher, Literacy Research: Theory, Method, and Practice, among many others.
Dr. Frieson received her Ph.D in Curriculum and Instruction with a focus on Language and literacy from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2019. She also received her M.S. in Curriculum and Instruction with a specialization in Educational Psychology from North Carolina State University. Dr. Frieson is also a proud mama who loves discovering new playgrounds and finding new books to read with her two daughters.
Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2019
M.S. in Curriculum and Instruction, North Carolina State University, 2015
B.A. in Psychology, Meredith College, 2011
Explores the language and literacy practices of young African American children in dual language bilingual program spaces from critical perspectives.
Frieson, B. L. & Presiado, V. E. (2026). Unpacking Black Childrens Racialized Experiences & Emotions in a Spanish/English DLBE Program: A Composite Counterstory. Critical Inquiry in Language Studies, 1–12. doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/15427587.2026.2623485.
Frieson, B. L. (2024). A seat at the table: Black & Latinx teachers reimagining multilingual classrooms as culturally sustaining spaces for Black children. Reading Research Quarterly, 60(1), 1–16. doi:https://doi.org/10.1002/rrq.587.
Frieson, B. L. (2022). Its like they dont see us at all.: A Critical Race Theory Critique of Dual Language Bilingual Education for Black Children. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 42, 47–54. doi:https://doi.org/10.1017/S0267190522000022.
Frieson, B. L. & Presiado, V. E. (2022). Supporting Multilingual Black Children: Building on Black Language Genius. The Reading Teacher, 75(6), 707–715. doi:https://doi.org/10.1002/trtr.2104.
Frieson, B. L., Murray-Everett, N. & Johnston-Parsons, M. (2022). Always Outsiders, Never Insiders: A Study Abroad Program for Future Teachers. Teaching and Teacher Education, 112. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2022.103632.
Angela Maria Villamizar, Ph.D., expected 2027 (Committee Member)Bilingual teacher identity, critical biliteracies, bilingual/bicultural identity development of children of immigrants
Vania Ledesma Espino (Supervisor)I am a committed graduate student focusing on the intersection of family, language, and literacy research within the context of return and circular migration. I am particularly interested in how transnational experiences can inform teaching practices, contributing to practical, meaningful, and lasting educational approaches.
Paulina I Chapa (Committee Member)Paulina I. Chapas research interests include language education, language retention, willingness to communicate, motivation, emotion, and memory in learning, educational storytelling, learning strategies, and educational research methods. She examines the cognitive, emotional, and social factors that shape language acquisition, learning, and teaching experiences. She is also exploring methodological approaches in educational research to strengthen the understanding of research design, analysis, and interpretation in educational studies. Her aim is to make multilingual and multicultural education more...
