Nancy H. Hornberger

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Professor Emerita of Education

Member, Anthropology Graduate Group, Penn School of Arts & Sciences

Contact

nancyh@upenn.edu

Media Inquiries:
Contact Penn GSE Communications.

Education

Ph.D. (Educational Policy Studies; minor in Linguistics) University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1985
M.A. (Education, specializing in Bilingual Education) New York University, 1973
B.A. cum laude (Hispanic-American History and Literature) Harvard University, 1972

Areas of Expertise

Educational linguistics and sociolinguistics
Educational ethnography and anthropology
Bilingualism and biliteracy
Multilingualism and language education policy
Ethnography of language policy
Indigenous education and language revitalization

Programs

Educational Linguistics Ph.D.

Educational Linguistics Ed.D.

Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) M.S.Ed.

Language, Globalization, and Intercultural Studies M.S.Ed.

Programs

Education, Culture, and Society Ph.D.

Education, Culture, and Society M.S.Ed.

International Educational Development M.S.Ed.

More Information

Dr. Hornberger’s publications on Scholarly Commons

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Dr. Hornberger talks about her work on bilingualism, biliteracy, and Indigenous language revitalization at classroom, community, and policy levels.

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Biography

Dr. Hornberger is internationally known for her work in bilingualism and biliteracy, ethnography and language policy, and Indigenous language revitalization.

Professional Biography

Dr. Hornberger is internationally known for her work in bilingualism and biliteracy, ethnography and language policy, and Indigenous language revitalization. She researches, lectures, teaches, and consults regularly on multilingual education policy and practice in the United States and the Andes (Peru, Bolivia, and Ecuador) and has also worked in Brazil, China, Mexico, Singapore, South Africa, Sweden and other parts of the world.

After graduating with a B.A. cum laude from Harvard and M.A. from New York University, Dr. Hornberger lived and worked in Quechua-speaking areas of the Andes for over a decade, where she later also carried out her doctoral dissertation research on bilingual education and Indigenous language revitalization. Dr. Hornberger received her Ph.D. in educational policy studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1985 and joined the faculty at Penn's Graduate School of Education the same year, later also joining Penn’s Anthropology Graduate Group. She served as acting and interim dean of Penn GSE from 1993–1995, held the Goldie Anna chair from 1993–1998, and directed/chaired Educational Linguistics for more than 20 years, also convening the annual Nessa Wolfson Colloquium. From 2000–2015, she served as convener of Penn GSE's annual international Ethnography in Education Research Forum, now entering its fifth decade.

Dr. Hornberger is a former editor of the international Anthropology and Education Quarterly and of the ten-volume Encyclopedia of Language and Education (2nd edition, Springer, 2008). Since 1995, she has served as co-editor of the international book series on Bilingual Education and Bilingualism (Multilingual Matters), which has surpassed 100 published books. She serves on the editorial boards of numerous other book series and scholarly journals.

A three-time recipient of the Fulbright Senior Specialist Award — to Paraguay (2001), New Zealand (2002), and South Africa (2008) — Dr. Hornberger has also been recognized with the Distinguished Scholarship and Service Award from the American Association for Applied Linguistics (2008), the University of Pennsylvania Provost’s Award for Distinguished Ph.D. Teaching and Mentoring (2008), Fellow of the American Educational Research Association (2010), and the George and Louise Spindler Award for Distinguished, Exemplary, and Inspirational Contributions to Educational Anthropology (2014). Professor Hornberger received an honorary doctorate from the Faculty of Arts at Umeå University in Sweden (2018) and the Charles A. Ferguson Award for Outstanding Scholarship (2019). She has recently been elected member of the National Academy of Education (2021).

Research Interests and Current Projects

Dr. Hornberger investigates language and education in culturally and linguistically diverse settings, combining methods and perspectives from educational anthropology, linguistic anthropology, and sociolinguistics. She gives special attention to educational policy and practice for Indigenous and immigrant language groups, compared across national contexts. Currently, Dr. Hornberger is working on Multilingual Language Policy and Classroom Practice: Comparative Perspectives on Indigenous Language Revitalization, a series of case studies based on ethnographic research in Bolivia and short-term ethnographic monitoring consultancies and classroom observations in Brazil, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Paraguay, Peru, Singapore, South Africa, Sweden, China, and elsewhere.

Additional long-term research projects include Literacy in Two Languages, an ethnographic school/community study in the Puerto Rican and Cambodian communities of Philadelphia, carried out with participation of Penn GSE students across several decades, and Quechua Language and Literacy in the Urban Andean Highlands, an ethnography of communication in urban contexts of the Andes.

Publications

Featured

Honoring Richard Ruiz and his Work on Language Planning and Bilingual Education

Educational Linguistics: Critical Concepts in Linguistics

Sociolinguistics and Language Education

Can Schools Save Indigenous Languages? Policy and Practice on Four Continents

Continua of Biliteracy: An Ecological Framework for Educational Policy, Research, and Practice in Multilingual Settings

Indigenous Literacies in the Americas

Selected Publications

Hornberger, N. H. (2022). Educational linguistics. In M. Aronoff (Ed.), Oxford bibliographies in linguistics. Oxford University Press.

Hornberger, N. H. (2022). Espacios ideológicos/de implementación en la planificación y política lingüística de la era-Covid: Perspectivas desde comunidades Indígenas del Sur Global. Runa: Archivos para las Ciencias, 43(1), 15–36.

Hornberger, N. H. (2022). Imagining multilingualism with Ofelia: Translanguaging and the continua of biliteracy. In B. Otçu-Grillman & M. Gorjian (Eds.), Re-making multilingualism: A translanguaging approach (pp. 19–31). Multilingual Matters.

Hornberger, N. H. (2022). Researching and teaching (with) the continua of biliteracy. Educational Linguistics 1(1).

Hornberger, N. H. (2022). “Si nosotros no usamos la lengua, ¿quién lo va a hacer?”: La trayectoria de una educadora intercultural bilingüe en la revitalización de la lengua indígena. Bellaterra Journal of Teaching & Learning Language & Literature/Revista electrònica de recerca en Didàctica de la Llengua i la Literatura, 15(1).

Hornberger, N. H. (2021). Foreword: Teaching and researching in linguistically and culturally diverse classrooms. In P. Juvonen & M. Källkvist (Eds.), Pedagogical translanguaging: Theoretical, methodological and empirical perspectives (pp. xi–xxi). Multilingual Matters.

Hornberger, N. H. (2021). Ideological and implementational spaces in Covid-era language policy and planning: Perspectives from Indigenous communities in the Global South. Journal of Multilingual Theories and Practices, 2(1), 71–97.

Zahra, F., & Hornberger, N. H. (2021). Closing the education gap: Time to step up for refugee children. Child & Family Blog.

Hornberger, N. H. (2019). Things I’ve learned about Indigenous education and language revitalization. ReVista: Harvard Review of Latin America.

Hornberger, N. H., & Kvietok Dueñas, F. (2019). Mapeando la enseñanza de biliteracidad en contextos indígenas: Desde la timidez hacia la voz. Revista de Investigación Educativa Peruana, 11, 99-125.

Hornberger, N. H., & Kvietok Dueñas, F. (2019). Mapping biliteracy teaching in Indigenous contexts: From student shyness to student voice. Anthropology and Education Quarterly, 50(1).

Hornberger, N. H., & Limerick, N. (2019). Teachers, textbooks, and orthographic choices in Quechua: Bilingual intercultural education in Peru and Ecuador. In C. Cocq & K. P. H. Sullivan (Eds.), Perspectives on Indigenous Writing and Literacies. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill Publishers.

Hornberger, N. H. (2018). Afterword: Policies, identities, trajectories and practices of multilingual Brazil. In M. C. Cavalcanti & T. M. Maher (Eds.), Multilingual Brazil: Language Resources, Identities and Ideologies in a Globalized World (pp. 241-248). New York: Routledge.

Hornberger, N. H., Anzures Tapia, A., Hanks, D. H., Kvietok Dueñas, F., & Lee, S. S. (2018). Ethnography of language planning and policy. Language Teaching, 51(2), 152-186.

Hornberger, N. H. (Ed.), (2017). Honoring Richard Ruiz and his work on language planning and bilingual education. Bristol, UK: Multilingual Matters.

Hornberger, N. H. (2017). Joshua A. Fishman: a scholar of unfathomable influence. International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 243, 17-28.

De Korne, H. & Hornberger, N. H. (2017). Countering unequal multilingualism through ethnographic monitoring. In M. Martin-Jones & D. Martin (Eds.), Researching Multilingualism: Critical and Ethnographic Approaches (pp. 247-258). New York/London: Routledge.

Gallo, S. & Hornberger, N. H. (2017). Immigration policy as family language policy: Mexican immigrant children and families in search of biliteracy. International Journal of Bilingualism, 1-14.

Hornberger, N. H. (2016). Researching the continua of biliteracy. In K. King, Y. Lai, & S. A. May (Eds.), Research Methods in Language and Education, Vol. 10, Encyclopedia of Language and Education, 3rd ed. (pp. 1-18). Springer International Publishing.

Hornberger, N. H. (2016). Language and voice. Bilingual Research Journal, 39(3-4), 355-356.

Hult, F. & Hornberger, N. H. (2016). Revisiting orientations in language planning: problem, right, and resource as an analytical heuristic. Bilingual Review/Revista Bilingüe, 33(3), 30-49.

Hornberger, N. H., & Outakoski, H. (2015). Sámi time, space, and place: Exploring teachers' metapragmatic statements on Sámi language use, teaching, and revitalization in Sápmi. Confero: Essays on Education, Philosophy and Politics, 3(1), 1–46.

Hornberger, N. H. (2014). “Until I became a professional, I was not, consciously, Indigenous”: One intercultural bilingual educator’s trajectory in Indigenous language revitalization. Journal of Language, Identity, and Education, 13(4), 283–299.

Hornberger, N. H. (2014). On not taking language inequality for granted: Hymesian traces in ethnographic monitoring of South Africa’s multilingual language policy. Multilingua, 33(5/6), 625–647.

Hornberger, N. H. (2013). Negotiating methodological rich points in the ethnography of language policy. International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 219, 101–122.

Hornberger, N. H. (Ed.) (2012). Educational linguistics: Critical concepts in linguistics (Vols. 1–6). London, England and New York, NY: Routledge.

Hornberger, N. H. (2011). Dell H. Hymes: His scholarship and legacy in anthropology and education. Anthropology and Education Quarterly, 42(4), 310–318.

Hornberger, N. H. (2009). Multilingual education policy and practice: Ten certainties (grounded in Indigenous experience). Language Teaching, 42(2), 197–211.

Hornberger, N. H. (2009). Hymes's linguistics and ethnography in education. Text & Talk: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Language, Discourse & Communication Studies, 29(3), 347–358.

Hornberger, N. H. (2009). La educación multilingüe, política y práctica: Diez certezas. Revista Guatemalteca de Educación, 1(1), 1–44.

Hornberger, N. H., & Vaish, V. (2009). Multilingual language policy and school linguistic practice: Globalization and English-language teaching in India, Singapore, and South Africa. Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education, 39(3), 305–320.

Hornberger, N. H. (Ed.). (2008). Can schools save Indigenous languages? Policy and practice on four continents. Hampshire, UK: Palgrave Macmillan.

King, K. A., & Hornberger, N. H. (2006). Quechua as a lingua franca. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 26, 177–194.

Hornberger, N. H. (2006). Voice and biliteracy in indigenous language revitalization: Contentious educational practices in Quechua, Guarani, and Maori contexts. Journal of Language, Identity, and Education, 5(4), 277–292.

Hornberger, N. H. (2005). Opening and filling up implementational and ideological spaces in heritage language education. Modern Language Journal, 89, 605–612.

Hornberger, N. H. (1996). Indigenous literacies in the Americas: Language planning from the bottom up. In N. H. Hornberger (Ed.), Contributions to the sociology of language. Berlin, Germany: Mouton de Gruyter.

McKay, S. L., & Hornberger, N. H. (1996). Sociolinguistics and language teaching. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.

For additional publications by Nancy Hornberger, visit the Scholarly Commons.

Courses

Indigenous Education and Language Revitalization
Language Diversity and Education
Research Seminar: Language Planning and Policy in Education
Dissertation Seminar: Ethnographic Research Methods in Language and Education. Emphasis is on methods of data collection, data analysis, and writing, within the paradigm of ethnographic research in language and education. Students present their own work to the seminar for discussion, critique, and advice.

News & Media

Penn GSE News

Howard Stevenson and Nancy Hornberger elected to the National Academy of Education

Penn GSE’s Howard Stevenson and Nancy Hornberger will be inducted at the National Academy of Education (NAEd) at November’s NAEd Annual Meeting.

March 15, 2021

Awards & Honors

Nancy Hornberger has been recognized with the 2019 Charles A. Ferguson Award for Outstanding Scholarship from the Center for Applied Linguistics on the occasion of its 60th anniversary. The award honors visionaries in applied linguistics for outstanding scholarship, superior leadership skills, and the ability to foster collaborations among a wide range of people to enrich the world around them.

Posted on March 13, 2019

Nancy Hornberger has been awarded an honorary doctorate by Umeå University in Sweden. Since 2012, Dr. Hornberger has served as Visiting Professor to Umeå University's Department of Language Studies, consulting and collaborating on the development of Sámi language teaching, teacher education, and research in support of Sámi Indigenous language revitalization.

Posted on October 16, 2018

Journal Editorial Boards

Anthropology and Education Quarterly

Editorial Board, 2014-present

Applied Linguistics Review

International Advisory Board, 2010-present

Current Issues in Language Planning

Editorial Board, 2000-present

International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism

Editorial Board, 1996-present

International Journal of Multilingualism

Editorial Board, 2002-present

Journal of Ethnographic and Qualitative Research

Editorial Board, 2012-present

Journal of Southeast Asian American Education and Advancement

Editorial Review Board, 2006-present

Language and Education: An International Journal

Editorial Board, 1998-present

NABE Journal for Research and Practice

Emeritus Reviewer, 2012-present

Sociolinguistic Studies

Editorial Board, 2010-present

Written Language and Literacy

Editorial Board, 2003-present

Identifying and Serving the Unique Needs of the Immigrant and Refugee Populations in the US and throughout the World, Virtual Panel with Shirley Brice Heath, Martha Bigelow, Nancy Hornberger, Fatima Zahra and Roberta Miceli, Panel Host, Center for Applied Linguistics, Washington DC, September 17, 2020.
Things I've Learned About Indigenous Education and Language Revitalization.Global Engagement Seminar, Graduate School of Education, University of Pennsylvania, September 2019.
Multilingüismo, una propuesta para no olvidar otras lenguas: Interview, published by Agencia de Noticias Univalle, Universidad del Valle, Cali, Colombia, October 2018
Monolingualism and the continua of biliteracy: Whence and wherefore?: Lecture given at the Institute of Multilingualism, University of Fribourg, Switzerland, November 2018.
Meet IEDP Faculty Edition - Dr. Nancy Hornberger. Interview posted by International Educational Development Program, Graduate School of Education, University of Pennsylvania, May 26, 2017.
Researching and Teaching (with) the Continua of Biliteracy: Lecture given in Language and Literacy Education Division, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, July 2017.
Thoughts on Indigenous Language Revitalization. International Educational Development Program Lecture Series, Graduate School of Education, University of Pennsylvania, March 16, 2016.
The Spirit of Social Justice: Interview, as Visiting Professor, Department of Language Studies, University of Umeå, Sweden, 2014.
Where we are: Struggles and Challenges. Conference on the Future of Anthropology in Schools of Education, Teachers College, Columbia University, 2013 (minutes 5-21).
Revista Argia. Interview in Bilbao, Spain, 2013 (published in euskera).
Radio Euskadi - La Mecánica del Caracol. Interview in Bilbao, Spain, 06/09/2013 (in Spanish, minutes 13:00 to 39:20).

International Advisory Boards

Cambridge Research in Community Language Education Network, International Advisor
Alliance for the Advancement of Heritage Languages, Center for Applied Linguistics, Advisor, 2008-2011
National Heritage Language Resource Center, UCLA, National Advisory Board member
Language Policy Research Network (LPReN) of the International Association of Applied Linguistics (AILA), International Advisory Committee member
Babylon Center for the Study of Superdiversity, University of Tilburg, the Netherlands, TRAnsformations of the Public Sphere affiliated member