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.
Selected Publications
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
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