jenelle reeves

Jenelle Reeves Professor & Graduate Chair

2002 Ph.D., University of Tennessee, Language, Literacy, and ESL Education
1996 M.Ed., University of Washington, Curriculum and Instruction: Teaching English as a second language
1991 B.A., Central College, English

Dr. Reeves’ research focuses on teacher identity development in multilingual schooling contexts. Specifically, she is interested in how teachers of English-learning multilinguals conceptualize effective instruction, position themselves and learners in multilingual classrooms, and develop expertise for teaching with multilinguals. Dr. Reeves is also interested in the potential of travel study for teacher learning, and she leads travel study trips to South Korea, the Netherlands, and Ecuador exploring the schooling of immigrant, indigenous, and newcomer youth in these contexts.

Dr. Reeves is the graduate program chair for the Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher education, and she is a contributing faculty to the university’s ELL endorsement and TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) graduate certificate. 

She teaches courses related to language education, curriculum, and educational research, including:

TEAC 413/813P Teaching English as an International Language

TEAC 949 Seminar in Education: Curriculum Studies

TEAC 801 Curriculum Inquiry

TEAC 833 Comparative Education: Ecuador

TEAC 902A: Language Policy: Ecuador

TEAC 413/813A Second Language Acquisition

TEAC 317 Teaching Multilingual Learners in Elementary Schools

TEAC 813M Teaching Multilingual Learners in Content Areas

TEAC 413E Special Topics: Immigrant Education in the Dutch Context

  

Selected Publications

Reeves, J., Leijgraaf, M. & Gu, X. (in press). “I am not the other”: A Yazidi American teacher’s identity work. In Language Teacher Identity Tensions: Nexus of Agency, Emotion, and Investment, edited by Zia Teheddin and Bedrettin Yazan.  Routledge. To be published March 2024.

Wessels, S., Catalano, T., Reeves, J., Leonard, A., Ganesan, U., Barbici-Wagner, A., & Gallardo, C. (2023). “Just attaching a face”: Engaging local refugee communities in preservice teacher education focused on students with immigrant/refugee backgrounds. TESOL Journal. DOI: 10.1002/tesj.782

Reeves, J. (2023). Bilingual paraeducators’ navigation of narrow identity spaces in a rural elementary school. In Educating Multilingual Students in Rural Schools: Illuminating Diversity in Rural Communities in the United States, edited by M. R. Coady, P. Golombek, and N. Marichal, pp. 70-97. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill.

Reeves J. (2022). Understanding language teacher agency. In Theory and Practice in Second Language Teacher Identity: Researching, Theorizing, and Enacting, edited by K. Sadeghi and F. Ghaderi, pp. 75-88. Switzerland: Springer.

Catalano, T., Ganesan, U., Barbici-Wagner, A., Reeves, J., Leonard, A., & Wessels, S. (2021). Dance as Dialog: A Metaphor Analysis of Arts and Community-Based Learning with Preservice Teachers and a Local Refugee Community.  Teaching and Teacher Education, 104, 103369.

Catalano, T., Reeves, J. & Wessels, S. (2018). "The soccer field, it has dirt”: A critical analysis of teacher learners in contact with emergent multilingual students. Critical Inquiry in Language Studies, (15)1, 1-20.   

Reeves, J. (2018). Teacher identity. In TESOL Encyclopedia of English Language Teaching, J.I. Liontas (Ed), pp. 1-7. Oxford, UK: Wiley.

Reeves, J. (2018). Teacher identity work in neoliberal schooling spaces. Teaching and Teacher Education, (72), 98-106.

Wessels, S., Trainin, G., Reeves, J., Catalano, T., & Deng, Q. (2017). Preservice teachers’ confidence and attitudes toward teaching English learners. Teacher Education and Practice, (30)3, 443-461.

Varghese, M. M., Motha, S., Park, G., Reeves, J. & Trent, J. (2016). In this issue.  TESOL Quarterly, 50, 545-571. 

 

Honors and Recognition

Fulbright Hays Group Projects Abroad, U.S. Department of Education grant winner (2019 – 2023). Education fever: Lessons for Great Plains K-12 teachers in Korea’s education system. (2019 - 2023). Principal investigator. Award of $87,351. Dr. Reeves led 12 Nebraska teachers on a 4 week travel study of Korean language, culture, and educational system.

Donald R. and Mary Lee Swanson Award for Excellence in Teaching (2015). 

College of Education and Human Sciences (CEHS) Distinguished Teaching Award.  (2011).

TESOL (Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages), Inc. Teacher Education Interest Section (2013). Chair.


Areas of Expertise:

    English Learners
    Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages
    Teacher Identity
    Teacher Development

Professional Highlights


Honors and Recognition
2015, Donald R. and Mary Lee Swanson Award for Excellence in Teaching2011, College of Education and Human Sciences Distinguished Teaching Award2011, Teacher Education Interest Section (TEIS) Chair elect, Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL)2006, Schooling in Nebraska’s demographically transitioning communities, $15,000 Grant Funding, Initiative for Teaching and Learning Excellence, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Project Co-director with Edmund T. Hamann2005, Monolingual Teachers, Multilingual Students, $2,850 Competitive research grant proposal, Project director, Office of the Vice President for Research, Auburn University2003, Preparing all teachers to work successfully with English language learners, $1,995.85 College of Education National Advisory Council, Auburn University
Experience
2005-Present, Associate Professor (promoted 2011), Department of Teaching, Learning and Teacher Education, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, Nebraska2002-2005, Assistant Professor and ESL Education Program Coordinator, Department of Curriculum and Teaching, Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama1999-2002, Teaching Associate and Intern Supervisor, Department of Theory and Practice in Teacher Education, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee2000-2001, ESL Instructor, English Language Institute, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee2000-2001, Freelance Item Writer, Test of English for International Communication (TOEIC), Princeton, New Jersey1997-1999, Visiting Lecturer of ESL, Department of English Education, Chunchon National University of Education, Chunchon, South Korea1991-1993, High School ESL Teacher, Japan Exchange and Teaching Program (JET), Niigata Prefecture, Japan
Memberships
Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) [Affiliate memberships: KOTESOL, AMTESOL, MidTESOL]American Anthropological Association (AAA)American Association of Educational Research (AERA)National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE)Southeast Conference of Language Teachers (SCOLT)