foreign language curriculum and instruction

multiliteracies framework

teacher cognition

sociocultural theory

Kate Paesani is the Director for the Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition (CARLA) and Associate Professor in the Department of French and Italian at the University of Minnesota. At CARLA, her work includes directing the foreign language literacies and language program direction projects, overseeing the creation of conference organizing resources, and teaching an annual CARLA summer institute.

Her research focuses on literacy-based curriculum and instruction and foreign language teacher development, couched within the frameworks of multiliteracies pedagogy and sociocultural theory. She has published on applications of multiliteracies pedagogy in collegiate foreign language programs, integrating language and literary-cultural content in curriculum and instruction, foreign language program articulation, teacher conceptual development, and program assessment and evaluation. She is co-editor of Issues in Language Program Direction, the annual book series of the American Association of University Supervisors and Coordinators (AAUSC). She has also served as AAUSC President and is a 2016 recipient of Wayne State University's Board of Governors Faculty Recognition Award for her co-authored book, A Multiliteracies Framework for Collegiate Foreign Language Teaching.