Ricardo Estremera

Affiliation

Questar III BOCES - RBERN

Biography

Ricardo studied Spanish linguistics with a minor in Latin American and Caribbean Studies and Secondary education at the University at Albany, SUNY. He is a doctorate candidate investigating the outcomes of dialect contact between Dominican and Puerto Rican Spanish in Puerto Rico. He researches how social factors can affect the acquisition and use of specific linguistic features in Dominican Spanish and how these factors can affect the identity of second-generation Dominicans in Puerto Rico. Besides his dissertation, his research interest includes heritage language acquisition, specifically the contribution of psychosocial and biographical variables to heritage language learners’ linguistic knowledge of Spanish. Ricardo has 12 years of experience teaching Spanish, linguistics, and cultural and methodology courses. He taught mainly in higher Ed. (University at Albany, Florida State University, Mercyhurst University & Penn State University) with two years at the high school level in Tallahassee, FL, and Albany, NY. Aside from his job duties, Ricardo has been a professional athlete and competed internationally for Puerto Rico. He is currently working at Questar III BOCES as a Program Support Specialist for RBERN. At his job, he provides support to teachers and administrators of different districts in the Capital Region of NY, in matters related to bilingual education, dual language programming, World Language, heritage language learning, as well as multicultural education.