Esteban Diaz

Affiliation

CSU San Bernardino

Biography

Dr. Esteban Díaz is Professor Emeritus at California State University, San Bernardino (CSUSB). At CSUSB he has taught classes on Vygotsky’s sociocultural factors that impact on the optimal educational development of bilingual Latino children. He has also taught classes on Language and Cognition. Esteban was a member of Michael Cole’s Laboratory of Comparative Human Cognition (LCHC) at the University of California San Diego and participated in several projects based on Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory. He co-conducted two important studies with Luis Moll. One was an examination of classroom practices that promote bilingualism and biliteracy in the classroom. They also conducted a community based ethnography of a Latino barrio south of San Diego and organized community based professional development for teachers of the community’s bilingual students to incorporate ethnographic findings into classroom lessons. Luis later expanded aspects of this approach in his Funds of Knowledge work. Dr. Díaz has also worked with Dr. Barbara Flores on the application of Vygotskian theory in examining and using literacy practices that promote biliteracy with Latino students. They have presented this research throughout the U.S. and the Americas. He is considered an authority and practitioner of research with bilingual students based the Vygotskian theoretical framework. He received his Doctorate in Human Development from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.