Two TU professors receive prestigious Spencer Grants
Learn about Alisha Reaves’, Danielle Sutherland’s historic research
By Casey Bordick '18 '24 on May 6, 2024
Towson University assistant professors Alisha Reaves and Danielle Sutherland are the first Spencer Grant recipients at TU. Dr. Reaves received her award in June 2023 and Dr. Sutherland received her award in 2024.
Reaves was a Spencer Grant finalist in spring 2022.
The Spencer Foundation states the goal of the research grant is, “to support rigorous, intellectually ambitious and technically sound research that is relevant to the most pressing questions and compelling opportunities in education.”
Reaves’ research on second-language acquisition and Sutherland’s research on anti-critical race theory (CRT) legislation reflect those objectives.
Dr. Alisha Reaves
- Department of Languages, Literatures & Cultures
- Awarded $50,000
- Grant is active from Jan. 1, 2024, to Dec. 31, 2025
Reaves, the only French linguist on campus, is researching high-variability phonetic training (HVPT), a technique used in phonetics laboratories to help learners of foreign languages acquire new sounds, and the technique’s impact on learning a second language.
“The first step in learning a new language is understanding and hearing the distinction between sounds,” Reaves says, “With the HVPT model, we have created a series of tasks organized by hearing sound differences in words that sound similar.”
The program has recently been piloted in Reaves’ beginner French class and French Phonetics classes in the College of Liberal Arts. In the tasks, students will see two similar-sounding words on a computer screen and choose the word they hear. The exercise repeats through a series of words.
In her beginner French course, she explains, one “focus is in getting students to distinguish between le, la and les. Hearing the difference between the masculine, the feminine and the plural is crucial in learning French, and students may feel lost if they continue their education without understanding those differences.”
Reaves’ research is a multi-institutional collaboration being piloted in New York University French classes, University of North Carolina at Wilmington (UNCW) and Michigan State Spanish classes, and UNCW and Illinois Wesleyan University Japanese classes.
The Spencer Grant award will help Reaves fund the development of an open-source website for French, Spanish or Japanese students to learn phonetic differences in a second language.
“It is very exciting,” she says. “We had been working on this project for about two years before piloting it, and this funding will take it to the next level. I am so proud of the work we have put in and can’t wait to see where this next phase takes us.”
Reaves is planning on piloting the new website throughout fall 2024 to have a solid platform that can be widely disbursed by spring 2025.
Dr. Danielle Sutherland
- Department of Secondary and Middle School Education
- Awarded $60,000
- Grant is active from April 1, 2024, to Sept. 30, 2025
Dr. Sutherland, assistant professor in the College of Education, focuses on how anti-critical race theory legislation impacts the teacher labor market. In this qualitative study, Sutherland is interviewing teacher candidates currently searching for a teaching position to better understand how these restrictive measures inform the schools, districts and states where candidates seek positions. The legislation, currently passed in 22 states, limits how teachers may discuss or teach about race, gender and sexual identity.
“The research focuses on pre-service teachers,” says Sutherland. “Discussing a pivot of interest or longevity in the labor market for those in states that have passed anti-critical race theory legislation.”
The teacher candidates in Sutherland’s research are searching for positions across grade levels, and their disciplines vary. Findings from the pilot study, demonstrated, “different exposure across subjects.” She says, “for example, math teachers did not see how the legislation was an issue, but social studies and English teachers feel more acutely towards the changes.”
Sutherland will interview teachers in Oklahoma, Missouri, Texas, Tennessee, North Carolina, Virginia, Florida and Georgia and survey how these restrictions influence the supply and distribution of teachers in these states.
“The emphasis on curriculum changes due to anti-critical race theory has initially shown to create threats to the labor force.” Sutherland explains, “teachers are not going back home if their home state has passed this legislation and (in-service) resignations have gone up.”
The goal for her research is to provide awareness for how the political climate may affect where teachers want to teach, to bring awareness to districts and to understand the impact this might have on teacher supply and longevity.
“I originally thought I wasn’t going to get the Spencer Grant, but after performing upwards of 65 interviews, I am very proud of what we have accomplished,” says Sutherland.
She plans to review her findings from the collected pilot data throughout the spring and summer semesters in 2024. In fall 2024, Sutherland will start developing papers that highlight the relationship between the anti-critical race theory legislation and the teacher labor market, and the influence of politicization on how LGBTQ teacher candidates evaluate teaching positions.
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