Casilde A. Isabelli, Ph.D.

Summary

Casilde A. Isabelli, (Ph.D. Spanish Linguistics and Second Language Acquisition and Teaching, 2001, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign), is a professor of Spanish linguistics and since 2022 has been serving as the dean of the College of Liberal Arts.

Since arriving in 2000, Isabelli served as the Director of the Basic Spanish Language Program (2001-2014) training and supervising GTAs, and as Chair of the Department of World Languages and Literatures (2014-2022). She has taught a range of lower- and upper-division courses in the Spanish B.A. program, in addition to graduate-level courses in the Spanish M.A. program. She also co-hosted the 2019 15th Generative Approaches to Second Language Acquisition Conference, is the faculty advisor for the University's Sigma Delta Pi (National Hispanic Honor Society Chapter), and has hosted several on-campus scholar visits (Abbott, Potowski, Montrul, Hopp, Cunnings).

Research interests

Her research interests include

• Psycholinguistics
• Syntactic Processing
• Hispanic Linguistics
• Heritage Language Acquisition
• Second Language Acquisition
• Language Acquisition in a Study Abroad and Service-Learning Setting

Scholarly books

• Isabelli-García, C.L, Isabelli, C.A. (2020). Researching Second Language Acquisition in Study Abroad Learning Environment: An Introduction for Student Researchers. Palgrave Macmillian.

Language textbooks

• Fonder-Solano, L., Isabelli, C.A., Martínez, M.M. (2024). En tu medio (2nd ed.) Vista Higher Learning. (2018).
  • First edition, Wiley.
• Dorwick, T., Perez Girones, A.M., Becher, A., Isabelli, C.A. (2012). Puntos de partida: An invitation to Spanish (9th ed.). McGraw-Hill Publishers.

Peer-reviewed articles & chapters

• Nishida, C. Rodríguez Riccelli, A., Isabelli, C.A. (2024). Adult heritage speakers of Spanish in the US and subject placement in presentational unaccusative sentences: How are their grammars constrained? Lingua,103630.
• Isabelli, C.A. (2021). Contextual effects in processing OVS constructions in Spanish: A partial replication of VanPatten and Houston (1998) and Malovrh (2006). In Michael J. Leeser, Gregory D. Keating and Wynne Wong (Eds.), Research on second language processing and processing instruction. Studies in honor of Bill VanPatten (Studies in bilingualism series), (pp. 183-199). Philadelphia, PA: John Benjamins Press.
• Lafford, B., & Isabelli, C.A. (2018). Programas de estudios en el extranjero. In J. Muñoz-Basols, E. Gironzetti, & M. Lacorte (Eds.), The Routledge handbook of Spanish language teaching: Metodologías, contextos y recursos para la enseñanza del español L2 (pp. 505-518). London, UK: Routledge.
• Isabelli, C.A., & Muse, S. (2016). Heritage-language learners of Spanish and their service learning experience. Heritage Language Journal, Special Issue on Service Learning, 13(3), 331-353.
• Isabelli, C.A. (2013). Student learning outcomes in hybrid and face-to-face beginning Spanish language courses. The future of education: Conference proceedings 2013 (pp. 649-654). Libreriauniversitaria.it Edizioni.
• Isabelli, C.A. (2008). First noun principle or L1 transfer principle in SLA? Hispania, 91(2), 463-476.
• Isabelli, C.A. (2007). Development of the Spanish subjunctive by advanced learners: Study-abroad followed by at-home instruction. Foreign Language Annals, 40(2), 330-341.
• Isabelli, C.A. (2006a). Mood selection: Northern Nevada Latinos. Academic Exchange Quarterly, 10(1), 18-22.
• Isabelli, C.A. (2006b). Use of Spanish among the Latino community in Northern Nevada. Border-Lines: Journal of the Latino Research Center, 1(1), 16-35.
• Isabelli, C.A., & Nishida, C. (2005).  Development of Spanish subjunctive in a nine-month study-abroad setting. In D. Eddington (Ed.), Selected proceedings of the 6th conference on the acquisition of Spanish and Portuguese as first and second languages (pp. 78-91). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla.
• Isabelli, C.A. (2004a). Study abroad for advanced foreign language majors: Optimal duration for developing complex structures. In H. Byrnes & H. Maxim (Eds.), Advanced foreign language learning: A challenge to college programs (pp. 114-130). Boston, MA: Heinle & Heinle.
• Isabelli, C.A. (2004b). The acquisition of the null subject parameter properties in SLA: Some effects of positive evidence in a natural learning setting. Hispania, 87, 150-162.

Education

• Ph.D., Spanish Applied Linguistics, and a certificate in Second Language Acquisition and Teacher Education, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2001. One-year dissertation research and teaching award, University of Barcelona, Spain (1997-1998).
• M.A., Hispanic Literature and Linguistics, University of Iowa, 1994
• B.A., Mathematics (Computer Science) and Spanish, Illinois State University, 1992; Senior-year study abroad, Centro de Enseñanza Para Extranjeros, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), Mexico City, Mexico.