Dr. Amie Sarker is an Adjunct Professor of Education at the University of Dallas where she prepares teachers for service in diverse settings including teaching courses in literacy instruction and assessment, ESL, and linguistics. She spent several years teaching ESL and serving as a literacy strategist on a dual language campus in the Texas public school system, supporting bilingual, ESL, and mainstream teachers with program implementation. She also taught English as a foreign language in Taiwan and South Korea. In higher education she designed and served as program administrator for the M.Ed. in Bilingual Education and the M.Ed. in Reading and ESL for Dallas Baptist University. She completed her Ph.D. in Literacy Education and Linguistics at the University of North Texas, M.Ed. at the University of Texas at Arlington, and B.A. in Education at Dallas Baptist University.
She contributes to her discipline by serving on the boards of 2 professional associations, TexTESOL V (currently President-Elect), and Christian English Language Educators Association (currently Treasurer). She serves as a mentor to Santa Clara of Assisi Catholic Academy with the TWIN-CS (Two-Way Immersion Network for Catholic Schools) program organized by Boston College. She is also involved in an international non-profit that operates 22 small primer schools in rural Bangladesh.
She has conducted research with culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) students and their teachers and has presented at multiple research and teacher professional development conferences on topics related to working with CLD students. Her research interests focus on culturally responsive instruction and literacy instruction for CLD students, including teacher self-efficacy and funds of knowledge integration. She is also engaging in research with rural literacy development work in Bangladesh (international bilingual literacy focus in post-colonial contexts). Dr. Sarker is passionate about affirming and developing the language and literacy competencies of diverse learners and their teachers, both in the U.S. and abroad.
- Ph.D. in Reading Education
- University of North Texas
- Minor in Linguistics
- 2013 Outstanding Dissertation Award from the Association of Literacy Educators and Researchers. Presented at the Association of Literacy Educators and Researchers Annual Conference, Dallas, TX.
- 2014 IRA (International Reading Association) Outstanding Dissertation Award Finalist, recognized at the 59th IRA Annual Conference Research Address and Awards Session (May 10th, 2014) in New Orleans.
- M.Ed. in Curriculum and Instruction
- University of Texas at Arlington
- Specialization: Literacy and ESL
- Certifications: Reading Specialist (EC-12), Master Reading Teacher (EC-12), English as a Second Language (EC-12)
- B.A. in Elementary Education
- Dallas Baptist University
- Certifications: Elementary Self-contained (Grades 1-8), Reading (Grades 1-8)
- EDU 3101 - Education Practicum – Elementary Reading
- EDU 3323 - Developmental Reading
- EDU 3324 - Diagnostic and Corrective Reading
- EDU 5354 - Language Acquisition / Linguistics
- EDU 5355 - Foundations of ESL Instruction
- Sarker, A. (2014). Developing Culturally Responsive Literacy Teachers: Analysis of Academic, Demographic, and Experiential Factors Related to Teacher Self-Efficacy. Doctoral Dissertation Award Winner. Association of Literacy Educators and Researchers Yearbook, 36, 41-59.
- Sarker, A. & Shearer, R. (2013). Developing literacy skills for global citizenship: Exploring personal culture and mining cultural gems from classroom experts. English in Texas, 43(2), 4-10.
- Mohr, K., Lane, F., & Sarker, A. (2010). Paths to culturally responsive instruction: Preservice teachers’ readiness beliefs. National Reading Conference Yearbook, 59, 304-314.
- Sarker, A. (2007). English-Only or English-Plus? What’s an English language arts teacher to do? English in Texas, 37(1), 10-12.
- Mathis, J., Blackburn, S., Johnson, S., Sarker, A., Taliaferro, C., & Walker, K. (2006). Professional resources: Instruction that invites involvement in the global community. Journal of Children’s Literature, 32(2), 88-91.
- Sarker, A. (2016). Faith and family text set projects for developing second language literacy skills. Presentation at the Christians in English Language Teaching (CELT) TESOL Affiliate Conference, April 9th, 2016, Baltimore, Maryland.
- Sarker, A. & Sarker, A. (2015). Addressing equity issues at the intersection of poverty and illiteracy in Bangladesh. Paper presentation at the Literacy Research Association Conference, December 2-5, 2015, Carlsbad, California.
- Sarker, A. (2015). Preparing literacy teachers to work with culturally and linguistically diverse students: Exploration of the Culturally Responsive Teaching Continuum. Paper presentation at the European Conference on Literacy, Klagenfurt, Austria, July 13-16, 2015.
- Sarker, A. (2013). Analyzing teacher self-efficacy for delivering culturally-responsive literacy instruction for ELLs. Paper presentation at the TESOL Conference, March 20-23, 2013, Dallas, TX.
- Sarker, A. & Shearer, R. (2012). Developing global civic responsibility and English language development through international literature and social action. Session presentation at the International Reading Association Conference, April 29-May 2, 2012, Chicago, IL.
- Sarker, A. & Sarker, A. (2008). Literacy in the Bangladeshi Context: Reflections from an Ethnographic Study on Home, School, and Community Literacy Practices in Bangladesh. Paper presentation at the 22nd World Congress on Reading, July 28-31, 2008, San Jose, Costa Rica.
- Sarker, A. & Mathis, J. (2007). Developing Literacy in English Language Learners: Sociocultural Contexts. Paper presentation at the 5th ANUPI (Asociacion Nacional Universitaria de Profesores de Ingles) Congress, September 27-30, 2007, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.
- Sarker, A. (2016). Strategies for developing English learners’ academic language proficiency. Presentation at the National Catholic Educators Association Conference, March 29-31, 2016, San Diego, California.