Profile picture for Melissa A Bowles

Contact Information

University of Illinois
Dept. of Linguistics, MC-168
707 South Mathews Avenue
Urbana, IL 61801
USA
Office: 4150C Foreign Languages Bldg.

Professor

Research Interests

classroom second language acquisition
heritage language acquisition
language testing and assessment

Education

Georgetown University, Ph.D. (with distinction)
Georgetown University, M.S.
University of Virginia, B.A. (with highest distinction)

Awards and Honors

Helen Corley Petit Scholar (AY2011-2012), College of Liberal Arts & Sciences

Additional Campus Affiliations

Head, Spanish and Portuguese
Professor, Spanish and Portuguese
Professor, Linguistics
Professor, Educational Psychology
Professor, Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies

Recent Publications

Bowles, M. A., & Torres, J. (2025). HERITAGE LANGUAGE ACQUISITION. In The Routledge Handbook of Language Program Development and Administration (pp. 60-70). Taylor and Francis. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003361213-7

Saez-Fajardo, S., & Bowles, M. A. (2025). Validity evidence for an EIT as an assessment for Spanish heritage speakers and L2 learners. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 47(2), 650-676. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0272263125000130

Yan, X., & Bowles, M. (2024). Ethical issues in language testing. In P. I. De Costa, A. Rabie-Ahmed, & C. Cinaglia (Eds.), Ethical Issues in Applied Linguistics Scholarship (pp. 235-248). (Research Methods in Applied Linguistics; Vol. 7). John Benjamins Publishing Company. https://doi.org/10.1075/rmal.7.15yan

Leow, R. P., & Bowles, M. A. (2023). Verbally mediated data: Concurrent/retrospective verbalizations via think-aloud protocols and stimulated recalls. In R. M. Manchón, & J. R. de Larios (Eds.), Research Methods in the Study of L2 Writing Processes (pp. 104-122). (Research Methods in Applied Linguistics; Vol. 5). John Benjamins Publishing Company. https://doi.org/10.1075/rmal.5.05leo

Bowles, M. A., & Torres, J. (2022). Instructed Heritage Language Acquisition. In S. Montrul, & M. Polinsky (Eds.), The Cambridge Handbook of Heritage Languages and Linguistics (pp. 826-850). (Cambridge Handbooks in Language and Linguistics). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108766340.037

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