As a TESOL PhD candidate from the Department of Teaching and Learning, NYU Steinhardt, I am interested in researching on the issues of technology-based literacy education, cross-cultural communication, language variation, and second language acquisition. Particularly, I focus on studying language learners' academic and social challenges and help them become successful multilingual/multicultural communicators. I believe it is important for educators to help bridge the sociolinguistic gaps between students' first language and new language(s).
For my dissertation, I am exploring Chinese pre- and in-service teachers' language ideologies. Through this project, I would like to help teachers understand the diversity of Chinese language varieties and provide scaffolding for learners from various language backgrounds.
Selected Publications
Eisenstein Ebsworth, M., Cai, C., & McCoy, L. (2019). Adolescent ELLs improve their academic English while learning about the UN online. Languages, 4(1), 9 (pp. 1-18).
Eisenstein Ebsworth, M., Ebsworth, T., & Cai, C. (2018). English acquisition in Puerto Rico: Teachers' insights. Bilingual Research Journal, 41(1), 69-88. DOI: 10.1080/15235882.2017.1413441
Cai, C. & Eisenstein Ebsworth, M. (2018). Chinese language varieties: Pre- and in-service teachers' voices. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 39(6), 511-525. DOI: 10.1080/01434632.2017.1397160
Eisenstein Ebsworth, M., McDonell, T., Defazio, T., & Cai, C. (2017). Hypertext versus footnotes: High school English learners' online reading recall. IALLT Journal of Language Learning Technologies, 47(1), 81-115.
Cai, C. & Eisenstein Ebsworth, M. (2016). Chinese language or dialect: What's in a name? NABE Perspectives, 39(1), 18-19.