Catherine O’Connor

Dr. Catherine O’Connor is Professor of Education and Linguistics at Boston University. Her work in education explores the teacher’s role in creating inclusive, equitable, and conceptually fruitful classroom discussions. She has focused on the role of discussion in support of student reasoning in literacy and mathematics learning in a variety of school settings, leading to funded research projects, research publications, and materials for teachers. Her work in linguistics centers on language documentation of endangered languages, including work on Northern Pomo, a dormant language of Northern California, and Medumba, a language of Cameroon. Her ongoing work of Northern Pomo supports recent advances in the revitalization of the language among descendants of the original speakers. She is currently engaged in creating curriculum for tribal revitalization efforts, including a sequence of high school courses.