Christina L. Dobbs
Program Director, English Education for Equity & Justice
Associate Professor
Dr. Christina L. Dobbs is an associate professor and director of the English Education for Equity & Justice program at Boston University Wheelock College of Education & Human Development. Her research interests include adolescent writing development in the disciplines, supporting culturally and linguistically diverse students in secondary classrooms, disciplinary literacy, and teacher beliefs and professional learning. Additionally, she does research about the experiences of women of color in the academy.
Dr. Dobbs’ work has been published in the Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, TESOL Journal, Reading and Writing, English Journal, Bilingual Research Journal, Reading Research Quarterly, Professional Development in Education, and the Journal of School Leadership.
She is the author of several books, including Investigating Disciplinary Literacy and Disciplinary Literacy Inquiry & Instruction (2nd ed.), and Critical Disciplinary Literacy, and she is the editor of Preparing Antiracist Teachers and Until Every Woman is Free. She edits the Journal of Literacy Research. She is a former high school teacher in Houston, Texas, as well as a literacy coach and reading specialist.
Recent News
- Tackling Tough Conversations in the Classroom
- BU Wheelock Scholarly Accomplishments February 2025
- Five BU Wheelock Faculty Promoted
- Why BU Wheelock Changed Its English Education MAT Degree
In the Media
Education
EdD, Human Development & Education, Harvard Graduate School of Education
MEd, Language & Literacy, Harvard Graduate School of Education
BA, English, Texas A&M University
Selected Publications
Books
Dobbs, C. L., & Leider, C. M. (Eds.). (forthcoming). Until every woman is free: Equity and belonging in the academy through duoethnography. Lexington Books.
Leider, C. M., Dobbs, C. L., & Nerlino, E. (Eds.). (2024). Preparing antiracist teachers: Fostering anti-bias and equity in teacher preparation. Routledge.
Dobbs, C. L., Ippolito, J., Charner-Laird, M., & Leider, C. M. (2024). Critical disciplinary literacy: An equity-driven and culturally responsive approach to disciplinary learning and teaching. Routledge.
Ippolito, J., Dobbs, C. L., & Charner-Laird, M. (2024). Disciplinary literacy inquiry & instruction (2nd ed.). Harvard Education Press.
Neugebauer, S., Phillips Galloway, E., & Dobbs, C. L. (2023). Reimagining language instruction: Promoting language awareness inquiry in schools. Teachers College Press.
Dobbs, C. L., Ippolito, J., & Charner-Laird, M. (2017). Investigating disciplinary literacy: A framework for collaborative professional learning. Harvard Education Press.
Articles
Leider, C. M., Dobbs, C. L. & Phillips Galloway, E. (2024). Are we language teacher educators?: Using linguistic cartography to support teacher identity development around language. TESOL Journal. Online First.
Dobbs, C. L. & Leider, C. M. (2024). “I still think that standard English is important”: Secondary ELA teachers’ complex beliefs about foundational language for writing. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy. Online First.
Dobbs, C. L. & Leider, C. M. (2024). The centrality of English as one legacy of Lau: A critical race theory analysis of Massachusetts policy for English learners. Bilingual Research Journal. Online First.
Fields, S. S. & Dobbs, C. L. (2024). “Oh my god, I did that!”: Proud writing moments as a key ingredient for supportive and individualized writing instruction. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, 67, 317-323.
Forzani, E., Dobbs, C. L., Leider, C. M., Malik, E., Gragg, M., Greszczuk, C. & Jesberger, C. (2024). Students as partners: Using an equity-oriented Critical Assessment Practices (CAPS) approach in reading to empower students and inform instruction. The Reading Teacher, 77(5), 756-764.
Dobbs, C. L., Consalvo, A., Covino, K., David, A., Emeran, C. & Mason, P. (2024). “Lots of ways to be brave”: A teacher’s guide to facing censorship. English Journal 113(3), 22-28.
Dobbs, C. L., Forzani, E. & Leider, C. M. (2023). How critical is critical enough?: Forefronting critical consciousness when engaging in Critical Online Reasoning and Evaluation (CORE). The Reading Teacher, 77(2), 217-225.
Fulmer, E., Dobbs, C. L., Wiesner, E. & Weinberg, A. (2022). Agency and didactical disciplinary literacy in a calculus textbook. Reading Psychology, 43(3), 628-659.
Dobbs, C. L., Leider, C. M. & Tigert, J. (2022). A space for culturally and linguistically diverse learners?: Using S-STEP to examine world language teacher education. International Multilingual Research Journal, 16(3), 237-245.
Dobbs, C. L., Caselli, N., Hartzell, E., Flanagan, C. & Yan, Y. (2022). Understanding middle graders’ language borrowing: How lexical and demographic characteristics predict similarity. Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 35(4), 971-994.
Dobbs, C. L. & Leider, C. M. (2021). Value for language diversity: A framework for creating rubrics to support linguistically diverse students. English Journal, 110(6), 60-68.
Dobbs, C. L. & Leider, C. M. (2021). “Does this happen to everyone?”: Women professors of color reflect on experiences in the academy, a duoethnography. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 36(7), 1371-1385.