Maria Belen Buttiler

Education

Ph.D., in Education: Language, Literacy, and Culture, May 2025. University of California, Davis.

M.A. in Applied Linguistics: TESOL, May 2020. Michigan State University.

B.A. in English Language and Literature, June 2015. Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Argentina.

Research Experience

Lead Researcher, R&D Team, Blossom Project
Transcendent Endeavors, New York City, N.Y. (Jul 2024 – present)

I coordinate outreach and recruitment efforts for participant engagement, including parents, children, teachers, and administrators, for learning product testing. I conduct interviews and surveys with a range of stakeholders, such as parents, teachers, and librarians, to inform program development and improvement. My role also involves collecting and analyzing both qualitative and quantitative data, drafting research findings, and preparing reports for internal and external stakeholders.

Graduate Student Researcher, Supervisor: Dr. Uchikoshi
Language and Literacy Development Lab, University of California, Davis (Oct 2021 - present)

My responsibilities include attending weekly meetings to discuss ongoing projects, data, and necessary adjustments. coordinating recruitment efforts and training Research Assistants to support on-site recruitment, conducting phone screening calls, and overseeing the parent interviews and child language and social-emotional assessments. I also design and conduct semi-structured interviews with preschool teachers and immigrant parents, supervise data entry, cleaning, and validation processes, and mentor undergraduate students. I coordinate community outreach activities, (e.g., book readings and face painting for children) and hold literacy workshops for parents and teachers.

Doctoral Research Assistant, Dr. Jimenez-Silva and Dr. Carando
Quarter at Aggie Square, Multilingual Education for California, University of California, Davis
(March - Aug 2021)

In this role, I assisted with literature reviews, sorted through websites to gather key demographic information, prepared documents and manuscripts, organized data, and assisted with survey data collection and data analysis.

Doctoral Research Assistant, Dr. Jimenez-Silva
Family Science Project, University of California, Davis (Mar - Nov 2021)

I co-designed and taught a 7-week Science curriculum for Latinx caregivers and their 6th-grade daughters. During the program, I conducted weekly conversation groups and surveys with the girls and focus groups with the caregivers. I also transcribed video and audio-recorded interactions between caregivers and daughters.

Graduate Research Assistant, Dr. Loewen
Second Language Studies, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI (May - Aug 2020)

I processed incoming manuscripts for The Modern Language Journal and participated in the initial screening process recommending potential reviewers. I also transcribed pedagogical interactions between native Spanish speakers and learners of Spanish and coded and analyzed the interactions that took place on an audio-video conferencing platform.

Teaching Experience

Teaching Assistant
School of Education, University of California, Davis (2020 - present)

• EDU/LIN 173: Language Development – Fall 2020, 2021, 2022
• EDU 100: Introduction to Schools – Winter 2021
• EDU 152: Communication Skills for Bilingual Teachers – Winter 2021
• EDU 150: Cultural Diversity and Education in a Sociopolitical Context – Spring 2021, 2022
• EDU 122: Children, Learning, and Material Culture – Summer 2021, Spring 2024, Fall 2024
• EDU 110: Educational Psychology – Winter 2022, Winter 2024

Instructor: Integrated Grammar
Continuing and Professional Education, University of California, Davis (Jul - Aug 2024)

Instructor: Communication and Culture Program
Continuing and Professional Education, University of California, Davis (Jul - Aug 2023)

ESL Instructor: Listening and Speaking
Continuing and Professional Education: International, University of California, Davis (Apr - Jun 2023​)

Associate Instructor: EDU 150 Cultural Diversity & Educ. in a Sociopolitical Context
School of Education, University of California, Davis (Jun - Jul 2022)

Pronunciation Instructor
Graduate program at Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI (2018 – 2020)

ESL Instructor
ELC Summer Junior Program at the University of California, Los Angeles (Jul - Aug 2019)

ESL Instructor
Community-based ESL program at Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI (​Mar - Apr 2019)

EFL Instructor
Escuela de Lenguas at Universidad Nacional de La Plata, La Plata, Argentina (​2016 - 2018)

English Language and Science Teacher
Crisol, Bilingual School (ENG-SPA), La Plata, Argentina (​2015 - 2018)

EFL Instructor
Lenguas Vivas, Language School, La Plata, Argentina (2014 - 2017)

Graduate Teaching Assistant
School of Humanities and Education Sciences at Universidad Nacional de La Plata (​Feb - Mar 2016)

English and Spanish Instructor
Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia de Pernambuco (IFPE), Brazil (Nov - Dec 2013​)

Honors and Awards

2024: GGE Graduate Program Research Fellowship, UC Davis

2024: UC Davis and Humanities Graduate Research Award

2023: P.E.O. International Peace Scholarship

2023: AERA Annual Meeting Graduate Student Assistance Fund

2023: GGE Graduate Program Fellowship, UC Davis

2023: SRCD Graduate Student Travel Award, Student and Early Career Council

2022: P.E.O. International Peace Scholarship 2022 GGE Graduate Program Fellowship, UC Davis

2021: UC Davis Graduate Group in Education First-Year Fellowship Award

2020: Educator Award – I teach MSU, Michigan State University

2019: Pronunciation Instructor Graduate Fellowships, ELC & Graduate School at MSU

2018: Fulbright Scholarship, The Fulbright Program & Ministerio de Educación, Argentina

Selected Publications

Buttiler, M. B., Mak, E., Zhou, Q., & Uchikoshi, Y. (under review). Navigating shifts during COVID-19: Bilingual children’s language and social skills and preschool teachers’ pedagogical experiences.

Buttiler, M. B. & Tovar, S. (in press). Intersectionality throughout language and literacy. Bloomsbury Encyclopedia of Social Justice in Education.

Buttiler, M. B., Zhou, Q., & Uchikoshi, Y. (2023). Reasons for migration, parental acculturation, and language: The case of Chinese American and Mexican American parents and dual language learners. Frontiers in Psychology, 14, 1-12. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1237143

Chan, M., Buttiler, M. B., Yang, F., Yang, J., Uchikoshi, Y., & Zhou, Q. (2022). Teachers’ language use in multilingual Head Start classrooms: Implications for dual language learners. Children, 9(12), 1-18. https://doi.org/10.3390/children9121871

Loewen, S., Buttiler, M. B., Kessler, M., & Trego, D. (2022). Conversation and transcription activities with synchronous video computer-mediated communication: A classroom investigation. System, 106, 1-11. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2022.102760

Buttiler, M. B. (2021). Charting classroom growth: How often should we assess the English performance of 11 and 12-year-old children? TESL-EJ, 25(3). https://tesl-ej.org/pdf/ej99/a3.pdf

Selected Conference Presentations

Buttiler, M. B., Zhou, Q., & Uchikoshi, Y. (2024). Sociocultural Influences on Parenting in Immigrant and Ethnic Minority Families across Continents. Symposium at APS Annual Convention. San Francisco, CA.

Buttiler, M. B., Zhou, Q., & Uchikoshi, Y. (2024). Exploring Immigrant Parents’ Language Attitudes and Bilingual Children’s English and Heritage Language Vocabulary. AERA. Philadelphia, PA

Buttiler, M. B., Mak, E., Zhou, Q., & Uchikoshi, Y. (2024). Rethinking Learning Opportunities for Young Bilingual Children from Low-Income Immigrant Families after COVID-19. AERA. Philadelphia, PA.

Buttiler, M. B., Mak, E., Lindblad, M., Zhou, Q., & Uchikoshi, Y. (2023). Reasons for Migration, Acculturation, Home Literacy, and Dual Language Learners’ Vocabulary in Preschool. AERA. Chicago, IL.

Buttiler, M. B., Yick, J., Zhou, Q., & Uchikoshi, Y. (2023). Social-Emotional and Vocabulary Skills: A Study of Chinese-English and Spanish-English Dual Language Learners in Preschool. SRCD Biennial Meeting. Salt Lake City, UT.

Buttiler, M. B., Thomas Murphy, C., Hoeft, F., Kovelman, & I., Uchikoshi, Y. (2022). Cognitive and Linguistic Factors in Reading Comprehension: Monolingual & Bilingual Children. AERA. San Diego, CA.

Language Proficiency

• Spanish – Native Speaker
• English – Proficient User
• Portuguese – Proficient User

Digital Platforms & Software

• R (software environment for statistical computing and graphics)
• Dedoose (cross-platform app for analyzing qualitative and mixed methods research)
• Canvas & D2L (web-based learning management systems)
• REDCap (online tool for building, managing, and designing clinical research databases)
• Basecamp (project management platform for online collaboration)
• Slack (cloud-based, instant messaging platform)
• Box (cloud-hosted data storage and collaboration service and tool)
• Google Workspace (file storage and synchronization service)
• Microsoft Office and Microsoft 365