Heather Reichmuth, PhD

Assistant Professor of Teacher Education
Photo of Heather Reichmuth
207-780-5534

Bailey Hall, room 301, Gorham campus

Education

  • PhD  Curriculum, Instruction, and Teacher Education; Michigan State University 
  • MAT, Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL); University of Southern California
  • BA, Literature, Purchase College, State University of New York

Research Interests

My research focuses on multilingual learners and multilingual families, particularly the language ideologies and practices that shape children’s bilingualism, biliteracy, and identity development across home, school, and transnational contexts. I am especially interested in how families support and sustain multilingualism and how educators can build stronger, more culturally and linguistically sustaining relationships with multilingual learners and their communities.

My work also examines global and cross-cultural perspectives on education and how teacher education programs can prepare educators to create more inclusive learning environments for culturally and linguistically diverse students while fostering globally minded perspectives in all learners.

Teacher Education School of Education and Human Development Center for Teaching and Innovation

Prior to earning my PhD at Michigan State University, I taught English for 15 years in South Korea across K–12, university, and adult education settings. Working in multilingual and transnational contexts shaped my long-standing interest in language, identity, culture, and education. My teaching included students from a wide range of linguistic and cultural backgrounds, including students from Angola, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, France, China, and Uzbekistan.

My current research focuses on multilingual families, language ideologies and practices, transnationalism, bilingualism, and identity development, particularly within Korean and Korean diasporic communities. I am also interested in culturally and linguistically sustaining pedagogies, family engagement, and teacher education. My work has been published in journals including the International Journal of Bilingualism, Multicultural Perspectives, and the Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development.

Expertise

Multilingual learners; multilingual families and family language policy; bilingualism, biliteracy, and identity development; culturally and linguistically sustaining pedagogies; teacher education; transnational and cross-cultural perspectives on education.

Selected Publications

Book chapters
  • Reichmuth, H.L. & Cárdenas, L.C. (2025). Transmodal Family Literacies: Familial Cariño Practices Sustaining Children’s Bilingualism and Biliteracy Development.
  • In Edwards, P.A., Compton-Lilly, C., & Li, G. (Eds.), International handbook of literacies in families and communities. Edward Elgar Publishing.
  • Cárdenas, L.C., & Reichmuth, H.L. (2025). Bilingual Literary Calaveras: Mediating Poetry Writing for Elementary Bilingual Learners through Transmodal Practices.
  • In Gort, M., Zapata, A., Seltzer, K., & Gomez, M. (Eds.), Translanguaging Perspectives on Writing Development and Pedagogy: Learning from Findings Across Contexts
  • Edwards, P.A., Peltier, M. R., Sweeney, J., Reichmuth, H.L., White, K., Castle, A., & Rice, D. (2025). "I didn't learn anything about families: In-service teachers' reflections and recommendations about teacher preparation experiences.
  • In Edwards, P.A., Compton-Lilly, C., & Li, G. (Eds.), International handbook of literacies in families and communities. Edward Elgar Publishing.
  • Gordon, R.R., Reichmuth, H.L., Her, L., & De Costa, P.I. (2021). Thinking beyond "languaging" in translanguaging pedagogies: Exploring ways to combat white fragility in an undergraduate language methodology course.
  • In U. Lanvers, A.S. Thomson, & M. East (Eds.) Language Learning in Anglophone countries: Challenges, practices, solutions. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Practitioner-focused journals
  • Hollibush, M. & Reichmuth, H.L. (2023). Supporting new educators’ well-being beyond the teacher education program: New teacher needs and perceived support. Journal of Maine Education.
Public scholarship
  • Reichmuth, H. L. & Kim, T. (2024, April). Imagining Educational Change through Cross-cultural Perspectives on Learning. Lead the change series: Q & A with AERA 2024 Presenters: (Re)Conceptualization Change at Scale: New Visions. Issue No. 160.
Reports 
Photo of Heather Reichmuth
207-780-5534

Bailey Hall, room 301, Gorham campus

Education

  • PhD  Curriculum, Instruction, and Teacher Education; Michigan State University 
  • MAT, Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL); University of Southern California
  • BA, Literature, Purchase College, State University of New York

Research Interests

My research focuses on multilingual learners and multilingual families, particularly the language ideologies and practices that shape children’s bilingualism, biliteracy, and identity development across home, school, and transnational contexts. I am especially interested in how families support and sustain multilingualism and how educators can build stronger, more culturally and linguistically sustaining relationships with multilingual learners and their communities.

My work also examines global and cross-cultural perspectives on education and how teacher education programs can prepare educators to create more inclusive learning environments for culturally and linguistically diverse students while fostering globally minded perspectives in all learners.