Biographical Info

Dr. Aria Razfar is a Professor in the UIC College of Education (COE), with an appointment in the Department of Medical Education (DME), where he co-directs the DME/COE’s Collaborative PhD in Curriculum Studies with a concentration in health professions education.  Dr. Razfar’s research interests are grounded in sociocultural theories of language, learning, and human development. In particular, he draws on linguistic anthropological perspectives such as language socialization and language ideologies for the purposes of understanding learning and development in urban schools. He teaches courses in the Bilingual/ESL program as well as doctoral courses in Language, Literacy, and Culture. Dr. Razfar’s work is anchored in communities whose language practices have been historically marginalized in many formal and official spaces of society; thus, there is an explicit social justice character to his research. He currently serves as a principal investigator or co-PI on several nationally funded grants aimed at improving teaching and learning for English Language Learners in urban contexts.