Maureen T. Matarese

Professor
Academic Literacy and Linguistics

Office: S-638

Office Hours: S-638. Tuesdays 11:30am-1pm, Wednesdays 12-1:30pm

Phone: +1 (212) 220-1428

Maureen T. Matarese is a tenured Associate Professor at Borough of Manhattan Community College, City University of New York (BMCC/CUNY). A graduate of Teachers College, Columbia University with a Masters in Applied Linguistics and a Doctorate in International Educational Development (Language & Literacy), she specializes in institutional ethnography and institutional discourse.
At BMCC, Professor Matarese teaches Language and Culture (LIN 100), Forensic Linguistics (LIN 250), Language and Power (LIN 240), Critical Thinking (CRT), Academic Critical Reading (ACR) and ESL.

She has taught graduate courses in Sociolinguistics, TESOL and Bilingual Education at Teachers College, Columbia University, The New School and Long Island University.
Professor Matarese has conducted sociolinguistic research on language variation and change in North Carolina, West Virginia, the Bahamas and in New York City, and she has conducted qualitative research on teacher response techniques (particularly when students used African American English dialect features in their freshman writing).
Discourse analysis and specifically, institutional linguistic ethnography, is her area of expertise. She has conducted research on caseworker-client interaction in a New York City shelter, as well as a semester-long institutional linguistic ethnography of a college-level remedial reading course.

Using discourse analysis and ethnography, her current research examines how practitioners in social institutions such as homeless shelters, police institutions and schools put policies into practice through their everyday talk. In so doing, she has found new explanations for why practitioners in certain social institutions talk to clients the way they do. Her work breaks new ground in institutional talk, locating neoliberal discourses in the minutia of everyday talk in seemingly disparate social institutions. She has currently published in Discourse Processes and the Journal of Applied Linguistics and Professional Practice, and is co-editor and contributor to Analysing Social Work Communication: Discourse in Practice (Routledge Press).
Professor Matarese dabbles in pop cultural analysis, has nearly limitless energy, is a Star Wars fanatic, and loves the word “ain’t” SO MUCH she had it tattooed on her arm! You can ask her why she loves it so much when you get to class!

Professor Matarese takes on 2-3 linguistics students per semester to work on research. Email her for details.

Expertise

Social Interaction, Language and Power, Street-level bureaucracy, Welfare policy, Social Work, Child Welfare, Race and Ethnicity, Forensic Linguistics, Qualitative Research Methods, Popular Culture, Political Sociology, Linguistics, Language and Literacy, Interpersonal Communication, Discourse analysis, Cross-Cultural Communication & International Education, Counseling and Clinical Psychology

Degrees

Ed.D. Teachers College, Columbia University, International Educational Development (Language, Literacy, and Technology),
M.A. North Carolina State University, Master of Arts in English (Linguistics concentration),2002
M.A. Teachers College, Columbia University, Masters of Arts in Applied Linguistics,2004

Courses Taught

6 HRS.NULL LAB HRS. ACR 94 ACR 94 (Academic & Critical Reading I): This introductory college level reading course emphasizes improved reading comprehension through the practice of literal, inferential and critical reading skills, vocabulary development, writing, flexible reading rates, and study skills. A variety of materials is used to enrich students??A? basic understanding of reading.
6 HRS.NULL LAB HRS. ACR 95 ACR 95 (Academic & Critical Reading II): This advanced reading course is designed to help students master a full range of college-level reading and related skills, including critical comprehension, vocabulary, writing, flexible rates of reading, and study strategies. A variety of college-level materials is used.
3 CRS.3 HRS. LIN 100 LIN 100 (Language and Culture (Same as ANT 115)): This course will introduce the student to the study of Language and Culture. The course will introduce related topics, such as bilingual/bidialectal families and bilingual education, language and gender, literacy in a changing, technological society, child language acquisition, and different dialects and registers of English. The readings will draw on works in linguistics, literature and related fields. Students will work on critical reading and produce writing based on the readings in connections with their own experiences and backgrounds.
3 CRS.3 HRS.NULL LAB HRS. LIN 250 LIN 250 (Forensic Linguistics): This three credit, 200-level course will explore the complex relationship between language and the law. The course critically considers the role of language and its power in the legal process. Three branches of forensic linguistics (handwriting, phonology, and discourse analysis) will be discussed. We will examine the work of dialectologists, creolists, and graphologists who have used linguistic evidence to interpret evidence (e.g., blackmail and ransom notes), and voice and spectrogram analysis will also be discussed. The course will also examine how linguists are involved in the legal process when they serve as expert witnesses. Prerequisite: ENG 201
3 CRS.3 HRS.NULL LAB HRS. LIN 240 LIN 240 (Language and Power): Through this course, students will analyze how power manifests itself through language and how people use language to create, reproduce, or resist/defy power. By studying the relationship between language and capital, language and institutionalized oppression (e.g. racism, ethnocentrism), and language and activism, students will explore the relationship between language, inequity, domination, and resistance. Students will analyze, through applying Critical Discourse Analysis to language events related to politics, policy, media, and institutional interaction, the power and perceived value of certain dialects and languages (e.g., discrimination towards and ideologies about languages/dialects). Students will engage with relevant critical social and linguistic theories relating to power. Prerequisites: ENG 100.5 or ENG 101 or Any 100-level LIN course or Departmental Approval
6 HRS.NULL LAB HRS. ESL 94 ESL 94 (English as a Second Language): This advanced level course emphasizes writing and reading skills; however, oral skills are not neglected. In writing, students focus on introducing, developing, supporting, and organizing their ideas in expository essays as well as in narrative and descriptive writing.

Research and Projects

Cross-institutional Neoliberal Discourses
In this work, Professor Matarese explores street-level bureaucracy in everyday institutional interactions. Using discourse analysis and ethnography, her current research examines how practitioners in social institutions such as homeless shelters, police institutions, and schools put policies into practice through their everyday talk.In so doing, she has found new explanations for why practitioners in certain social institutions talk to clients the way they do. Her work breaks new ground in institutional talk, locating neoliberal discourses in the minutia of everyday talk in seemingly disparate social institutions.
Linguistic Ethnography of ACR (Reading)
Institutional linguistic ethnography examining how reading and literacy are discursively positioned by professors and students in two community college developmental literacy classrooms (in IRB proposal stage for Spring/Summer 2011 data collection).

Publications

Books

Hall, C., Juhila, K., Matarese, M., van Nijnatten, C. (eds). (2014) Social work communication: Discourse in practice. Routledge.

Articles

Matarese, M. (forthcoming). Discursive Mindfulness among Practitioners Analyzing Social Work Communication. In L. Grujicic-Alatriste (ed.) Discourse Research in the Real World: Challenges & Promises of Doing Knowledge Dissemination, Aiming for Praxis” Multilingual Matters.

Matarese, M. & van Nijnatten (2019). ‘Showing one’s card’: Facilitating and resisting disclosure in juvenile probation. Text and Talk 39(2): 213–234.

Matarese, M. & Caswell, D. (2017a). “I’m gonna ask you about yourself, so I can put it on paper” Analysing Street-Level Bureaucracy through Form-Related Talk in Social Work. British Journal of Social Work 48(3): 714-733.

Matarese, M. & Caswell, D. (2017b). Neoliberal talk: The routinized structures of document-focused social worker-client discourse. In S. Schram and M. Pavlovskaya. Rethinking neoliberalism: Resisting the disciplinary regime. Routledge.

Van Nijnatten, C., Matarese, M., & Noordegraaf, M. (2017). “Accomplishing irony: socializing foster children into peer culture.” Journal of Child and Family Social Work 22(4): 1497-1505.

Matarese, M. (2015). Time, place, and imagination: Responsibility talk in caseworker-client interaction. In J. Östman & A.M. Solin (eds) Discourse and Responsibility in Professional Settings. Equinox Publishing.

Matarese, M. & Nijnatten, C. (2015). Making a case for client insistence. Discourse Processes 52 (8): 670-688.

Matarese, M. & Jacknick, C. (2015). Using the discourse toolkit in your classroom. IDIOM, NYSTESOL .

Matarese, M. & Caswell, D. (2014). Responsibility. In Hall, C., Juhila, K., Matarese, M., van Nijnatten, C. (eds). (2014) Social work communication: Discourse in practice. Routledge.

Hall, C.J. & Matarese, M. (2014). Narrative. In Hall, C., Juhila, K., Matarese, M., van Nijnatten, C. (eds). (2014) Social work communication: Discourse in practice. Routledge.

Matarese, M. (2012). Time, place, and imagination: Responsibility talk in caseworker-client interaction. Journal of Applied Linguistics and Professional Practice 9 (3): 341-359.

Matarese, M. (March 2012) [Review: Higgins, C & Norton, B. (eds), Language and HIV/AIDS.] Discourse Studies.

Jacknick, C & Matarese, M. (2011) [Review: Heritage, J & Clayman, S. (eds), Talk in Action: Interactions, Identities, and Institutions.] Discourse Studies.

Matarese, M. (2011) [Review: Tarone, E., Bigelow, M, & Hansen, K. Literacy and Second Language Oracy.] Studies in Second Language Acquisition.

Matarese, M. (2011). Beyond Community: Networks of bilingual community support for languages other than English in New York City. In O. García, Z. Zakharia, & B. Otcu (eds) Bilingual Community Education and Multilingualism.

Matarese, M. (2010). [Review: Rowe, B. M. and Levine, D. P. A Concise Introduction to Linguistics] IDIOM 40 (3).

Matarese, M. and Anson, C. (2010). Teacher Response to AAE Features in the Writing of College Students: A Case Study in the Social Construction of Error. The Elephant in the Classroom: Race and Writing. Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press, Inc.

Honors, Awards and Affiliations

Faculty Publication Grant (2019-2020)
William F. Kelly Fellowship Grant (2019-2020)
CUNY Research in the Classroom Grant Recipient (2018-2019)
Faculty Publication Grant (2018-2019)
Faculty Publication Grant (2017-2018)
Sabbatical Fellowship Award (2015-2016)
PSC CUNY Research Foundation Grant Recipient (2015)

Additional Information

Maureen sometimes gives wacky linguistics lectures with THINKOLIO. If you like language, linguistics, politics, social theory, pop culture, star wars, and/or learning in general, check them out! https://www.thinkolio.org/teachers/maureen-matarese/