Aleksandra Olszewska

Postdoctoral Fellow
Image of Aleksandra Olszewska
Available hours By appointment
Username
Visiting address Henrik Wergelands hus Niels Henrik Abels vei 36 0313 Oslo Norway
Postal address PO Box 1102 Blindern 0317 Oslo Norway

Curriculum Vitae

https://alexolszewska.com/

Academic interests

multilingual education; migration; refugee-background students; teacher education; social justice; sustainability; narratives; counter-storytelling; translanguaging; humanizing, participatory and arts-based research methods; humanizing and socially just pedagogies; spaces of hope; identities; raciolinguistics; curriculum and instruction

Educational background

  • 2020. Ph.D. Curriculum and Instruction, ESOL/ Bilingual Education, School of Teaching and Learning, College of Education, University of Florida, USA

    Dissertation (August 2020): Counter-stories from Poland: Identities and language identities of adolescent refugee-background students  

  • 2013. MA Applied Linguistics, Institute of Applied Linguistics, University of Warsaw, Poland
  • 2013. Postgraduate Studies, Latin America in the Modern World ,  Center for Latin American Studies (CESLA), University of Warsaw, Poland
  • 2012. Postgraduate Studies, Cultural Diplomacy, Collegium Civitas, Warsaw, Poland
  • 2012. Erasmus Student Exchange, École de Traduction et Interprétation ISTI – Cooremans, Université libre de Bruxelles, Belgium
  • 2011. Bilateral Exchange Program (University of Warsaw award), Northeastern Illinois University, Chicago, USA
  • 2010. BA Applied Linguistics, Institute of Applied Linguistics, University of Warsaw, Poland

Academic positions held

  • Postdoctoral Research Fellow, MultiLing, University Of Oslo, Norway
  • Research Assistant, in Project STELLAR (Supporting Teachers of English Language Learners Across Rural Settings) funded by the US Department of Education, Office of English Language Acquisition (OELA), Washington, DC. (PI: Maria R. Coady, Ph.D.), University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA
  • Research Assistant, Irving and Rose Fien Endowed Professorship (PI: Maria R. Coady, Ph.D.), University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA
  • Teaching Assistant, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA

University courses taught

  • LING1109  Multilingualism (Fleirpråklegheit) (Fall 2024),  University of Oslo, Norway
  • LING4140 Linguistic Method (Fall 2022, 2024), University of Oslo, Norway
  • MULTI4195 Supervision of Master's Thesis in Multilingualism (2024, 2025), University of Oslo, Norway
  • NOAS 4102  Second Language Learning from a Socio-cognitive and Sociocultural Perspective (Spring 2022), University of Oslo, Norway
  • CM3 - Research Methods in Education (Humanizing research methodology) (Fall 2019), University of Warsaw, Poland
  • TSL 4100 ESOL Curriculum, Methods & Assessment (Spring 2018), School of Teaching and Learning, University of Florida, USA
  • TSL 4324 ESOL Strategies for the Content Area Teacher (Fall 2017), School of Teaching and Learning, University of Florida, USA

Selected awards

  • Fulbright Graduate Student Award, 2016-2018
  • Delta Kappa Gamma Society International: World Fellowship, USA, 2016-2017
  • Finalist of the American Educational Research Association (AERA) Second Language Research (SLR) Special Interest Group Outstanding Dissertation Award (2021 & 2022), USA
  • Finalist of the American Educational Research Association (AERA) Arts-Based Educational Research (ABER) Special Interest Group Outstanding Dissertation Award (2022), USA
  • Early Career Scholar Speaker Award, International Symposium on Bilingualism ISB 13 (2021), University of Warsaw, Poland

Selected scientific events

  • Multilingual identities in refugee-background students' voices.  Counter-stories from Poland.  (2021). Paper presented at “Language and Migration: Experience and Memory” Symposium, co-sponsored by Migration Lab of the  Princeton Institute for International and Regional Studies , Princeton University and the  Study Group for Language and the United Nation , USA
  • Early Career Scholar Speaker Keynote Speech, International Symposium on Bilingualism ISB 13 (2021), University of Warsaw, Poland
  • Visiting Researcher, Georgetown University, Washington DC, USA 
    (mentor: Prof. Anna De Fina)
Tags: multilingual education, migration, teacher education, social justice, sustainability, narratives, counter-storytelling, translanguaging, humanizing & arts-based research, humanizing pedagogies, spaces of hope, identities, raciolinguistics

Publications

Olszewska, A. (2026). “They say that we are refugees, so we are them”: The violent or life-saving act of naming?Ethnicities.  https://doi.org/10.1177/14687968261453573

Olszewska, A., & Opsahl, T. (2024). "If you don't speak Norwegian well, they think you are stupid": Experiencing and responding to linguistic racism by Polish migrant workers. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies (JEMS), 51(9), 2146-2165. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369183X.2024.2444455

Olszewska, A., Coady, M., & Yilmaz, T. (2024). Special Issue: Refugee-background students in the context of multilingual policies and practices. Journal of Multilingual Theories and Practices, 5(2). https://utppublishing.com/doi/10.1558/jmtp.28245

Olszewska, A. (2023). Humanizing and multilingual arts-based research methods: Counter-stories of refugee-background students in Poland. In J. DeHart & P. ​​Hashes (Eds.), Arts-based research across textual media in education expanding visual epistemology (pp. 54-72). Routledge. http://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9781003294597-5

Olszewska, A. (2023). Critical scholarship of hope: Language teacher education and schools in Poland. In B. Muszynska & H. Hansen-Thomas (Eds.),  Putting critical language pedagogy into practice (pp. 99-113). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003399414-8

Coady, M., Marichal, N., Olszewska, A., Ankeny, R., Long, A., Shafiei, H., & Chakraborty, R. (2023). 'It's like fuel': Igniting rural English learner education through place-conscious professional development. Journal of Research in Rural Education (JRRE), 39(1), 1-18.  https://jrre.psu.edu/sites/default/files/2023-03/39.01.pdf

Olszewska, A., Coady, M., & Markowska-Manista, U. (2022). Language planning, linguistic imperialism, and English language teacher education in post-Soviet Poland: A review of literature. In L. McCallum (Ed.), English language teaching: Policy and practice across the European Union (pp. 2146-2165). Springer.  https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-981-19-2152-0_4

Golombek, P., Olszewska, A., & Coady, M. (2022). Humanizing power of counter-stories: Teachers' understandings of emerging bilinguals in rural settings. Teaching and Teacher Education (TATE) 13, 103655. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2022.103655

Olszewska, A., Bondy, E., Hagler, N., & Kim, H.J. (2021). A humanizing pedagogy of engagement: beliefs and practices of award-winning instructors at a US university. Teaching in Higher Education: Critical Perspectives, 28(7), 1671-1687.  https://doi.org/10.1080/13562517.2021.1920575 

Olszewska, A. (2020). Counter-stories from Poland: Identities and language identities of adolescent refugee-background students (Publication No. 27956600). [Doctoral dissertation, University of Florida]. ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Global. 
https://www.proquest.com/openview/24494054256cd4d4a2f80de7c78b138d/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=18750&diss=y

Coady, M., Miller, D., Zeyuan, J., Heffington, D., Lopez, M., Olszewska, A., De Jong, E., & Ankeny, R. (2019). Can English language learner teacher effectiveness be observed?: Validation of an ELL-Modified Danielson Group Model. TESOL Quarterly, 54(1), 173-200. https://doi.org/10.1002/tesq.544

Coady, M., Heffington, D., Lopez, M., & Olszewska, A. (2019). Can a short term study abroad impact teacher dispositions towards English learners? Special topics issue. S. Yang & B. Ates (Eds). International Journal of TESOL and Learning, 8(2), 51-70. 

Coady, M., & Olszewska, A. (2019). A review of Teacher leadership for social change in bilingual and bicultural education, by DK Palmer, Bristol, UK: Multilingual Matters. Kultura i Edukacja Journal, 2(124), 187-191. https://doi.org/10.15804/kie.2019.02.12

Coady, M., Olszewska, A., & Lopez, M. (2018). Scholarly contributions to twenty-first century multilingualism. A review of Shifting lenses: Multilanguaging, decolonization and education in the global south, edited by L. Makalela, Cape Town, The Center for Advanced Studies. International Journal of Multilingualism, 15(4), 472-474. https://doi.org/10.1080/14790718.2018.1490743

  • Olszewska, Aleksandra Ita (2026). “They say that we are refugees, so we are them”: The violent or life-saving act of naming? Ethnicities. ISSN 1468-7968. doi: 10.1177/14687968261453573. Full text in Research Archive
  • Olszewska, Aleksandra Ita; Coady, Maria & Yilmaz, Tuba (2024). Refugee-background students in the context of multilingual policies and practices: An introduction. Journal of Multilingual Theories and Practices. ISSN 2632-4490. 5(2). Full text in Research Archive
  • Olszewska, Aleksandra Ita & Opsahl, Toril (2024). ‘If you don’t speak Norwegian well, they think you are stupid’: experiencing and responding to linguistic racism by Polish migrant workers. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies. ISSN 1369-183X. 51(9), p. 2146–2165. doi: 10.1080/1369183X.2024.2444455. Full text in Research Archive
  • Olszewska, Aleksandra Ita (2023). Humanizing and Multilingual Arts-Based Research Methods: Counter-stories of Refugee-background Students in Poland. In DeHart, Jason & Hash, Peaches (Ed.), Arts-Based Research Across Textual Media in Education. Expanding Visual Epistemology - Volume 1. Routledge. ISSN 9781032279077. p. 54–72. doi: 10.4324/9781003294597-5. Full text in Research Archive
  • Olszewska, Aleksandra Ita (2023). Critical Scholarship of Hope. Language Teacher Education and Schools in Poland. In Muszyńska, Barbara & Hansen-Thomas, Holly (Ed.), Putting Critical Language Pedagogy into Practice. Routledge. ISSN 9781003399414. p. 99–113. doi: 10.4324/9781003399414-8. Full text in Research Archive
  • Olszewska, Aleksandra Ita; Coady, Maria; Marichal, Nidza; Ankeny, Raisa; Long, Andrew & Shafiei, Hamed [Show all 7 contributors for this article] (2023). “It’s Like Fuel”: Igniting Rural English Learner Education Through Place-Conscious Professional Development. Journal of Research in Rural Education. 39(1), p. 1–18. doi: 10.26209/JRRE3901. Full text in Research Archive
  • Golombek, Paula; Olszewska, Aleksandra & Coady, Maria (2022). Humanizing power of counter-stories: Teachers’ understandings of emergent bilinguals in rural settings. Teaching and Teacher Education : An International Journal of Research and Studies. ISSN 0742-051X. 113. doi: 10.1016/j.tate.2022.103655. Full text in Research Archive
  • Olszewska, Aleksandra Ita; Coady, Maria & Markowska-Manista, Urszula (2022). Language Planning, Linguistic Imperialism, and English Language Teacher Education in Post-Soviet Poland: A Literature Review. In McCallum, Lee (Eds.), English Language Teaching Policy and Practice across the European Union. Springer. ISSN 9789811921520. p. 51–67. doi: 10.1007/978-981-19-2152-0_4. Full text in Research Archive

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  • Opsahl, Toril & Olszewska, Aleksandra Ita (2026). B2 or not B2? Vitenskapelig nyansattes erfaringer med språklæring og språkkrav. doi: https:/www.uib.no/lle/177399/konferanse-om-nordens-spr%C3%A5k-som-andrespr%C3%A5k#program. Full text in Research Archive
  • Olszewska, Aleksandra Ita & Opsahl, Toril (2024). “If you don’t speak Norwegian well, they think you are stupid”: Experiencing and responding to linguistic racism by Polish migrant workers in Norway. Full text in Research Archive
  • Olszewska, Aleksandra Ita & Opsahl, Toril (2024). “’If you don’t speak Norwegian well, they think you are stupid’: Linguistic discrimination and Polish migrant workers in Norway”. Full text in Research Archive
  • Olszewska, Aleksandra Ita (2024). My Educational Journey and Radical Multilingual Spaces of Hope for Refugee-background Students: An exemplary school in Poland. Full text in Research Archive
  • Olszewska, Aleksandra Ita & Coady, Maria (2024). Radical multilingual and multicultural spaces of hope for refugee-background students in Poland. Full text in Research Archive
  • Olszewska, Aleksandra Ita (2024). “I am from Islam and K-pop”: Refugee-background students’ identities and multilingual identities in becoming. Full text in Research Archive
  • Opsahl, Toril; Garbacz, Piotr; Golden, Anne; Olszewska, Aleksandra Ita; Szymanska, Oliwia & Solarek-Gliniewicz, Magdalena [Show all 8 contributors for this article] (2023). L2 Communication in workplace settings. The case of Polish migrants in Norway (NorPol). Full text in Research Archive
  • Olszewska, Aleksandra Ita (2023). “If you don’t speak Norwegian well, they think you are stupid”: Linguistic discrimination and Polish migrant workers in Norway. Full text in Research Archive
  • Olszewska, Aleksandra Ita (2022). “JustWork”: In pursuit of linguistic justice in the workplace for Polish migrants to Norway. Full text in Research Archive
  • Olszewska, Aleksandra Ita (2022). Refugee- and migrant-background students, identities, and language education: Humanizing research & arts based methods. Full text in Research Archive
  • Olszewska, Aleksandra Ita; Schulte, Leonie; Omar, Laila; Nichols, Briana; Opsahl, Toril & Khan, Kamran (2022). Panel - Language and the temporalities of migration. Full text in Research Archive
  • Olszewska, Aleksandra Ita (2022). “They say that we are refugees… so we are them”: Refugee-background students’ reaction to the refugee term. Full text in Research Archive
  • Olszewska, Aleksandra Ita & Coady, Maria (2022). Radical multilingual spaces of hope for refugee-background students in Poland: Transformative language policies and practices. Full text in Research Archive
  • Olszewska, Aleksandra Ita (2022). Multilingual identities of immigrant-background students: Polyphonic counter-stories in self-portraits and poems at the intersection of cultures and languages. Full text in Research Archive
  • Coady, Maria; Olszewska, Aleksandra; Marichal, Nidza & Ankeny, Raisa (2021). “It's like fuel”: Rural educator collaboration for English learners. Full text in Research Archive
  • Coady, Maria & Olszewska, Aleksandra (2021). Exemplary leaders of multilingual students: A cross national study. Full text in Research Archive
  • Olszewska, Aleksandra (2021). Getting there: The life and work of a graduate student. Full text in Research Archive
  • Olszewska, Aleksandra (2021). Let’s call the whole thing off? Full text in Research Archive
  • Olszewska, Aleksandra (2021). “I am from Islam and K-pop”: Refugee-background students’ identities and language identities in becoming. Full text in Research Archive
  • Olszewska, Aleksandra (2021). Multilingual spaces of possibilities and becoming: Refugee background students in Poland. Full text in Research Archive
  • Olszewska, Aleksandra (2021). Counter-stories from multilingual Chechen youth: Refugee- background students’ identities and language identities in becoming. Full text in Research Archive
  • Olszewska, Aleksandra (2021). “I know seven languages”: Refugee-background youth’s counter stories for social justice. Full text in Research Archive
  • Olszewska, Aleksandra (2021). Multilingual identities in refugee-background students’ voices. Counter-stories from Poland. Full text in Research Archive
  • Olszewska, Aleksandra (2021). Multilingual policies and practices with immigrant and refugee-background students: School at crossroads in Poland. Full text in Research Archive

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Published Apr. 9, 2021 12:28 PM - Last modified June 19, 2026 4:08 PM

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