ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2151-8485
Researchgate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Katherine-Morales-6?ev=hdr_xprf
My research lies at the intersection of language and identity, motivation, language use and its social meaning, cultural insights of language (specializing in U.S. and Spanish-English contexts).
As part of my PhD dissertation and forthcoming research monograph, I conducted an ethnographic study that explores how Puerto Rican English learners experience language not just as a skill, but as a site of identity, belonging, and resistance. Grounded in over 300,000 words of natural language data, 50+ interviews, ethnographic fieldnotes, and sustained observation, this project reveals how beliefs about language, race, and community shape the learner journey in powerful and often invisible ways. By analyzing these patterns through sociolinguistic and ethnographic research lenses, I surfaced actionable insights for inclusive pedagogical design, equitable education policy, and learner-centered language tools. The study reframes bilingualism as a user interface—fluid, contextual, and political—offering a model for designing with, rather than for, historically marginalized learners in multilingual and postcolonial settings in ways that acknowledge the complexities of language and identity and legitimize fluidity in language practice.
Additional skills: Human subject research ethics for vulnerable populations (children), NVivo QDA (Qualitative Data analysis), in-depth and focus group interviews, ethnographic observations, multilingual and multimodal discourse analysis and content/thematic coding.
Interview 🗣️ on Analisis Radial: https://soundcloud.com/katherine-ravenna-morales-lugo/analisis-radial-con-jose-elias?si=7b6b6bf666124567a21368a110376569&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing
Publications:
Morales, K. (forthcoming). English in Modern Day Puerto Rico: Identities, ideologies and linguistic practices of the island youth.
Morales, K. (2019). " I always knew it... Digo, quizás no era perfect": transnational acts of identity in the speech of a returnee migrant. Trabalhos em Linguística Aplicada, 58(1), 11-32.
Lugo, K. M. (2019). Reimagining bilingualism in late modern Puerto Rico: The ‘ordinariness’ of English language use among Latino adolescents. In Translinguistics (pp. 130-145). Routledge.
Case Study: Digital Language Practices of Young Bilingual Latinx
What does bilingual expression really look like in the digital lives of Puerto Rican youth? This three-month digital ethnography set out to answer that by closely observing how young people communicate across social platforms, memes, chat threads, and participatory media spaces. As Principal Ethnographic Researcher, I led the project and supervised student research assistants in language and thematic coding and capturing authentic, everyday language practices—where English and Spanish blended not just for function, but as tools for identity-making, humor, and cultural commentary.
Using NVivo QDA, field notes, and multimodal discourse analysis, we traced how Spanish consistently anchored interactions, while English appeared in stylized bursts—memes, GIFs, catchphrases—often referencing U.S. pop culture through a local, and sometimes critical, lens. Language wasn’t just a tool—it became a way to signal belonging, remix global content, and navigate the layered realities of living in a U.S. territory.
We followed up with participant focus groups to unpack these choices: How does it feel to joke in English inside a Spanish thread? What’s being communicated between the lines? And how does colonial history shape the way youth interpret and engage with digital media?
The impact? These findings are informing a forthcoming academic monograph and have already sparked discussion at leading sociolinguistics and digital culture conferences. The study challenges monolingual assumptions by offering a rare, ground-level perspective on bilingual communication in informal, unscripted contexts.
For educators, designers, and cultural media creators, this work underscores why inclusive digital design needs more than translation—it calls for an understanding of how language, identity, and culture are co-created online.
Additional skills: Human subject research online; digital observations, discourse analysis and multimodal analysis
Publications:
Morales Lugo, K. (2024). The bilingual styles of young Puerto Rican adolescents online. International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 2024(286), 53-85.
Authors: Katherine Morales Lugo, Gabriel Romaguera, Edward Contreras
When the pandemic hit, Puerto Rico’s educators were thrust into a whirlwind of remote teaching—with fragile internet, stressed communities, and an already-battered infrastructure. In this case study, as lead researcher I teamed up with educators Gabriel Romaguera and Edward Contreras to unpack what really happened on the ground. Through a mix of reflective journaling and educator surveys, we explored how teachers adapted emotionally and logistically—navigating glitchy Learning Management Systems, juggling caregiving at home, and inventing creative low-tech workarounds like WhatsApp and print packets.
We used tools like Google Forms and NVivo QDA to gather and code themes across the board—access, burnout, and digital inequality stood out big time. But so did resilience. The most successful approaches were the ones that embraced flexibility, cultural context, and empathy. Think: asynchronous learning, flexible deadlines, and community-based hacks.
Outcome? The findings were published in a Springer Nature volume, cited by educators, and are now part of ongoing conversations on how to design trauma-aware, inclusive remote education—especially in places where tech access isn’t a given.
Dive into the full case study to see how local insight, emotional truth, and scrappy innovation came together in one of the hardest teaching transitions Puerto Rico has faced.
Skills: diary studies, survey deisgn
technical: Google workplace, NVivo, learning management systems (Moodle)
Editors: Katherine Morales Lugo, Kevin Carroll, and Simon Campos
LANGUAGES IN MODERN DAY PUERTO RICO
Documenting Spanish and English Language Practices in Puerto Rico (Impact: Contributing to Multicultural Awareness, Pedagogical Practices and Cultural Insights; Publication)
Aug 2022 - Apr 2024
This project involved a collaborative publication with scholars from across the United States and Puerto Rico, aiming to raise cultural and historical awareness about language practices and education in Puerto Rico. The publication integrated research from all approaches - combining quantitative data analysis, qualitative ethnographic fieldwork, historical linguistic inquiry, and demographic survey research.
The project had three main impacts:
1. Academic Contribution: The findings were published in a high-ranking, widely read academic journal accessible to both scholars and broader audiences interested in language and culture.
2. Public Engagement: A university-wide panel was held to disseminate findings, open to students and faculty, fostering discussion and awareness on campus.
3. Knowledge Advancement: The research contributed to our understanding of language use, distribution, and the socio-cultural dynamics in Puerto Rico — including educational practices, language attitudes, and historical perspectives.
The special issue resulting from this work may inform future language policies in education, critically assess English language instruction, support the teaching of Spanish, and help legitimize Caribbean Spanish dialects. The findings can also guide the development of culturally responsive educational materials tailored for bicultural Latino communities.
Morales-Lugo, K. Carroll, K. S., & Campos, S. D. (Eds.) (2024). Languages in modern day Puerto Rico. International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 2024(286).
Morales-Lugo, K., Carroll, K. S., & Campos, S. D. (2024). Introduction to special issue: languages in modern day Puerto Rico. International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 2024(286), 1-22.