Faculty | SIU

Language, Literacies, and Culture

Dr. Heidi Bacon became interested in education through voluteer work as a reading and mathematics tutor in an adult education program. She pursued secondary teacher certification and taught high school for eight years. She is a strong proponent of service learning and coordinated a youth-led service learning program for six years. She earned an MA in 2006 and a PhD in 2014 from the University of Arizona in Language, Reading and Culture. She was instrumental in developing Tucson's Literacy Zones and the Women's Literacy Network, a women's literacy and empowerment program.

Heidi is a Reading specialist and researcher. She employs miscue analysis and retrospective miscue analysis in working with struggling readers. She is an advocate for educational equity for learners of all ages. Her research interests are adolescent and adult literacy, content area literacy, eye movement miscue analysis, community literacy, communities of practice, culturally responsive teaching, language variation, critical discourse analysis, identity and temporality, and youth culture.