Rate My Professor Encarna Bermejo

Encarna Bermejo is Professor of Spanish in the Department of English, Communication, Great Texts, and Modern Languages at the College of Arts and Humanities, Houston Christian University. She holds a PhD in Spanish and an MA in Spanish from the University of Houston, as well as a BS in Management from National Louis University. Her career includes prior teaching positions at the University of Houston, Sam Houston State University, and Houston Community College. At Houston Christian University, she has developed and teaches a wide array of courses, including all levels of beginner and intermediate Spanish, Spanish composition, Spanish for the Professions, Spanish Sociolinguistics, Spanish in the US, Introduction to Spanish/English Translation, courses for heritage learners such as Public Speaking and Composition for Heritage Learners, Spanish in the Business Environment, Spanish for Health Alliance, Survey of Linguistics, Bilingual Education, Hispanic Cultural Perspectives, Spanish Writing Workshop, Methods of Teaching English as a Second Language, Introduction to Linguistics, Methods of Second Language Acquisition, and Teaching Math, Science, and Social Studies in the Bilingual Classroom. She founded and coordinates the Spain Study Abroad Program, leading annual language and cultural immersion trips to the University of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia, Spain. Additionally, she designs and coordinates the Spanish Placement Exam for second language learners and co-designs the Heritage Speaker Exam.

Dr. Bermejo's research interests encompass Spanish linguistics, Spanish second language acquisition, Spanish heritage language acquisition, and language for specific purposes. Her key publications include the co-authored book Spanish Heritage Learners’ Emerging Literacy: Empirical Research and Classroom Practice (Routledge, 2020); “Developing an Electronic Placement Examination for Heritage Learners of Spanish: Challenges and Payoffs” (Hispania, 2010, co-authored); “Perceptions of Writing Anxiety and Self-efficacy in Spanish Heritage Language Learners” (Hispania, 2015 and 2016); “The Power of Belief: Spanish Teachers’ Sense of Efficacy and Student Performance on the National Spanish Exams” (Hispania, 2013); “A Modular Approach for Courses of Spanish for Heritage Language Learners” (Hispania, 2011); and “Heritage Language Learners, Allocation of Time to Writing Processes in English and Spanish” (Hispania, 2010). She co-authored a Spanish Placement Exam adopted by several U.S. universities, including Houston Christian University and the University of Houston, and consulted on multiple Cengage Spanish textbooks. Dr. Bermejo has presented at international symposia and conferences across the United States, South America, and Europe on Spanish as a second and heritage language. She served as Faculty Assembly President in 2021-2022, on dozens of committees, and as Faculty Sponsor for HCU Sigma Lambda Gamma. Her honors include nominations for the 2019-2020 Piper Professor Award and 2011 Teaching Excellence Award at HCU, the 2003 Excellence Award Teaching Fellow from the University of Houston, the 2014 Sister Cities of Houston Community Award, and the 2014 President Award from House of Spain.