I am Elisa Repo, PhD, a researcher of recently arrived migrant students and multilingual schools in the field of language education.
I focus on questions of educational equity, particularly in relation to language learning and literacy among migrant children and youth, language awareness in school communities, and the practices that support them. I work as a postdoctoral researcher in the PATHWAYS project (Research Council of Finland, 2025–2029) at the Department of Teacher Education, University of Jyväskylä, Finland. In this multidisciplinary, longitudinal, and multimethod project we aim to understand what helps recently arrived migrant youth thrive in Finnish schools and society, as well as the practices and conditions needed to support successful educational pathways. I am qualified as a teacher of Finnish language and literature and as a primary school teacher.
My doctoral dissertation, “Together towards Language-Aware Schools: Perspectives on Supporting Increasing Linguistic Diversity” (2023), received the Kari Sajavaara Award for a scientifically meritorious and societally significant doctoral dissertation in applied linguistics and the Migration Institute of Finland Award for the best dissertation on migration and ethnic relations completed at Finnish universities between 2022 and 2024. The dissertation can be accessed via this link: https://www.utupub.fi/handle/10024/174277.
My academic career has been shaped by international research and teaching experiences across Europe, North America, and Asia. I completed my doctoral dissertation as a visiting scholar at the University of California, Berkeley, USA. I have served as a visiting lecturer in Finnish language and culture at Beijing Foreign Studies University, China, and as a university teacher at the University of Turku, Finland. Prior to my academic career, I worked as a teacher of Finnish language and literature and as a preparatory education teacher for recently arrived migrant students in Finnish lower secondary schools. I have also taught Finnish as a teaching assistant at the University of Hamburg, Germany, and Indiana University Bloomington, USA.
Feel free to reach out via email (elisa.a.repo@jyu.fi) if you are interested in collaborating!
