Overview
Background
Adriana Díaz (she/her/ella) works at the intersections of language, power, and pedagogy, asking what becomes possible when language education is approached as an unfinished, decolonial, and hopeful practice of becoming otherwise. Born in Argentina and now living and working on the unceded lands of the Turrbal and Jagera Peoples, her work critically examines the colonial, patriarchal, and monolingual structures embedded in curricula and classrooms. In response, she cultivates inclusive, empowering, and critically reflexive pedagogies that honour plurality and relationality.
With over two decades of experience in multilingual and intercultural education, Adriana’s scholarship, teaching, and leadership seek to unsettle dominant paradigms while nurturing more equitable and generative approaches to language learning. Drawing on critical pedagogy, intersectional feminism, and decolonial thought, she traces raciolinguistic and ideological patterns that shape educational practice and works collaboratively to reimagine their possibilities.
Deeply committed to collective transformation, she supports and (un)learns alongside fellow language educators and scholars, co-creating pedagogical approaches that are responsive, dialogic, and grounded in shared responsibility. Her work invites ongoing inquiry into how we teach, learn, and live with language in ways that are just, liberatory, and yet always emergent.
Availability
- Dr Adriana Diaz is:
- Not available for supervision
Fields of research
Qualifications
- Bachelor of Arts, Griffith University
- Bachelor (Honours), Griffith University
- Doctor of Philosophy, Griffith University
Research interests
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Critical, Decolonial Language Pedagogies
Approaches to language learning and teaching that challenge traditional, Eurocentric views of 'language,' prioritizing social justice, inclusivity, and equity through a critical examination of power structures, cultural hierarchies, and historical contexts that have marginalised certain languages and knowledge systems.
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Intercultural language learning
Educational approach that fosters critical reflection on cultural diversity, aiming to build communicative competence and intercultural sensitivity essential for effective interaction in a globalised world.
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Critical Translation Studies
A lens through which to advance language studies as a socially situated act that reflects and influences power dynamics, cultural representation, and ideology. This perspective views translation as a transformative process, highlighting issues of ethics, agency, and cultural bias, and urging a critical awareness of its role in shaping narratives.
Works
Search Professor Adriana Diaz’s works on UQ eSpace
2026
Book Chapter
Pláticas on actionable decolonial pedagogies in Spanish as foreign language: perspectives from Australia
Diaz, Adriana R. and Mejía, Glenda (2026). Pláticas on actionable decolonial pedagogies in Spanish as foreign language: perspectives from Australia. Engaging with ethics in multilingual learning communities. (pp. 237-255) edited by Theresa Austin and Hatice Çelebi. Berlin, Germany: Walter de Gruyter.
2025
Book Chapter
Disrupting, decentring and diversifying languages and cultures in Australian higher education
Díaz, Adriana, Hanna, Barbara E., Disbray, Samantha, Mikhaylova, Anna and Yue Qi, Grace (2025). Disrupting, decentring and diversifying languages and cultures in Australian higher education. Disrupting, Decentring and Diversifying Languages and Cultures in Australian Universities. (pp. 1-18) Canberra, ACT Australia: ANU Press. doi: 10.22459/dddlcau.2025.01
2025
Book Chapter
The evolving landscape of language instructional materials
Díaz, Adriana Raquel (2025). The evolving landscape of language instructional materials. The Routledge handbook of language program development and administration. (pp. 327-338) edited by Alan V. Brown, Cori Crane, Beatrice C. Dupuy and Estela Ene. London, United Kingdom: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9781003361213-31
2024
Conference Publication
Radically reimagining language learning resources: harnessing OERs for social justice-driven pedagogy
Diaz, Adriana (2024). Radically reimagining language learning resources: harnessing OERs for social justice-driven pedagogy. BAAL Language and Education for Social Justic SIG: Bridging Social Justice and Applied Linguistics: Transforming Communities Through Language Education, Online, 21 November 2024.
2024
Book Chapter
Defying Deficit Views of Literacy through RefugeeCrit and Multicultural Literacies
Veliz, Leonardo, Heinrichs Henry, Danielle and Diaz, Adriana R. (2024). Defying Deficit Views of Literacy through RefugeeCrit and Multicultural Literacies. Reimagining Literacies Pedagogy in the Twenty-first Century - Theorizing and Enacting Multiple Literacies for English Language Learners. (pp. 195-217) edited by Leonardo Veliz, Miguel Farias and Michelle Picard. London, United Kingdom: Bloomsbury.
2024
Book Chapter
(Re)centring Diversity in Language Pedagogies through Open Access Educational Resources
Diaz, Adriana (2024). (Re)centring Diversity in Language Pedagogies through Open Access Educational Resources. Multiculturalism and Multilingualism in Education. (pp. 192-211) Leiden, Netherlands: Brill. doi: 10.1163/9789004709850_011
2024
Journal Article
Introduction to the Special Issue: Pluriversalizing the Teaching and Learning of Spanish
Veliz, Leonardo, Díaz, Adriana Raquel and Heinrichs, Danielle H. (2024). Introduction to the Special Issue: Pluriversalizing the Teaching and Learning of Spanish. Critical Multilingualism Studies, 11 (2), i-xvi.
2024
Book Chapter
Ontological disobedience in the face of (im)mobility: possible transitions for world language teacher continuing education
Heinrichs, Danielle H. and Díaz, Adriana (2024). Ontological disobedience in the face of (im)mobility: possible transitions for world language teacher continuing education. Teacher education research – shaping practice, policy and theory. (pp. 47-70) edited by Parlo Singh, Deborah Heck, Stephen Heimans and Angelina Ambrosetti. Singapore, Singapore: Springer Nature Singapore. doi: 10.1007/978-981-97-8939-9_3
2023
Journal Article
The (im)possibility of breaking the cycle of rippling circularities affecting Australian language education programs: a Queensland example
Díaz, Adriana R., Fillmore, Naomi and Cordella, Marisa (2023). The (im)possibility of breaking the cycle of rippling circularities affecting Australian language education programs: a Queensland example. Language Learning in Higher Education, 13 (1), 29-49. doi: 10.1515/cercles-2023-2002
2023
Book Chapter
Los cimientos que apuntalan y perpetúan la Babel monolingüe australiana
Ortiz Jiménez, Macarena and Díaz, Adriana Raquel (2023). Los cimientos que apuntalan y perpetúan la Babel monolingüe australiana. Retos en el sistema educativo ante la multiculturalidad y el plurilingüismo. Educación primaria y secundaria. (pp. 117-134) edited by María-Teresa del-Olmo-Ibáñez, María Fernanda Medina Beltrán and María Soledad Villarrubia Zúñiga. Barcelona, Spain: Octaedro.
2023
Journal Article
Introduction to the Special Issue: Pluriversalizing the Teaching and Learning of Spanish
Veliz, Leonardo, Díaz, Adriana Raquel and Heinrichs, Danielle H. (2023). Introduction to the Special Issue: Pluriversalizing the Teaching and Learning of Spanish. Critical Multilingualism Studies, 11 (2), i-xvi.
2022
Journal Article
Gender neutral and non-binary language practices in the Spanish language classroom: tensions between disciplinary and societal changes
Diaz, Adriana Raquel, Mejía, Glenda and Villamizar, Andrés Gabriel (2022). Gender neutral and non-binary language practices in the Spanish language classroom: tensions between disciplinary and societal changes. L2 Journal, 14 (3). doi: 10.5070/l214356302
2021
Book Chapter
Intercultural understanding in early Spanish language learning: a policy perspective from Queensland, Australia
Díaz, Adriana Raquel (2021). Intercultural understanding in early Spanish language learning: a policy perspective from Queensland, Australia. Early language learning policy in the 21st century: An international perspective. (pp. 111-129) edited by Subhan Zein and Maria R. Coady. Cham, Switzerland: Springer. doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-76251-3_5
2021
Journal Article
Reframing and hospicing mobility in higher education: challenges and possibilities
Diaz, Adriana Raquel, Cordella, Marisa, Disbray, Samantha, Hanna, Barbara E. and Mikhaylova, Anna (2021). Reframing and hospicing mobility in higher education: challenges and possibilities. Intercultural Communication Education, 4 (1), 106-121. doi: 10.29140/ice.v4.n1.449
2021
Book
+JUNTXS: intermediate Spanish
Díaz, Adriana Raquel (2021). +JUNTXS: intermediate Spanish. Brisbane, Australia: The University of Queensland. doi: 10.14264/048629d
2021
Book
JUNTXS: introductory Spanish
Díaz, Adriana Raquel (2021). JUNTXS: introductory Spanish. Brisbane, Australia: The University of Queensland. doi: 10.14264/b39d463
2021
Book Chapter
Resistance to monoligualism: school principals and head of languages’ voices on factors that promote and deter languages education in Queensland, Australia
Díaz, Adriana, Cordella, Marisa and Ramos, Fabiane (2021). Resistance to monoligualism: school principals and head of languages’ voices on factors that promote and deter languages education in Queensland, Australia. Language learning in Anglophone countries: challenges, practices, ways forward. (pp. 485-502) edited by Ursula Lanvers, Amy S. Thompson and Martin East. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan. doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-56654-8_24
2020
Journal Article
Coloniality, neoliberalism and the language textbook: unravelling the symbiosis in Spanish as a foreign language
Gurney, Laura and Díaz, Adriana (2020). Coloniality, neoliberalism and the language textbook: unravelling the symbiosis in Spanish as a foreign language. Language, Culture and Society, 2 (2), 149-173. doi: 10.1075/lcs.20003.gur
2020
Journal Article
Intercultural communicative competence and Spanish heritage language speakers: an overview from the U.S., Australia and Europe
Díaz, Adriana Raquel and Callahan, Laura (2020). Intercultural communicative competence and Spanish heritage language speakers: an overview from the U.S., Australia and Europe. Journal of Spanish Language Teaching, 7 (2), 1-13. doi: 10.1080/23247797.2020.1847408
2020
Book
Tertiary language teacher-researchers between ethics and politics: silent voices, unseized spaces
Crozet, Chantal and Diaz, Adriana R. (2020). Tertiary language teacher-researchers between ethics and politics: silent voices, unseized spaces. New York, United States: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9780429505942
Funding
Past funding
Supervision
Availability
- Dr Adriana Diaz is:
- Not available for supervision
Supervision history
Current supervision
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Doctor Philosophy
Fostering Intercultural Capability: Exploring secondary school students' perspectives on language learning
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Barbara Hanna
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Doctor Philosophy
What are the prevailing attitudes, perceptions and context that underpin the low retention rate for Queensland students of foreign languages, and comparing this issue nationally and internationally, how can it be resolved through education policy, curriculum, and schools?
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Barbara Hanna
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Doctor Philosophy
THE ROLE OF LANGUAGE IN EARLY LITERACY POLICIES AND PROGRAMS
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Associate Professor Marnee Shay, Dr Samantha Disbray
Completed supervision
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2022
Doctor Philosophy
Building belonging through everyday otherness and conviviality: A study of people from African backgrounds and long-term residents in the community of Moorooka, Brisbane
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Sol Rojas-Lizana
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2024
Doctor Philosophy
Perceptions of diversity beyond nationality: An exploratory study on the student experience of intercultural group work at an Australian university
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Paul Moore
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2022
Doctor Philosophy
Spanish as a world(ing) languaging: A multimodal critical discourse analysis of teachers' everyday practices in Australia
Associate Advisor
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2020
Doctor Philosophy
Beyond and within the NS/NNS Discourses: English Teaching in the Saudi PYPs
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Barbara Hanna
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2017
Doctor Philosophy
The Effects of Planning Time on Discourse Competence in Oral Task Performance
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Noriko Iwashita
Media
Enquiries
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