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
Conference Publication
Resources and strategies for gender-expansive language education: an open access e-book for teachers of gendered languages
Díaz, Adriana Raquel, Amorati, Riccardo and Pirovano, Elena (2026). Resources and strategies for gender-expansive language education: an open access e-book for teachers of gendered languages. Languages Teachers Victoria (LTV) 2026, Melbourne, VIC Australia, 5 December 2025.
2026
Conference Publication
Nuevos horizontes para un español más inclusivo: un recurso educativo abierto para acompañar pedagogías lingüísticas expansivas
Diaz, Adriana R., Amorati, Riccardo and Pirovano, Elena (2026). Nuevos horizontes para un español más inclusivo: un recurso educativo abierto para acompañar pedagogías lingüísticas expansivas. NSW Teachers' Conference: The Way of St. James III National Conference of Spanish Language Teaching in Australia 2026: New horizons in Spanish language teaching: innovation and diversity, Adelaide, SA Australia, 2-3 May 2026.
2026
Conference Publication
Resources and strategies for gender-expansive Italian language education
Diaz, Adriana Raquel, Amorati, Riccardo and Pirovano, Elena (2026). Resources and strategies for gender-expansive Italian language education. VATI 2026 Conference (Victorian Association of Teachers of Italian), Melbourne, VIC Australia, 1 May 2026.
2026
Book Chapter
Gesturing towards language learning and teaching otherwise
Ortiz-Jiménez, Macarena and Díaz, Adriana R. (2026). Gesturing towards language learning and teaching otherwise. New Directions and Challenges in Languages and Cultures in Australia. (pp. 13-34) edited by Giuseppe D'Orazzi, John Hajek, Kerry Mullan and Jun Ohashi. Abingdon, Oxon, United Kingdom: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9781003742821-3
2026
Book Chapter
Charting actionable pedagogical directions for decolonizing the languages curriculum
Díaz, Adriana and Ortiz-Jiménez, Macarena (2026). Charting actionable pedagogical directions for decolonizing the languages curriculum. Countering colonialingualism in language education. (pp. 13-33) London, United Kingdom: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9781003653653-3
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. doi: 10.1515/9783110756784-012
2025
Book Chapter
Critical intercultural language pedagogies
Díaz, Adriana (2025). Critical intercultural language pedagogies. Contemporary topics in applied linguistics for language educators. edited by Julieta Fernández and Chantelle Warner. Tucson, AZ, United States: Center for Educational Resource in Culture, Language and Literacy, The University of Arizona.
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
Conference Publication
Reimaginar Radicalmente la Enseñanza del Español en la era digital: hacia una pedagogía crítica y justicia social con Recursos Educativos Abiertos (REA)
Díaz, Adriana Raquel (2025). Reimaginar Radicalmente la Enseñanza del Español en la era digital: hacia una pedagogía crítica y justicia social con Recursos Educativos Abiertos (REA). Congreso Internacional Nebrija en Lingüística Aplicada a la Enseñanza de Lenguas: En camino hacia el plurilingüismo, Madrid, Spain, 2-4 July 2025.
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
2025
Conference Publication
The evolving landscape of language instructional materials: navigating challenges and embracing opportunities
Díaz, Adriana Raquel (2025). The evolving landscape of language instructional materials: navigating challenges and embracing opportunities. Center for Educational Resources in Culture, Language and Literacy (CERCLL) University of Arizona, Webinar Series, Online, 14 May 2025.
2024
Conference Publication
Promoting equity, diversity, inclusion and sustainability in Spanish language education in Australia through Open Educational Resources (OERs)
Díaz, Adriana Raquel (2024). Promoting equity, diversity, inclusion and sustainability in Spanish language education in Australia through Open Educational Resources (OERs). LCNAU Colloquium, Sydney, NSW Australia, 27-29 November 2024.
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
Conference Publication
Reimaginar Radicalmente la Enseñanza del Español a través de Pedagogías Críticas
Díaz, Adriana Raquel (2024). Reimaginar Radicalmente la Enseñanza del Español a través de Pedagogías Críticas. LTQ - Spanish Network, Brisbane, QLD Australia, 24 October 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. 195-218) edited by Leonardo Veliz, Miguel Farias and Michelle Picard. London, United Kingdom: Bloomsbury Academic. doi: 10.5040/9781350413696.ch-11
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
Conference Publication
Evaluación de la competencia oral y escrita frente a los desafíos de la inteligencia artificial: YouTube e iMovie como herramientas pedagógicas
Díaz, Adriana Raquel and Ortiz-Jiménez, Macarena (2024). Evaluación de la competencia oral y escrita frente a los desafíos de la inteligencia artificial: YouTube e iMovie como herramientas pedagógicas. II Congreso Nacional de Enseñanza de Español de Australia 2024 “Herramientas prácticas para el aula de español”, Melbourne, VIC Australia, 1-3 March 2024.
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
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: 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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