Areas of Expertise
- Curriculum Studies
- Language and Literacy
- Multicultural/Multilingual Education
- Teacher Education
Keywords
Critical and Decolonial Perspectives, Literacy/Literacies, Multicultural/Multilingual Education, Culturally Sustaining Approaches
Research Methodologies
- Qualitative Methods
Research Levels
- Postsecondary
- Secondary
Research Overview
Brooke Ward Taira is an Associate Professor of Literacy Education in the Curriculum Studies department at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. Her research centers on literacy, migration, and place, exploring how asset-based, culturally responsive and sustaining teaching approaches can create more inclusive literacy classrooms. Her work includes intertwined strands: literacies of movement and migration, which examines how literacy mediates transnational connection, identity, and access for newcomer and refugee students; and literacies of place and community, which connects migration and literacy to the particular historical, cultural, and geographic contexts of Hawaiʻi.
Brooke grew up in North Carolina, where she received her BA and MAT at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill before teaching middle and high school English in North Carolina and Prague. She earned her PhD in Curriculum & Instruction with a focus in Literacy Studies at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Her teaching and her work at the Hawaiʻi Department of Education’s Office of Curriculum and Instructional Design and Office of Hawaiian Education inform her interest in pedagogy and practice at classroom, school, and system levels.
Languages: Brooke is a haumana of ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi
- Taira, B. W. & Maunakea, S. P. (2025). Leading from the classroom: Insights for culturally responsive leadership. The High School Journal. 107(3), 178-191.
- Taira, B. W. & Maunakea, S. P. (March, 2023). Ma ka hana ka ʻike: Implementing Culturally Responsive Educational Practices. Behavior and Social Issues. 32, 234–248.*
- Taira, B. W. & Maunakea, S. P. (July, 2022). ʻAʻohe pau ka ʻike I ka hālau hoʻokahi: Learning with community and place. Language Arts.99(6), 380-389.*
- Taira, B. W. (2019). (In)Visible literacies: Investigating the literacy practices of newcomer transnational students in a secondary English classroom. Global Education Review, 6(2), 74-93.*
- Taira, B. W., Balazs, P. D., Matsuura, J. A., Pharaon, R., and Maunakea, S. P. (December, 2026). Culturally Sustaining Literacies through ʻĀina-Based Education. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Literacy Research Association. Honolulu, Hawaiʻi
- Taira, B. W. (December, 2025). A Call for Parent Perspectives in Research to Inform Literacy Instructional Policy. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Literacy Research Association. Las Vegas, NV.
- Taira, B. W.., Savitz, R., Field, S., Williams, O., Lynch, J. & Yang, S. (November, 2025). Realizing culturally sustaining literacy pedagogies in PK-12 classrooms. Panel presented at National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) Annual Convention. Denver, CO.
- Taira, B. W. (December, 2024). Literacies of Place. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Literacy Research Association. Atlanta, GA.
- Vice President, Hawaii Council of Teachers of English (2026-2027)
- HIDOE Multilingualism Policy Advisory Council
- Pacific Engagement Council