I am interested in the role of English in multilingual contexts. I look into the dynamics of teaching, learning and use of English in order to examine the topics of language ideology, intercultural communication, identity and pedagogy. For the last several years, I have been studying the issues of culture, representation, and the economy of language from the perspectives of tourism workers in the context of Nepal's tourism industry. I investigate what English, other international languages, and minority languages mean for a workplace context where the commodification and representation of languages and cultures is a major driving force. As another project, I am working on research that investigates language-related ideologies and identities of non-native English speaking faculty as U.S. universities in STEM fields.

• Multilingualism
• Sociolinguistics 
• Discourse analysis
• Intercultural communication
• Qualitative research methods

• Sharma, B. (2019). Discursive representations of difference and multilingualism in Himalaya with Michael Palin. International Journal of Multilingualism, 16 (3), 226-243.

• Sharma, B. (2018). Training workers intercultural communication in tourism. Special issue on “Language, mobility and work” in M. Moyer (Ed.) Language and Intercultural Communication, 18, 408-423.

• Sharma, B. K. (2018). Chinese as a global language: Negotiating ideologies and identities. Introduction to the special issue in B. Sharma (Ed.), Global Chinese, 4(1), 1-10. 

• Sharma, B. K. (2018). Non-English lingua franca? Mobility, market and ideologies of the Chinese language in Nepal. Special Issue on "Global Chinese" in B. Sharma (Ed.), Global Chinese, 4(1), 63-88.

• Sharma, B. (2018). English and discourses of commodification among tourism workers in the Himalayas. Journal of Sociolinguistics, 22(1), 77-99.

• Sharma, B. (2018). Economic market, “elite” multilingualism, and language policy in Nepali schools. In J. Crandall & K. Bailey (Eds.), Global perspectives on educational language policies. New York, NY: Routledge.

• Sharma, B. (2018). Relevance of Hinduism for English language teaching? In M. S. Wong & A. Mahboob (Eds.) Spirituality & language teaching: Religious explorations of teacher identity, pedagogy, context, and content. New York, NY: Multilingual Matters.

• Sharma, B. & Phyak, P. (2017). Criticality as ideological becoming: Developing English teachers for critical pedagogy in Nepal. Special issue on “Reexamining and reenvisioning criticality in language studies” in R. Kubota & E. Miller (Eds.), Critical Inquiry in Language Studies, 14(1/2) , 210-238.

• Sharma, B. & Phyak, P. (2017). Neoliberalism, linguistic commodification and ethnolinguistic identity in multilingual Nepal. Language in Society, 46(2), 231-256.

• Higgins, C. M. & Sharma, B. (2016). Language education and globalization. In S. May. & T. McCarty, (Eds.), Encyclopedia of language and education, vol. 1: Language Policy and Political Issues in Education. (3rd edition).

• Sharma, B. (2015). Interactional concerns in implementing group tasks: addressing silence, dominance, and off-task talk in an academic writing class. Innovation in Language Learning and Teaching, 9(3), 233-250.

• Sharma, B. (2015). Stylizing dialects and restructuring the nation of Nepal in stand up comedy. Special issue on “Insults or acts of identity?: The role of styling, stylizing, and mocking in multilingual discourse” in C. Higgins (Ed.), Multilingua, 34(2), 234-264.

• Sharma, B. (2014). On high horses: Transnational Nepalis and language ideologies on YouTube. Special issue on “Digital superdiversity” in J. Androutsopoulos & K. Juffermans (Eds.), Discourse, Context & Media, 4-5, 19-28.

• Sharma, B. (2013). Enactment of teacher identity in resolving student disagreements in small group peer interactions. Linguistics and Education, 24(2) , 247-259.

• Sharma, B. (2013). Hinduism and TESOL: Teaching, learning and student-teacher relationships. Language and Linguistics Compass 7(2) , 79-90.

• Sharma, B. (2012). ‘It’s more than social networking’: Performing global Englishes in Facebook by college youth in Nepal. Journal of Sociolinguistics 16(4), 483-509.

• Sharma, B. (2012). Conceding in disagreements: A sequential analysis of group work interactions in academic writing class. Classroom Discourse 3(1), 4-28.

• Sharma, S. & Sharma, B. (2012). Leapfrogging in the global periphery: Popular literacy practices of Nepalese youth online. In B. T. Williams & A. Zenger (Eds.), New media literacies and participatory popular culture across borders (151-166). New York: Routledge.

• 2019: GSSP Faculty Excellence in Internationalization, University of Idaho
• 2019: ORED RISE Arts & Humanities (A&H) Project Support Grant, University of Idaho
• 2019: CLASS Undergraduate Collaborative Key Grant, University of Idaho
• 2018: Alumni Award for Excellence Inspirational Mentor, University of Idaho
• 2018: Seed Grant, University of Idaho
• 2018: CLASS Summer Research Grant, University of Idaho
• 2015: Dai Ho Chun Fellowship, University of Hawaii at Manoa
• 2014: Doctoral Dissertation Grant, the International Research Foundation for English Language Education
• 2014: Civil Society Scholar Award by the Open Society Foundations
• 2008: East-West Center Graduate Degree Fellowship 
• 2001 & 2003: Mahendra Vidya Bhusan (God Medal by the King), Tribhuvan University, Nepal