Cedric Joseph Oliva

Dr. Cedric Joseph Oliva is an Associate Professor of Language Studies and Communication and serves as Director of the Honors Program and Coordinator of the Language Studies, French, Italian and Spanish Programs. A specialist in intercomprehension, pluriligualism, multilingual pedagogy, and sociolinguistics, his research and teaching explore how language proximities foster multilingual competence across the Romance languages.

He earned his Ph.D. focusing on minority languages and Corsican sociolinguistics. He also holds master’s degrees in French and Francophone Studies and in Lettres, Langues et Sciences Humaines.

Dr. Oliva has previously taught at St. Lawrence University, California State University, Long Beach, and the University of Corsica. His scholarly work includes several peer-reviewed publications and textbooks, notably Juntos: Italian for Speakers of English and Spanish (Hackett Publishing, 2020) and the forthcoming Juntos: French through Intercomprehension for English and Spanish Speakers (CSU Press, 2026).

His article titled “Translation and Translanguaging Pedagogies in Intercomprehension and Multilingual Teaching/Pédagogies de traduction et de translanguaging dans le contexte de l’intercompréhension et de l’enseignement plurilingue » published in the OLBI Journal a double-blind peer-reviewed publication, by the Official Languages and Bilingualism Institute of Canada and the Social Sciences and Humanities Council of Canada was named “state of the art in research” by the European University Project UNITA, a consortium of six EU universities mandated by the Council of Europe with a vision 2029.

He has recently been an invited keynote and workshop speaker at institutions such as the USC, Ambassade de France à Washington, the North American, Central American and Caribbean Network of the Alliance Françaises, USC, Concordia University, and the University of Puerto Rico.

A frequent presenter at international conferences (ACTFL, CCERBAL, FLE Colloques), Dr. Oliva’s work continues to advance innovative pedagogies for third-language learners and the promotion of plurilingualism in higher education.