His goal is to illuminate the relationships between language, race and ethnicity across a wide range of social, cultural and educational contexts. His research integrates rigorous linguistic analysis with in-depth, ethnographic engagement in local communities to contribute to theory and methodology in education, sociolinguistics, linguistic anthropology, and race and ethnic studies. Alim develops this knowledge with the twin goals of understanding how youth make sense of their social worlds and communities and helping them do so by impacting teacher preparation, pedagogy and policy. He has an interest in language, literacy, and youth culture, particularly Hip Hop Culture, and critical language awareness for socially marginalized and linguistically profiled populations.