I have a BA in German from Wheaton College, Illinois, an MA in Linguistics from the University of Southern California, and a PhD in Sociolinguistics from Georgetown University, with a minor in Anthropology.
I worked in Asia for 28 years. My first assignment: Founding Dir. of the Inter Mission Language Center for Crosscultural Communication in Bandung, W. Java, Indonesia. After a year as Principal of the Bandung Int'l School, and 2 years as Asst Dir. of the Indonesian-American Binational Center in Surabaya, E. Java, Indonesia and Course Leader of the English Language Program, I moved to Singapore where I spent 3 years as Specialist in Sociolinguistics at the Regional Language Center, under the supervision of the SE Asian Ministers of Education. From there, I served as Lecturer in the Dept of English Language & Literature at the National University of Singapore for 3 years. Finally, I moved to Hong Kong where I served as Assoc. Professor in the Dept of English Language & Literature at the Hong Kong Baptist University for 14 years.
In general, I have taught English language to students and adults in the USA (U. of Southern California, The Johns Hopkins U., Georgetown U.) and Asia (Indonesia, Singapore, Hong Kong) for over 40 years.
My approach to any language learning is based on a belief that language is meaningful only when seen in social and cultural context. The mnemonic S-P-E-A-K-I-N-G sums it up.
S = Language is always involved in social Situations and Settings in time and space.
P = Language always involves Participants with social identities, and with social roles in SPEECH EVENTS.
E = Language is always used for conventional and personal Ends/outcomes.
A = Language is always used to achieve certain Acts; these acts are performed in conventional sequences.
K = The use of language is enacted in certain Keys/emotional environments.
I = Language is used in different Instrumentalities: Face-to-face, Telephone, Email, Written letters....
N = Social NORMS OF INTERACTION are conventions under which communication takes place; NORMS OF INTERPRETATIONS are conventional positive or negative judgments of interactions.
G = Genre, refers to the forms in which messages occur.
Learning occurs through hands-on practice. The test of good tutoring is the tutored person succeeding in his/her language tasks, academically, and personally in his/her social interactions and business.
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