Dialogic Approaches to TESOL : Where the Ginkgo Tree Grows

This book locates dialogic pedagogy within the history of TESOL approaches and methods in which the communicative approach has been the dominant paradigm. Dialogic inquiry in the form of story telling, oral histories, and knowledge from the ground up and from the margins has much to offer the field. In dialogic approaches, the teacher and students learn in community and the students' home languages and cultures, their families and communities, are seen as resources. Dialogic Approaches to TESOL: Where the Ginkgo Tree Growsexplores teacher research, feminist contributions to voice, social identity and dialogic pedagogy, and the role of teachers, students, families, and communities as advocates and change agents. After a brief history of TESOL methods and an introduction to dialogic pedagogy, four features of dialogic approaches to TESOL are identified and discussed: learning in community, problem-posing, learning by doing, and who does knowledge serve? The main text in each chapter considers a single topic related to the concept of dialogic pedagogy. Branching text leads to related discussions without losing the main point of the chapter. This structure allows readers to become well-rooted in each component of dialogic pedagogy and to "branch out" into deeper philosophic understandings as well as actual practices across a range of contexts. Dialogic Approaches to TESOLoffers a place for dialogue and reflection on the prospects for transforming educational institutions to serve those who have historically been excluded and marginalized. It provides questions, frameworks, and resources for those who are just beginning in the field and for U.S.-based educators who want to bring critical multicultural and multilingual perspectives into language arts, reading and literacy education.

Dr. Shelley Wong is an Associate Professor at George Mason University in Multicultural/ESL/Bilingual Education. Before coming to George Mason, Shelley was an assistant professor at the University of Maryland College Park, and an associate professor in the Foreign/Second Language Education with a Specialization in Language, Literacy and Culture at the Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio.
 
She received her B.A. in Sociology at the University of California at Santa Cruz (U.C.S.C.), her California teaching credentials, TESL certificate and M.A. in Teaching English as a Second Language from UCLA, and her Ed.D. in Applied Linguistics from Columbia Teachers College. 
 
Shelley began her teaching career in teaching English at a girl’s middle school in Hong Kong where she went as a Chinese American to study Cantonese and learn about her cultural roots. Over the years, she has taught English as a Second language in adult school, high school, community college, university intensive English programs, and teacher education programs in California, Ohio, New York, and the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. She has also taught ESL/Bilingual classes for community organizations, churches, and trade unions.
 
Shelley served on the Board of TESOL from 1996-1999, was Chair of the Teacher Education Interest Section and on the Sociopolitical Concerns Committee of TESOL 2002- 2005. She was the 2003 recipient of the TESOL Heinle and Heinle Excellence in Teaching Award, presented at the TESOL Annual Convention, Baltimore, Maryland. She has been involved in collaborative literacy research projects with Reading Recovery, elementary and ESOL teachers in elementary schools in Arlington, Prince George County, and Fairfax, Virginia. She has published in the TESOL Quarterly, the TESOL Journal, the Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, and Multicultural Perspectives.