Program Staff

Dr. Yuna Seong is the Director of the Community Language Program and two advanced certificate programs, TESOL and Language Program Management Certificate Programs, at Teachers College, Columbia University (TC), where she trains and oversees language educators and language program professionals who aspire to teach and manage their own language programs. Prior to TC, Dr. Seong was a Clinical Assistant Professor and Assessment Coordinator at New York University (NYU). During her years at NYU, she designed and taught a wide array of specialized courses for English language learners from diverse language, academic, and professional backgrounds. In addition, she developed, administered, and managed the program’s English proficiency exams and successfully led a two-year project overhauling the curriculum. She is also a test development consultant for the Scenario-based Assessment Lab at Teachers College, Columbia University and a SAT/PSAT fairness reviewer for College Board. Dr. Seong earned her Ed.D. in Applied Linguistics with specialization in second language assessment and an M.A. in Second Language Studies from University of Hawai’i at Manoa with concentration on language assessment, measurement, and program evaluation. Her research interests include teaching and assessing second language speaking ability, scenario-based assessment, and metacognitive and cognitive processes in second language test performance. 

Dr. Allie Hope King earned a doctorate in Applied Linguistics at Teachers College, Columbia University. She also has an Ed.M. in Applied Linguistics from TC, an M.Ed. in Foreign Language Education and TESOL from the University of Pittsburgh, a bachelor's in Spanish from Shenandoah University, and a bachelor’s in Modern Languages from Carnegie Mellon University. Her research focuses on classroom discourse, specifically what co-teacher interaction looks like through a conversation analytic lens. Prior to returning to New York for her current academic endeavors, she taught ESL in a number of contexts and locations around the U.S. While at TC, she has taught several courses in the Community Language Program, and has been a mentor and instructor for the TESOL Certificate Program.

Abby is a doctoral student in Applied Linguistics with a concentration in Second Language Acquisition. She holds an Ed.M. from the University of Massachusetts and earned her bachelor's degrees in German and Media Studies from Penn State. Before moving to New York City, she taught English abroad through Fulbright Austria, and more recently worked as an English language program administrator at a community college in Boston. She is interested in heritage language acquisition, instructed SLA, and language loss.

Talya Kahan is the Program Associate for the Language Management Program and the
TESOL Certificate Program at Teachers College. She previously worked in research,
communications strategy and operations for local non-profits and international
organizations, before  moving into teaching. She currently tutors ESL
students. Talya holds an MSc. in Human Rights from the London School of Economics
and a BA in Politics and Sociology from Brandeis University. As a former student in the
TESOL Certificate Program, Talya is excited to support  current students on their
journeys and to help ensure that their experience at Teachers College is a positive one.

Vivian Lindhardsen, Ph.D. is a senior lecturer in Language and Education and the director of the
Applied Linguistics and TESOL program at Teachers College, Columbia University, where she
teaches Second Language Assessment in PK-12, Pedagogical English Grammar, Educational
Linguistics, and several PK-12 Methods courses. She holds a Ph.D. in TESOL and Applied
Linguistics from Copenhagen Business School, Denmark, and an M.A. in English Language and
Literature from Copenhagen University, Denmark. Dr. Lindhardsen has more than 25 years of
experience as a language educator, including teaching English and foreign languages at several
levels of education, including intensive English programs for adults, PreK-12 as well as
undergraduate and graduate levels. She has solid experience in educational administration and
management, having served as a PreK-12 assistant principal, as the director of the Community
Language Program and TESOL Certificate Program at Teachers College, as a founder of a
Scandinavian school, and as the director of the International Center for Language Studies (ICLS),
where she worked intensely with governmental agencies to provide foreign language training,
assessment, and curriculum development. Dr. Lindhardsen is a former commissioner and a
long-standing reviewer for The Commission of English Language Program Accreditation (CEA),
and she an expert member of New York State Teacher Certification Exams (NYSTCE) and of the
Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP) for TESOL standards
Dr. Lindhardsen has published journal articles and textbooks in writing assessment and in
language pedagogy.