B.A. in English Literature, Beijing University;
M.A. in TESOL, University of Central Missouri;
Ed.M., Ed.D. in Applied Linguistics, Teachers College, Columbia University.
Language and social interaction:
LANSI was established in Fall 2010 to bring together students and scholars in the larger metropolitan area of New York working on naturally-occurring social interaction. As a relatively new venture sponsored by The TESOL and Applied Linguistics Program here at Teachers College, Columbia University, LANSI pursues two goals:
(1) create a space for analytical workouts: for the past four years, we have been hosting monthly data sessions, where students and professors work side by side as colleagues towards the common goal of becoming better analysts (If you’re interested in joining us, check our website at www.tc.edu/lansi for schedules and locations);
(2) provide a forum for and promote dialogs among analysts who work within the various areas of language and social interaction. Through LANSI, we hope to engage in substantive conversations that would enrich our understandings--not only of our common interest, but also of each other.
Lauren Carpenter is a doctoral candidate in applied linguistics at Teachers College, Columbia University. She has over 13 years of experience teaching in various TESOL contexts. A former New York City teaching fellow, Lauren has taught English as a New Language to children of all ages in public schools. She has also has taught English as a Foreign language to adult professionals in Ecuador as well as English as a Second Language for the Community Language Program at Teachers College, Columbia University. In addition, Lauren has supervised and mentored ESL teachers at both Teachers College and Hunter College. As a doctoral candidate and researcher, her research interest involves exploring the “how” of classroom teaching and learning, examining interactional and embodied practices by use of conversation analysis. Her work has appeared in Working Papers in Applied Linguistics & TESOL and in Multilingual Matters (forthcoming) and she has presented research at national conferences such as American Association for Applied Linguistics and Georgetown University Round Table. She is a recipient of the Dean’s Grant for Student Research from Teachers College, Columbia University for her study entitled Developing Student Teacher Elicitations Over Time: A Conversation Analytic Intervention.
Kelly Frantz is a doctoral student in the Applied Linguistics program at Teachers College, Columbia University. She received her BA from Allegheny College and MA in Applied Linguistics from Teachers College.
As a former Fulbright English Teaching Assistant, she has taught English both in the US and abroad for a number of years. Now, as a doctoral student, her research interests are still developing; however, she is
specifically interested in using conversation analysis to study interaction in language classrooms and writing centers.
Alyson "Lal" Horan is a doctoral student in the Applied Linguistics Program at Teachers College, Columbia University. She received her BA from Columbia College Chicago and her MA in TESOL from Portland State University. In addition to various experiences teaching in the US, Alyson served two years with the Peace Corps, teaching English at a university in Southern China. Her research interests include discourse and conversation analysis, particularly in the study of American Sign Language and those who learn signed languages as a non-native language.
Sean Hughes is a doctoral student in applied linguistics at Teachers College, Columbia University. He earned an Ed.M. in applied linguistics at Teachers College, an M.A.-TESOL from The New School, and a dual B.A. from the University of Oklahoma in anthropology and German literature. Sean served as a high school German teacher in Miami, Florida, and later as an ENL teaching fellow in the Bronx and Brooklyn. After leaving the US in 2007, Sean taught elementary and junior high in Japan, then university in South Korea, China, Oman, and Vietnam. He also served as an English Language Fellow and an English Language Specialist hosted by the U.S. Department of State in the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) region for two years before returning to NYC to pursue his doctorate. Sean's research interests lie in conversation analysis, critical discourse analysis, discourse and identity, and multimodality of discourse. Currently, he is researching how gender and sexual identities are produced and maintained in interaction.
Allie Hope King is a doctoral candidate in Applied Linguistics at Teachers College, Columbia University. She has an Ed.M. in Applied Linguistics from TC, an M.Ed. in Foreign Language Education and TESOL from the University of Pittsburgh, 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.
Mark Romig is a doctoral candidate in applied linguistics at Teachers College, Columbia University. Before moving to NYC, he received a BA in Anthropology from SUNY Geneseo. After that, he received an MA in Linguistics from CUNY Graduate Center and a second MA in TESOL from CUNY Hunter. He has been working with adult ESL students for a number of years as both a teacher and a language program administrator in academic contexts and community-based organizations. Additionally, he has supervised and mentored ESL teachers at CUNY Hunter and Teachers College. He is interested in classroom discourse, conversation analysis, teacher supervision, and learning material development. Currently, he is investigating how participation is managed in the classroom, specifically, how teachers hold students accountable for their own learning.
Di Yu is a doctoral candidate in Applied Linguistics at Teachers College, Columbia University. She received her M.A. in TESOL and Ed.M. in Applied Linguistics from Teachers College and is the is past president of LANSI. Her research interests include media discourse, political discourse, humor, and the use of multimodal resources in interaction. Di has presented her research at conferences such as IIEMCA, ICCA, AAAL, IPrA, and AILA. Her co-authored work has appeared in Research on Children and Social Interaction, Discourse & Communication, and Language Learning Journal. She served as the Web Editor and Book Review Editor for the journal Studies in Applied Linguistics and TESOL (SALT).
Nancy Boblett earned her Ed.D. in Applied Linguistics at Teachers College, Columbia University. She holds an M.A. in Hispanic Linguistics from the University of Minnesota and a second M.A. in TESL from the University of Illinois. She has taught ESL/EFL and Spanish for over 40 years in the U.S. and in Spain. Currently, she teaches Classroom Practices and the Practica at Teachers College. She also gives workshops and short courses on U.S. academic culture, intelligibility, and plagiarism to international students and post-docs at Columbia University. In her research, she examines how teachers form bonded groups and how they work with learners to go beyond simply getting correct responses.
Catherine Box is a Lecturer in the Educational Linguistics Division at the University of Pennsylvania. She earned her M.A. and Ed.D. in Applied Linguistics at Teachers College, Columbia University. She holds a second M.A. in English from West Chester University, and an A.B. in English/French at Muhlenberg College, where she graduated Phi Beta Kappa and was awarded the Phi Sigma Iota Award for Excellence in Romance Languages, and the Paul C. Scherr Award for Outstanding Writing. She has taught English Literature, ESL, and French in the United States at both the K-12 and the postsecondary level; she has also taught English in Paris, France, at secondary and postsecondary levels. Presently a teacher trainer, her passion is to advocate for immigrants and immigrant education and improve teaching methods in content-based classrooms. Her research focuses on interaction and multimodality in educational settings, both traditional and informal, conducting her work within the conversation analytic paradigm. Formerly an executive board member of New York State TESOL, Catherine has presented research at AAAL, NYS TESOL, SETESOL, TESOL International, as well as conferences in France, Greece, and Switzerland. Her work, often in collaboration with other researchers from Teachers College, has appeared in Applied Linguistics Review, Language & Information Society, Learning & Individual Differences, and Language, Culture, & Social Interaction.
Sarah Creider is a Lecturer in the Applied Linguistics & TESOL program at Teachers College, Columbia University. Her work, as a researcher, teacher, and activist, is focused on what she calls a “micro-revolution” — the possibilities for change inherent in each moment of everyday conversations. As a conversation analyst, Sarah works in two primary areas: teacher-student interaction; and community-based political conversations, particularly among mixed-race groups. Her work has been published in Linguistics & Education; the Journal of Contemporary Foreign Language Studies; Learning, Culture & Social Interaction; Discourse Studies; Language and Information Society; and the Journal of Applied Linguistics and Professional Practice. Her book (co-authored with Hansun Waring), Micro-reflection on Classroom Communication: A FAB framework, was published by Equinox in 2021. Sarah has a doctorate in Applied Linguistics from Teachers College, Columbia University.
Drew Fagan, Ed.D. (Teachers College), is Associate Clinical Professor of Applied Linguistics and Language Education, Coordinator of the Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) Program, and Associate Director of the Multilingual Research Center at the University of Maryland, College Park. Drew’s research examines the influence of educators’ interactions on promoting (or hindering) opportunities for English learners’ language and content learning in diverse educational contexts. His current work prepares non-ESOL teachers, specialists, and administrators to address the language, content, cultural, and (if applicable) exceptional needs of English learners across the K-12 curriculum. He has authored numerous publications in language learning, applied linguistics, and education journals and edited books, and co-authored the Maryland TESOL Handbook for Educators of English Learners (2021) and A Guide to School for Families of English Learners (2020). He is currently an executive board member of the Maryland TESOL Association, having been the chair of the 2021 conference, and is a member of the Maryland State Department of Education’s Blueprint for Maryland’s Future: Workgroup on English Learners in Public Schools.
Carol Lo received her doctoral degree in Applied Linguistics from Teachers College, Columbia University and was the President of the Language and Social Interaction Working Group (LANSI) from 2019 to 2022. She has received Top Student Paper Award from the Language and Social Interaction Division of National Communication Association (NCA). Broadly, her research examines how language teachers and learners display, facilitate, and resolve issues of understanding. Her current line of work focuses on video-mediated family interaction. Her work has appeared in peer-reviewed journals (Classroom Discourse, WORD) and edited volumes (Communicating with the Public: Conversation Analytic Studies, Storytelling in Multilingual Interaction: A Conversation Analytic Perspective).
Elizabeth Reddington, a past president of LANSI, received her Ed.D. in Applied Linguistics from Teachers College. Her interests include applying conversation analysis in the study of professional practice. As an ESL/EFL instructor and teacher educator, she is particularly interested in examining classroom interaction to gain insight into relationships between teacher practices, student participation, and the creation of opportunities for language learning. Her work, often in collaboration with other LANSI members, has appeared in Classroom Discourse, Discourse & Communication, HUMOR: International Journal of Humor Research, Linguistics and Education, and Studies in Applied Linguistics & TESOL. She is the editor, with Hansun Waring, of Communicating with the Public: Conversation Analytic Studies (Bloomsbury).
Gahye Song is an Assistant Professor at Defense Language Institute. She received her doctoral degree in Applied Linguistics from Teachers College, Columbia University. Her research interests include conversation analysis, interactional linguistics, and spoken grammar of English and Korean. In particular, she is interested in describing grammar as they are used in everyday social interaction and incorporating the insights from this line of research into teaching of Korean and English as a second language.
Nadja Tadic is an Assistant Teaching Professor in the Linguistics Department at Georgetown University. She received her doctorate in Applied Linguistics from Teachers College, Columbia University. Her research examines issues of diversity, discrimination, and social (in)justice through the lens of critically motivated conversation analysis and membership categorization analysis. She is particularly interested in identifying practices that can promote diversity, equity, and inclusion in institutional and ordinary interaction. Her work has been published in journals such as Language and Education, Linguistics and Education, and Studies in Applied Linguistics & TESOL.
Junko Takahashi earned her doctoral degree in Applied Linguistics at Teachers College, Columbia University. Her research interests lie in conversation analysis, interactional sociolinguistics, and intercultural communication, particularly pertaining to East Asian students' participation/self-selection patterns in the American classrooms. She has taught ESL, Japanese, and Intercultural Communication at New Jersey City University, Pace University, and Teachers College. Her research articles have appeared in Linguistics and Education, Communication Education, and Working Papers of Applied Linguistics & TESOL. She is also an education columnist for Japanese newspapers, and a published author of an intercultural education book for Japanese families "Navigating Children’s Education in America” (2008), and a contributing writer of "Living in English-Speaking Countries" (2011) in Tokyo. Moving back to Japan in 2020, she is currently teaching English at Doshisha University in Kyoto.