Routledge 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 Grows explores 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 TESOL offers 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. Review "The book provides questions, frameworks, and resources for people starting out in education and for U.S. based educators who want to bring critical multicultural and multilingual perspectives into language arts, reading, and literacy education."―BOOKMARKS "This book opens a door for ESOL teachers to eclectic and constructivist approaches, using ancient dialogue approaches not only to teach English, but also to teach sociocultural esteem. Each chapter of the book has branches that provide additional resources to help readers understand the content."―PsycCRITIQUES "This is a unique contribution to the field of TESOL by someone who knows language teaching and learning from the inside out, integrating extensive experience over the span of decades with current theoretical approaches in applied linguistics and anthropology in education....It will serve as a useful guide to students and teachers of language, foreign as well as English....and will also be an inspiration to teacher educators."―Suzanne Wong ScollonGeorgetown University 'This book is unusual and original in its approach, appealing and easy to read.  I recommend it to anyone who is interested in gaining further knowledge about non-Western approaches to and less mainstream aspects of the world of TESOL.' - TESOLANZ About the Author 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 girls middle school in Hong Kong where she went as a Chinese American to study Cantonese and learn abou