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2025-2028: TESOL Awards Professional Council Chair

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2025-2028: TESOL Awards Professional Council Chair

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After serving as a member on the Awards Professional Council (APC) for 3 years, I was selected as the incoming chair for 2025-2026. I will then serve as the APC's chair for 2026-2027 and the past chair for 2027-2028. I have two main goals for this role: To increase the number of awards that recognize TESOL volunteer leaders from across the globe and to increase the number of award submissions through DEIA outreach that align with TESOL's policies and initiatives.

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2023-2025: TESOL Awards Professional Council Member

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2023-2025: TESOL Awards Professional Council Member

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I am honored to work with colleagues from around the globe on this TESOL committee for the next three years. In this role, I help market different awards offered by TESOL and then work to recruit, select, and manage an award review team.

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2023: TESOL Strand Coordinator-Advocacy, Social Justice, & Community Building

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2023: TESOL Strand Coordinator-Advocacy, Social Justice, & Community Building

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In 2023, as my term serving as the HEIS Co-Chair came to an end, I was accepted as one of the strand coordinators for the Advocacy, Social Justice, & Community Building strand. This strand had 38 proposal reviewers and over 230 proposals for the 2024 convention. We also provided strand-specific training and managed to meet the allocated slots for the convention, ensuring that our final selections represented a diverse selection of topics, robust research, and current trends across the globe in our field.

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TESOL Co-Chair Higher Education Interest Section (HEIS) 2022-2023

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TESOL Co-Chair Higher Education Interest Section (HEIS) 2022-2023

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While seeking to make a service contribution to the English language teaching field, I attended the online TESOL convention and joined several Interest Section groups, including HEIS. The acting HEIS Chair was in search for a Chair-Elect. My application for this post was accompanied by another from an EL instructor from Kansas City. Together we became Co-Chairs Elect in 2020-2021. During this time, we learned that volunteer leadership positions depend heavily upon leaders who are actively involved with the community, capable of setting realistic and relevant goals, and who can recruit new members for the HEIS leadership team.  It is vital that the leadership team share a similar enthusiasm for providing HEIS members with a platform where they can share their experiences, solve problems, and engage with professional learning.

Our theme for HEIS in 2022-2023 is "leadership." We will explore this theme in terms of leading within a classroom, leading within departments, and leading within the field. As we work to rebuild the HEIS leadership team, we remain committed to our collaborative efforts by hosting town hall meetings, offering webinars by TESOL members on a wide variety of topics, and publishing the HEIS Newsletter twice during the next year. We will also partner with 3 other IS groups to present at next year's TESOL convention.

I see this service opportunity as one that will expand my leadership experiences beyond my classrooms and my department.  It will be a year of making what I hope will be meaningful contributions to the ELT field.

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TESOL Leadership and Management Certification Program

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TESOL Leadership and Management Certification Program

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Completed May 2021

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Texas Global: Seven Years and 17+ Courses Taught

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Texas Global: Seven Years and 17+ Courses Taught

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Being an educator and teacher educator comprises a significant part of my identity, and I have been privileged to help thousands of students achieve their academic and professional goals over the last seven years at the University of Texas at Austin.

In addition to teaching a wide variety of intermediate- to advanced-level skills-based courses in reading, writing, speaking, and listening in the two intensive English language programs, I have also developed and taught several courses for specialized programs. These have included foundation-year courses in the SABIC and KAUST programs titled, "American Cultures", SABIC Leadership Development" and "University Admissions." I have also taught pre-sessional courses in the Business English Program for international students enrolled in UT's Executive MBA Program and a three-credit advanced writing course for UT international graduate students.

As a teacher educator, I have developed and taught several courses related to communicative grammar teaching in EFL contexts, as well as courses related to multilingual-multicultural education in international contexts. I have highlighted a few of these in the posts that follow.

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In Spring 2025, I attended a TESOL presentation by Dr. Janet Weng on the use of English as the medium of instruction at Taiwanese universities. Her research investigated the instructional needs of Taiwanese professors across disciplines who are now tasked with teaching their content courses in English.

She noted that in addition to developing their linguistic capabilities to teach in English, the professors in her study also stated the need to address the cultural, linguistic, and cognitive diversity of the increased numbers of international students in their classrooms.

During this time, Texas Global had been in contact with National Taiwan Normal University to provide professional development coursework and ongoing mentoring to cohorts of professors from across Taiwan. In the summer of 2025, I developed and taught the short course titled, "EMI Managing Diversity."

In this course, the 28 instructors were introduced to key course concepts such as cultural and linguistic capital, the hidden curriculum, the use of accessible and inclusive language, and identifying differences between access/inclusion and equality/equity. They applied these concepts to case studies as well as their prior teaching experiences during small-group discussions and wrote critical reflections on their personal Padlet. For each of these reflections, I modeled a dialogic approach to feedback by providing individualized questions and comments to further develop their EMI practices.

I received an overall course/instructor rating of 5.0/5.0 (based on 21 responses), which included the following comments:

• I would not change anything about this course. It was excellent, well organized, and provided many practical ideas and tools that I can apply to my future teaching and research. I really learned a

lot.

• I truly hope to have the opportunity to attend one of the instructor's in-person classes in the future. I believe it would be an even more enriching and rewarding learning experience.

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Teaching Grammar: A Professional Development Course for Uzbek Professors

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Teaching Grammar: A Professional Development Course for Uzbek Professors

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In the summer of 2021, I worked with 11 university instructors from Uzbekistan during a four-week course titled "Teaching Grammar." The main goal of the course was to advance their knowledge of English grammar for the purpose of improving their own language skills and to increase their ability to develop lessons that implement student-focused, communicative approaches to teaching grammar.

To achieve this goal, the Uzbek teachers participated in communicative grammar lessons based on Jeremy Harmer’s (2015) three-stage approach: introducing grammar, discovering grammar, and practicing grammar. Lessons demonstrated during the course introduced grammar structures using methods from David Riddell’s (2014) Teach EFL. These lessons included:

Task-Teach-Task: Advanced uses of definite and indefinite articles

Language via Text: Passive voice; noun clauses; comparatives and superlatives

Situational Presentation: Passive voice with modals; adjective clauses; reducing adjective clauses

During the last week of the course, the teachers examined a wide variety of online materials for use in developing their own communicative grammar lessons.

The teachers demonstrated their ability to apply theory to practice during the second week of the course by preparing and delivering presentations on second language acquisition theories—Krashen’s Monitor Model, Gass and Selinker’s Interlanguage Theory, Long’s Interaction Hypothesis, Swain’s Output Hypothesis, and Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory—as they apply to the teaching of communicative grammar. Each group made explicit connections between the theory they summarized and the grammar lessons from our course.

Because this group was particularly interested in new approaches to teaching culture, we reviewed the ACTFL Cultures and Comparisons World-Readiness Standards for Language Learning. I modeled two communicative grammar lessons with embedded cultural discussions using graphic organizers.

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Melissa S. Ferro, Ph.D. - Texas Global, University of Texas | LinkedIn

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Language educator and teacher educator with extensive experience supporting multilingual… · Experience: Texas Global, University of Texas · Education: George Mason University · Location: Austin, Texas Metropolitan Area · 500+ connections on LinkedIn. View Melissa S. Ferro, Ph.D.’s profile on LinkedIn, a professional community of 1 billion members.

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My Ph.D. included 9 credits in general educational culture and leadership, 12 credits in education research methods, 21 credits in my area of specialization (multilingual/multicultural education), and 14 credits in my minor field of study (instructional technology). Click on the link below for the full list of courses.

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The original program of study did not include the Independent Study: Technology and Teacher Education or the Doctoral Seminar in Educational Anthropology. My original plan was to complete EDIT 747: Technology and Teacher Education with Dr. Sprague during the summer 2008 and to do an Independent Study in Multilingual Multicultural Education with Dr. Osterling in the fall of 2008. I had to make a few changes as EDIT 747 was canceled and I learned that Dr. Osterling was offering his course in Educational Anthropology in the fall of 2008. I believe these changes have worked out for the best.

My work in Dr. Osterling's class allowed me to gain a historical perspective of educational anthropology and to explore more recent approaches to educational research that do more than report on issues of social inequalities by designing studies where the researcher and the participants collaborate to serve as agents of social change (Mehan, 2008). As my own ideas for becoming an agent of change in the field of world language education continued to develop during the fall 2008 semester, my desire to do a meaningful pilot study for my Independent Study with Dr. Sprague grew stronger. Dr. Sprague's guidance and flexibility greatly contributed to the development of a study that I believe will serve as a springboard to my dissertation research.

After taking Structural Equation Modeling in the summer of 2008 and Qualitative Methods in Educational Research in the fall of 2008, I found myself in a bit of an identity crisis. I wondered, what kind of researcher am I? Am I a qualitative or quantitative researcher? As I thought about becoming an agent of change, I believed that a mixed-method design would allow me to gain both "big picture" and "in depth" perspectives of the realities of world language education. But I was not sure how I would reconcile the philosophical and ideological differences that serve as the foundation for the distinct qualitative and quantitative research paradigms. To help me resolve my identity crisis, I made the decision to audit Dr. Maxwell's EDRS 797: Mixed Methods in Educational Research course in the spring 2009 semester. It was in this course that I found my identity as a researcher as I discovered a dialectical approach to an integrated mixed methods design (Greene, 2007).

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The original program of study did not include the Independent Study: Technology and Teacher Education or the Doctoral Seminar in Educational Anthropology. My original plan was to complete EDIT 747: Technology and Teacher Education with Dr. Sprague during the summer 2008 and to do an Independent Study in Multilingual Multicultural Education with Dr. Osterling in the fall of 2008.

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The journey of 1000 miles begins with a single step--Lao Tzu

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The journey of 1000 miles begins with a single step--Lao Tzu

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In 1996, after several years in sales and attending university part-time for a degree in business, I enrolled at George Mason University (GMU) full-time.  About 10 years older than most of my classmates, I held steadfast to my goal of becoming a Spanish teacher. This  involved completing a B.A. in Spanish and an M.Ed. in FL/WL Curriculum and Instruction (that included a VA State Teaching License).  With the support of my spouse, I also participated in two study abroad programs (Madrid, 1998 and Bilbao, 2006). During my graduate coursework, one of the professors planted the seed for a doctoral degree.  That seed took root.  In 2014, I defended my dissertation and earned a Ph.D. in Multilingual-Multicultural Education.  My PhD journey included 7 conference presentations (including AERA, ACTFL, NECFTL, and STARTALK and ISLS) and 4 article publications.  I am a true Mason Patriot with all three degrees completed at GMU's Fairfax campus.

My career in higher education also began at GMU.  Over the course of 11 years, I taught with various departments and programs, including undergraduate Spanish classes with the Department of Modern & Classical Languages and methods courses in teaching and learning with the Graduate School of Education.  In 2012, I began developing and delivering credit-bearing undergraduate courses for a pathway program that combined English for academic purposes with course content.  During this time, I also collaborated with colleagues to develop a comprehensive transition to graduate study course for international students.

After living in the suburbs of Washington, DC for 20 years, I moved to London in 2015 with my spouse and our two cats.  While in the UK, I earned a CELTA (Cambridge Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults), worked as an Academic Developer at the University of East London, and taught ESL classes at International House and Kaplan International College of London.  I was also fortunate enough to present with colleagues at ISSOTL (Bergen, Norway) and EATAW (London) as well as BERA (Leeds) and published two articles.

In the summer of 2019, I moved back to the US-- to "the world capital of live music" --in Austin, Texas.  Currently, I teach a variety of courses at the University of Texas at Austin, including language and academic skills courses with the Intensive English Language Program, courses on educational equity and diversity in the Teacher Training Institute that are housed within the English Language Center, and a 3-credit advanced graduate writing course through the Graduate School.  I am also actively involved with TESOL, having served as the co-chair of the Higher Education Interest Section (2021-2024), as a member of the Awards Professional Council (2023-2026) and as the Chair of the Awards Professional Council (2026-2028). I have also served as a Convention Proposal Reviewer for the Equity, Social Justice, & Community Building strand (2022-Present).

My research interests include 1) the intersection of technology-enhanced pedagogies, including the responsible use of generative AI for multilingual learners that broadens their ways of knowing while respecting the funds of knowledge they bring to next-generation learning spaces and 2) systemic education equity issues related to race, religion, ethnicity, and gender identity by investigating English language teachers' beliefs and cognition associated with equity education.

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This photo is from a 40 mile ride on dirt roads near Buckholts, Texas.

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I collaborated with the research team as third author for this published article in the Journal of Pedagogical Research (2019). I co-wrote the sections of the introduction and results section with the first author and provided a full draft of the discussion section that was then reviewed and edited by the first author.

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This article published in The Journal for Research and Practice in College Teaching (2018) summarizes my experiences using Padlet to facilitate and engage international students with academic research related to their course projects.

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Enjoying the views at Oasis Brewery during the Pandemic (November 2020)

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Enjoying the views at Oasis Brewery during the Pandemic (November 2020)

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Few predicted the potential impact of the Covid 19 pandemic on our daily lives.

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Student Research Poster Presentations Spring 2019

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Student Research Poster Presentations Spring 2019

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Collaborating, sharing, and growing as individuals--Few things are more rewarding than working with international pathway students. This photo shows graduate pathway students at Kaplan International College of London sharing their research projects via poster presentations held the last week of the term.

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Exploring the Scottish Highlands (June 2019)

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Exploring the Scottish Highlands (June 2019)

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One of the most beautiful places in the UK.

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Hiking the coast in Southern Portugal (December 2018)

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Hiking the coast in Southern Portugal (December 2018)

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The Algarve coastline is unexpectedly stunning, and the Portuguese people are as warm as the sun.

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The Churchill Arms at Christmastime (November 2018).

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The Churchill Arms at Christmastime (November 2018).

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Living in Central London for four years was an incredible experience. This was one of my favourite pubs (and places to order takeaway Thai food).

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Chilly, rainy, yet wonderful!

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Every day with your soul-mate is a gift (December 2015)

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Every day with your soul-mate is a gift (December 2015)

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Supporting one another since 1996. Photo taken at my parents' home in Fall River, MA.

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Observing students develop their confidence and use of academic English language skills as their instructor is one of the many rewards of leading and managing classrooms, students, and their personal/intellectual growth. This photo is of my KICL students celebrating the successful end of term and the beginning of their graduate programs at UK universities.

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Conference Presentation: "Critical Reflections from the Field: Embracing Diversity through Inclusive Approaches to Teaching and Developing Academic Literacy".  EATAW London, England (June 2017) 

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Conference Presentation: "Critical Reflections from the Field: Embracing Diversity through Inclusive Approaches to Teaching and Developing Academic Literacy".  EATAW London, England (June 2017) 

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Presenting perspectives in multiple literacies with colleagues from UEL and Professor Ursula Wingate from King's College of London.

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International Conference Presentation:  "The Transition Between Academic and Employment Borders– The Case of the Padlet E-portfolio".  Presented at ISSOTL Bergen, Norway (October 2018)

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International Conference Presentation:  "The Transition Between Academic and Employment Borders– The Case of the Padlet E-portfolio".  Presented at ISSOTL Bergen, Norway (October 2018)

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Presenting research on student use of Padlet with a UEL colleague.

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I have managed classrooms, instructional teams, and academic projects while developing and implementing a humanist approach to leadership.  The following document highlights these experiences.