Harry Gradman
- Professor and Chair Emeritus
Contact Information
Memorial Hall 313
Indiana University
Bloomington, Ind. 47405
Phone: (812) 855-3302
gradman@indiana.edu
Research Interests
TESOL, language testing, second language acquisition, English linguistics.
Professor Harry Gradman, originally a History Major (B.A. Miami University) came to Indiana University in1964. He earned his M.A. in English Literature in 1966, the Certificate of Applied Linguistics (TESOL) in 1968, and the Ph.D. in Linguistics in 1970. He first taught as a teaching assistant in the English as a Foreign Language program and the general linguistics program, and later as a professor in the School of Education’s Urban and Overseas English Programs, the Department of Linguistics, and for TESOL and Applied Linguistics. He has chaired all of these units, but is currently the Chair of TESOL and Applied Linguistics.
His teaching and research interests are matched in the areas of grammar and evaluation. While his dissertation concerned using the contrastive analysis hypothesis to work with tests of reduced redundancy, he has also looked at broader issues in testing and language learner backgrounds, and their relationships to measurements of proficiency. His current work involves a reassessment and reproduction of the original so-called “noise test.” He has directed and served on scores of dissertation committees over the years. An administrator for just about thirty years, his concerns have by necessity expanded to program evaluation and marketing, areas which have resulted in world travel for Mr. Gradman.
Professor Gradman lives in a house full of animals. As a sideline, he serves as Senior Conductor on the French Lick, West Baden, and Southern Railway, a scheduled tourist railroad in southern Indiana. He is a director and treasurer of the Indiana Railway Museum as well as director of the Dubois County Railroad, a shortline freight railroad. Formerly, he served as president of Hospice of Bloomington. A variety of interests and longtime friendships have resulted in a happy person!
