Bill Johnston
- Associate Professor, Second Language Studies and Comparative Literature
Education
- Ph.D. in Second Language Acquisition, University of Hawai’i at Manoa, 1995
Contact Information
e-mail: billj@indiana.edu
office: Memorial Hall 303
phone: (812) 855-4968
Research Interests
Second language pedagogy, language teacher education and teacher identity, classroom discourse analysis, moral dimensions of teaching
Personal Statement
My research has been in two principal areas. The first concerns various aspects of language teacher identity, including professional identity, the relationship between teacher identity and teacher knowledge, and teacher careers and life stories. The second area is that of the moral dimensions of language teaching, in other words the often competing values that together comprise the moral landscape of classrooms and educational institutions. The latter research agenda has led to two current projects—a book I am currently writing with Cary Buzzelli of Indiana University entitled Caring for the Many: The Moral Complexities of Schooling; and a collaboration with Manka Varghese of the University of Washington into the role of religious beliefs in language teacher identity, focusing in particular on evangelical Christian teachers. I also have an interest in less commonly taught languages (LCTLs), and for several years have offered workshops on methodology and materials development for LCTL teachers.
As well as my research in Second Language Studies I also work as a literary translator; I have translated numerous works from Polish. I have a split appointment with the Department of Comparative Literature, where I teach classes in translation and literature. Lastly, since 2001 I have served as Director of Indiana University’s Polish Studies Center.
Courses Recently Taught
- T534 Methods in Teaching ESL/EFL to Adults, TESOL
- T600 Topics in TESOL and Applied Linguistics
- Classroom Discourse: Preparing Second and Foreign Language Teachers
Books and Articles
Books:
Johnston, B. (2003). Values in English language teaching. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Buzzelli, C. A. & Johnston, B. (2002). The moral dimensions of teaching: Language, power, and culture in classroom interaction. New York: RoutledgeFalmer.
Chapters in books:
Johnston, B. (in press). Is dialogue possible? Challenges to evangelicals and non-evangelicals. In M. Wong and S. Canagarajah (eds.), Christianity and English Language Teaching: Cultural, Political, Pedagogical, and Professional Tensions. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Johnston, B. & Varghese, M. M. (in press). Neo-imperialism, evangelism, and ELT: Modernist missions and a postmodern profession. In J. Edge (ed.), (Re-)locating TESOL in an age of empire. London: Palgrave.
Johnston, B. & Buzzelli, C. A. (in press). The moral dimensions of language education. In S. May & N. Hornberger (eds.), Encyclopedia of Language and Education, 2nd ed., vol. 1. Berlin: Kluwer.
Johnston, B. (2004). Heteroglossia and linguistic neo-colonialism: English teaching in post-1989 Poland. In S. Forrester, M. Zaborowska, & E. Gapova (Eds.), Over the wall/after the fall: Post-totalitarian cultures East and West (pp. 126-145). Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.
Johnston, B., Pawan, F., & Mahan-Taylor, R. (2004). The professional development of working ESL/EFL teachers: A pilot study. In D. J. Tedick (Ed.), Language teacher education: International perspectives on research and practice (pp. 53-72). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Journal articles:
Varghese, M. & Johnston, B. (in press). Evangelical Christians and English language teaching. TESOL Quarterly.
Varghese, M., Morgan, B., Johnston, B, & Johnson, K. A. (2005). Theorizing language teacher identity: Three perspectives and beyond. Journal of Language, Identity, and Education, 4, 21-44
Johnston, B. (2002). The rise and fall of a Dakota immersion pre-school. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 23, 195-213.
Johnston, B. & Buzzelli, C. A. (2002). Expressive morality in a collaborative learning activity: A case study in the creation of moral meaning. Language and Education, 16, 37-47.
Johnston, B. & Goettsch, K. (2000). In search of the knowledge base of language teaching: Explanations by experienced teachers. Canadian Modern Language Review, 56, 437-468.
Johnston, B. (1999). The expatriate teacher as postmodern paladin. Research in the Teaching of English, 34, 255-280.
Johnston, B. (1999). Putting critical pedagogy in its place: A personal account. TESOL Quarterly, 33, 557-565.
Johnston, B., Juhász, A., Marken, J., & Ruiz, B.R. (1998). The ESL teacher as moral agent. Research in the Teaching of English, 32, 161-181.
Johnston, B. (1997). Do EFL teachers have careers? TESOL Quarterly, 31, 681-712.
Service to the Profession
- TESOL Publications Committee 2002-2005
- Chair, Fourth International Conference on Language Teacher Education, Minneapolis, June 2005
