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College of Humanities and Social Sciences

Alison Turner

AT

Asst Professor

Department of World Languages and Cultures

Withers Hall 325

View CV

Bio

Alison M. Turner, PhD. is an Assistant Professor in the field of Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) in the World Languages and Cultures (WLC) Department at North Carolina State University. Bilingual in Spanish and English, Dr. Turner is a former North Carolina Teaching Fellow and began her teaching career as a high school Spanish teacher in Guilford County, NC. She has taught Spanish, English as a Second Language, and currently prepares teachers to work with multilingual learners both in the U.S. and abroad. Her research focuses on strategies for connecting schools, community-based organizations, and families to improve outcomes for multilingual learners. She promotes an asset-based perspective, recognizing and tapping into students’ funds of knowledge (Moll et al., 1992) and community cultural wealth (Yosso, 2005) when working with immigrant, refugee, and English language learning students and families. Her research also focuses on exploring the effect of Professional Development (PD) curriculum choices on English language teachers’ classroom practices. She will serve as the Academic Coordinator for a PD program for English language teachers in Azerbaijan in Spring 2025. Her research has appeared in the School and Community Journal, English Teaching: Practice & Critique, Social Education, and the Bilingual Research Journal. 

Courses Currently Taught

  • WL 427/527- Methods and Materials for TESOL 
  • WL 436/ 536- Culture, Community, and Language: Advocating for Multilingual Learners
  • WL 535- Teaching Academic Writing to Multilingual Learners
  • WL 437/ 537- Strategies and Curriculum Design in Teaching a New Language
  • WL 440- Practicum in TESOL
  • WL 675- Culminating Project in TESOL
  • Courses in the TESOL Certificate Program

Outreach Activities

Carolina TESOL Executive Board Member- Secretary (2018-present)

English Learner Institutions of Higher Education Committee

Selected Publications

Turner, A. M., & Mann, J. C. (2023). A community-based organization in North Carolina: Facilitating transitions from high school to college for refugee-background students. School and Community Journal, 33(2), 63-95. 

Mann, J. C., & Turner, A. M. (2023). Portraits of young refugee women’s identities, experiences, and beliefs in relation to college-going. English Teaching: Practice & Critique, 22(3), 368-380. https://doi.org/10.1108/ETPC-07-2022-0085

Turner, A., & Manfra, M. (2023). Digital history for multilingual learners: Utilizing inquiry kits. Social Education, 87(2), 124-128.  

Turner, A. M. (2018). A teacher’s guide to Under the Feet of Jesus. Penguin/ Random House. http://images.randomhouse.com/teachers_guides/9780452273870.pdf

Cervantes-Soon, C. G., & Turner, A. M. (2016). Countering silence and reconstructing identities in a Spanish/English two-way immersion program. In X. L. Rong & J. Hilburn (Eds.), Immigration and Education in North Carolina: The Challenges and Responses in a New Gateway State (pp. 195-220). Rotterdam, the Netherlands: Sense Publishers.

Parkhouse, H., Turner, A., Konle, S., & Rong, X. L. (2016). Self-authoring the meaning of student teaching in China: Impacts on first year teaching practices. Frontiers: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Study Abroad, 28, 78-98.

Turner, A. M. (2016). Third space openings at a two-way immersion elementary school in North Carolina: Lessons from parent language classes. Bilingual Research Journal, 39(2), 107-120.

Turner, A. (2015). Book Review of A Cord of Three Strands: A New Approach to Parent Engagement in Schools. The School Community Journal, 25(2), 243-246. http://www.schoolcommunitynetwork.org/SCJ.aspx

Hilburn, J., Rong, X. L., Parkhouse, H., & Turner, A. (2015). Social Studies teachers’ inclusiveness in teaching immigrant students in a New Gateway State. Social Studies Research and Practice, 10(1), 41-64.

Turner, A. (2011). Widening classroom practices for English language learners through Third Space. Language Experience Forum Journal: A journal of the International Reading Association’s language experience special interest group, 41(2), 9-12.

Education

B.A. Romance Languages University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 2001

MAT Arts and Teaching University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 2002

M.A. Spanish Literature University of North Carolina at Greensboro 2007

Ph.D. Bilingual Education / ESL Education University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 2014

Groups