Skip to main content
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 a Teaching Assistant Professor in the field of Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) in the World Languages and Cultures Department at North Carolina State University. Bilingual in Spanish and English, she has taught Spanish, English as a Second Language, and prepared teachers to work with multilingual learners. 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. 

Dr. Turner is a former North Carolina Teaching Fellow and began her teaching career as a high school Spanish teacher in Guilford County, NC. Most recently, Dr. Turner has trained English teachers internationally in Azerbaijan and Colombia. In the spring of 2023, she led a 15 week course for English language teachers from Azerbaijan. The culminating event was a Conference for Language teachers in Baku, Azerbaijan in June 2023. There, Dr. Turner led a workshop for the 500 educators.

Office Hours

Please email for an appointment.

Courses Taught

  • FL 440: Internship in Teaching ESL
  • FL/ ECI 436/ 536: Perspectives on English as a New Language
  • FL 675: Special Topic in TESOL
  • FLE 100: Introduction to Academic Writing
  • FLE 101: Academic Writing and Research
  • FLE 401: Advanced Oral Communication in English for International Students
  • FLE 402: Advanced Written Communication in English for International Students
  • FLS 102: Elementary Spanish II
  • FLS 201: Intermediate Spanish I

Outreach Activities

Carolina TESOL Board Member (2018-present)

Selected Publications

Mann, J., & Turner, A. M. (in press). Portraits of young refugee women’s identities, experiences, and beliefs in relation to college-going. English Teaching: Practice & Critique

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

Area(s) of Expertise

language acquisition; teacher leadership; strategies for engaging learners; asset-based perspectives on multilingual learners; family engagement

Groups