CELT 2021 Presenter Information
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Carolyn Dirksen
Tools for Training International Students in Theological Writing
Plenary Speaker on Friday, March 5, from 1:15-2:00(PT)
Carolyn Dirksen served as a faculty member and senior administrator at Lee University for more than 50 years. She is a former Vice President for Academic Affairs and holds the rank of Distinguished Professor Emeritus. Dirksen began her career in teaching English to speakers of other languages when she was assigned to teach international students at Lee in 1968. She received a Ph.D. in Linguistics with a minor in bilingualism from the University of Arizona in 1977, and in 1984, she and her husband went to China with English Language Institute. For the next 15 years, she served as Senior Academic Consultant to ELIC and conducted training for hundreds of ELIC teachers. In that role, she wrote three textbooks, including an elementary English book that was used nationwide in Mongolia and two books for English middle school teachers in China which were adapted for use in Vietnam. She also performed feasibility studies in Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam and North Korea. In addition to her work with ELIC, Dirksen has taught English in Ukraine, Lithuania, Paraguay, South Africa, Kenya, Zambia, and Liberia. She served as plenary lecturer for Toronto Institute of Linguistics and was on the faculty of the Institute for Cross-Cultural Training at Wheaton.