IGI Global, a leading international academic publisher, called “Applied Linguistics for Teachers of Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Learners” an essential scholarly publication that seeks to contribute to TESOL (teaching English to students of other languages) and language teacher education programs.
The book, co-written by Michael Wei, associate professor and TESOL program director in the Division of Teacher Education and Curriculum Studies at the UMKC School of Education, covers every aspect of applied linguistics for ESOL teachers: morphology, syntax, semantics, phonetics and sociolinguistics — to name a few.
“Strong language instruction is especially crucial given the fact that ELLs represent the fastest-growing segment of the student population in U.S. schools (ELLs make up about 10% of the total student population) and fall behind their native English-speaking peers and struggle academically in the K-12 setting,” Wei said.
Wei, the 2019 recipient of the UMKC Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching, has more than 25 years of experience working with English language learners. He’s taught TESOL programs in elementary and secondary schools in the U.S., middle schools in China, and at the university level in China, Thailand, and the U.S. He joined the UMKC faculty in 2006, and teaches graduate courses in applied linguistics, English grammar, second language acquisition and research methods.
“’Applied Linguistics for Teachers of Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Learners’ contains impactful and highly cited content that prompts thought-provoking discourse and inspires further discoveries, making it a pinnacle publication from our full collection of 5,300+ reference books,” according to IGI Global
This is the seventh book Wei has published in addition to one book translation, 28 chapters and articles and a translated film among other published works within his research areas — second-language acquisition, phonetics, reading/writing English as a second language and learning environments.
This publication is geared toward teacher candidates in TESOL programs across the globe and provides knowledge about linguistics for ESOL teachers who are going to teach about 5 million ESOL students in the nation.