Dr. Wagner has experience teaching English as a Second Language (ESL) to learners of varying proficiency levels and needs. She began her career teaching English at St. Paul’s Convent School in Hong Kong. In the United States, before coming to GSE, Dr. Wagner worked with adult immigrants and refugees in a community ESL program, where she was also a member of the advisory board, seeking to improve the instruction and resources that could be offered to members of the community. She also taught academic and professional presentation and discussion skills to international graduate students at Teachers College, and World Bank scholars at the School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University. Dr. Wagner also served as a student teaching supervisor, observing novice ESL teachers in their classrooms, and giving feedback on their teaching practice, classroom management, and lesson design.

In 2011, Dr. Wagner founded two free ESL programs, currently sponsored by the Educational Linguistics Division. PEDAL @ GSE offers ESL classes to adult family members of international students, scholars, and staff at the University of Pennsylvania, and Community PEDAL offers ESL classes to the West Philadelphia community.

Research Interests and Current Projects

Dr. Wagner’s primary scholarly interests lie at the interface of language and social interaction in institutional contexts. She uses Conversation Analysis to examine issues in language education and applied linguistics. Her current research projects include teacher-mentor interactions in post-observation meetings and the development and use of authentic materials in language teaching and learning.

Publications

Selected Publications

Park, I., & Wagner, S. (2024). Negotiating power inequalities in joint decision-making in a faculty meeting. In H. Z. Waring & N. Tadic (Eds.), Critical conversation analysis: Inequality and injustice in talk-in-interaction (pp. 133–154). Multilingual Matters.

Lewis, K. B., & Wagner, S. (2023). Empathy and professional development via relate-to-self in post-observation meetings. System, 114. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2023.103025

Lewis, K. B., & Wagner, S. (2022). The potential of complaining as reflective practice in mentoring. ELT Journal, 76.

Wagner, S., & Park, I. (2022). Whole-class Co-construction in a high school Spanish classroom: A conversation-analytic perspective. Language Learning, 71(S1), 203-239. https://doi.org/10.1111/lang.12472

Wagner, S., & Lewis, K. B. (2021). Third-party complaints in teacher post-observation meetings. Journal of Pragmatics, 178, 378–390.

Wagner, E., Liao, Y-F., & Wagner, S. (2021). Authenticated spoken texts for L2 listening tests. Language Assessment Quarterly, 18, 205–227.

Wagner, S., & Lewis, K. B. (2019). Complaining as reflective practice in TESOL teacher-mentor post-observation meetings. Working Papers in Educational Linguistics, 34, 1–26.

Liao, Y-F., Wagner, E., & Wagner, S. (2018). Test-takers’ attitudes and beliefs about the spoken texts used in EFL listening tests. English Teaching & Learning, 42, 227–246.

Eaton, S. E., Wagner, S., Hirashiki, J., & Ciancio, J. (2018). Understanding and Exploring Signature Pedagogies for TESOL Teacher Education. Calgary, Canada: University of Calgary.

Liao, Y-F., Wagner, E., & Wagner, S. (2017). Comparing ESL and EFL test-takers’ performance on “Actual” and “Authenticated” GEPT listening tasks. Language Training and Testing Center (LTTC) Foundation.

Wagner, E., & Wagner, S. (2016). Scripted and unscripted texts used in listening tasks on high stakes tests in China, Japan, and Taiwan. In V. Aryadoust & J. Fox (Eds.), Trends in language assessment research and practice: The view from the Middle East and Pacific Rim. Newcastle upon Tyne, UK: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

Wagner, S. (2015). Asymmetrical aspects of knowledge in mediation talk. In L. Grujicic-Alatriste (Ed.), Linking discourse studies to professional practice. Bristol, UK: Multilingual Matters.

Wagner, S., & Lopez, J. G. (2015). Meeting the challenges of service-learning teaching with international TESOL student teachers. In A. Wurr and J. Perren (Eds.), Learning the language of global citizenship: Strengthening service-Learning in TESOL. Champaign, IL: Common Ground Publishing.

Wagner, S. (2014). Review of the book The Handbook of Discourse Analysis. Modern Language Journal, 98.

Wagner, S. (2014). The interactive demonstration of interactional competence in the ITA TEACH test. Working Papers in Educational Linguistics, 29.

Wagner, S. (2013). National Communication Association micro grant report.

Wagner, S. (2011). Review of the book Learning Politeness: Disagreement in a second language. Modern Language Journal, 95.

Oxford, R.L., Cho, Y., Leung, S.*, & Kim, H-J. (2004). Effect of the presence and difficulty of task on strategy use: An exploratory study. International Review of Applied Linguistics and Language Teaching, 42.

Leung, S.* (2002). Review of the book Language as Social Action. Issues in Applied Linguistics, 13.

Leung, S.* (2002). Conflict talk: A discourse analytical perspective. Teachers College Columbia University Working Papers in TESOL & Applied Linguistics, 2(2).

News & Media

Penn GSE News

GSE students teach English in Penn communities through PEDAL program

PEDAL@GSE offers classes weekly at GSE for people connected to Penn. The Community PEDAL@GSE program offers classes to West Philadelphia community members at the Walnut West Philadelphia Library. Last fall, Community PEDAL became partners with Philadelphia Mayor James Kenny’s Office of Adult Education, which promotes adult literacy.

March 24, 2017