Language, Literacy & Culture

Language, literacy, and culture are central to learning. Our award-winning faculty are renowned for their expertise on bilingual and cross-cultural education, cultural and linguistic diversity,  young adult and children's literature and multimedia, and reading and writing in both formal and informal settings.  

Students participating in PEDAL class.

PEDAL: Practical English for Daily Living

PEDAL: Practical English for Daily Living offers free English as a Second Language classes taught by students in the M.S.Ed. TESOL program. It provides courses for family members of staff, students, professors, scholars, and post-docs at Penn, as well as Community courses for West Philadelphians.

Media Inquiries

Kat Stein
Executive Director of Penn GSE Communications
(215) 898-9642
katstein@upenn.edu 

Featured Research

Ethnography in Education Research Forum

Convened by the Center for Urban Ethnography at Penn GSE since 1980, the Ethnography in Education Research Forum is the largest annual meeting of qualitative researchers in education.

Literacy.org: National Center for Adult Literacy/International Literacy Institute

The National Center for Adult Literacy (NCAL) focuses on research, innovation, and training in adult education and technology. The International Literacy Institute (ILI), established by UNESCO and Penn in 1994, provides leadership in research, development, and training in the broad field of international literacy and educational development, with an emphasis on developing countries.

PEDAL: Practical English for Daily Living

PEDAL: Practical English for Daily Living offers free English as a Second Language classes taught by students in the M.S.Ed. TESOL program. It provides courses for family members of staff, students, professors, scholars, and post-docs at Penn, as well as Community courses for West Philadelphians.

Penn Literacy Network

The Penn Literacy Network (PLN) is a comprehensive professional development/curricular enhancement/school reform program, providing on-site and regionally-based credit-bearing or non-credit bearing courses, workshops, coaching programs, and leadership trainings.

Philadelphia Writing Project

The Philadelphia Writing Project (PhilWP) is network of over 800 teacher consultants who work with teachers and other educators to explore literacy, writing, teaching, and learning in their classrooms and schools regardless of grade or discipline.

Nessa Wolfson Colloquium

The Nessa Wolfson Colloquium is an annual event to honor the memory of Nessa Wolfson, the founder of the Language and Literacy in Education group at GSE, and to welcome new and returning students to the Educational Linguistics Division each year; it is the longest continuously running colloquium series at Penn GSE.

TESOL Essentials Series

An online TESOL certificate course for people interested in tutoring or teaching English to speakers of other languages.

Working Papers in Educational Linguistics

Working Papers in Educational Linguistics is a student-managed journal focused on the many areas of research within educational linguistics.

See all Penn GSE Research >