Professional Biography

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.