Ruth Wajnryb, Ph.D.Ruth Wajnryb, Ph.D.

Former Professor Emeritus TESOL and Graduate School of Education Associate Dean

A distinguished linguist known for her theory on "Dictogloss", Dr. Ruth Wajnryb served as the word/language columnist for Australia's leading newspaper, the Sydney Morning Herald.

Rod Ellis

Vice President of Academic Affairs
Doctor of Education in TESOL Program Designer
Senior Professor: TESOL

Dr. Rod Ellis is Vice President of Academic Affairs, Senior TESOL Professor and the designer of the Doctor of Education in TESOL degree program at Anaheim University. A distinguished thought leader in the field of Second Language Acquisition, Prof. Ellis received his Doctorate from the University of London and his Master of Education from the University of Bristol. A former professor at Temple University both in Japan and the US, Prof. Ellis has served as the Director of the Institute of Language Teaching and Learning at the University of Auckland, a John Curtin Distinguished Professor at Curtin University, and has taught in numerous positions in England, Japan, the US, Zambia and New Zealand. Dr. Ellis, who is known as an expert in Second Language Acquisition, is author of the Oxford University Press Duke of Edinburgh Award-Winning Classic "The Study of Second Language Acquisition", as well as numerous student and teacher-training textbooks for Prentice Hall and Oxford University Press, Prof. Ellis's textbooks on Second Language Acquisition and Grammar are core textbooks in TESOL and Linguistics programs around the world.

Ken Beatty, Ph.D.

Professor: TESOL

Dr. Ken Beatty is a TESOL Professor in the Anaheim University Graduate School of Education. A specialist in the area of Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL), Dr. Beatty is the author/co-author of more than 140 textbooks and readers from the primary through university levels. Although most of these focus on various aspects of English as a Second Language, he also writes and reviews on the topic of Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL). Dr. Beatty has worked at universities in Asia, North and South America, and the Middle East. He holds a Ph.D. in Curriculum Studies from the University of Hong Kong.

MaryAnn Christison, Ph.D.

Professor: TESOL

Dr. MaryAnn Christison is a TESOL Professor in the Anaheim University Graduate School of Education. A past President of TESOL (1997-1998), MaryAnn Christison serves on the Board of Trustees for The International Research Foundation (TIRF). Holding a Ph.D. in English/Linguistics from the University of Utah, Dr. Christison has been teaching graduate and undergraduate courses in applied linguistics for over 30 years. She is the author of over 80 refereed articles in journals on language teaching and second language research and 18 books including Leadership in English Language Education: Theoretical foundations and practical skills for changing times (with D. E. Murray), A Handbook for Language Program Administrators (2nd Edition) (with F. L. Stoller), What language teachers need to know: Understanding learning (with D. E. Murray), What language teachers need to know: Facilitating learning (with D. E. Murray), Multiple intelligences and language learning, and Learning to teach languages. She has been a classroom teacher for 38 years, teaching in U.S. K-12, adult education, and university contexts. She has developed many multi-media projects, and online ESL Endorsement program, and four online courses for language teachers. Christison has been a teacher educator for over 20 years, working with teachers in the U.S. and in over 30 different countries. Her current research interests are in leadership, second language teacher development, and language and the brain.

Vivian Bussinguer-Khavari, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor: TESOL

Dr. Vivian Bussinguer-Khavari is a TESOL Assistant Professor in the Anaheim University Graduate School of Education. Originally from Brasilia, Brazil, she was raised bilingually, acquiring both Portuguese and English simultaneously, while attending an international school from age 3 to 18. Upon high school completion, she was granted a full scholarship by the Japanese government, offered directly by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. She took up the challenge of studying in a brand-new environment and pursued higher education in Japan. After studying the Japanese language for one year at Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, she was admitted into Kobe University, where she remained for both the undergraduate and graduate programs, completing her bachelor's degree in Communication Studies, and eventually her master's and doctoral degree in Applied Linguistics. From a very young age, she has experienced multicultural and multilingual settings and has built an interest and passion for both multiculturalism and multilingualism. She has conducted research in the field of Heritage Language Education (HLE), studying Nikkei-Brazilian immigrant families in Japan, investigating their school-aged children's linguistic development in the L1 (Portuguese) and the L2 (Japanese), as well as the parents' attitudes towards their children's language learning. Other than HLE, her research interests include TESOL, intercultural communication, Performance-Assisted Learning (PAL), Performance in Education (PIE), and immigrant language education. She is an active member of the Japan Association for Language Teachers (JALT), having been the coordinator for their Speech, Drama and Debate (SD&D) Special Interest Group (SIG), now renamed to the Performance in Education (PIE) SIG, for four years and currently serving as their program chair. She continues to reside in Japan, where she has been teaching at the university level for the past decade, and is currently an associate professor at Kwansei Gakuin University as well as a lecturer at Kobe University.