Staff Directory

Joy Kreeft Peyton is Director of CAELA. She has a Ph.D. in Sociolinguistics from Georgetown University and an M.A. in Spanish and Linguistics from American University. She has worked extensively with teachers in K-12 and adult education to improve and study their instructional practices, particularly in the use of interactive writing to promote writing development. Her publications include Approaches to Adult ESL Literacy Instruction (Delta Systems, co-editor with JoAnn Crandall), Writing Our Lives: Reflections on Dialogue Journal Writing with Adults Learning English (Delta Systems, Inc.), and Network-based Classrooms: Promises and Realities (Cambridge University Press).

Miriam Burt is Associate Director of CAELA. She has an M.A. in English as a Second Language from the University of Minnesota and has worked in the field of adult ESL instruction since 1975. She has experience in project management as well as in workplace ESL, refugee education, assessment, teacher training, instruction, and curriculum and materials development. She is the co-author of A Day in the Life of the González Family ( Delta Systems, Inc.).

Lynda Terrill is Technical Assistance and Web Coordinator at CAELA. She holds an M.A. in English from the University of Utah and has over 22 years experience working with both native and nonnative speakers of English in literacy, workplace, family literacy, academic, and special needs venues. She is a co-author of Collaborations: English in Our Lives (Heinle) and author of Community Experiences: Reading and Communication for Civics (McGraw Hill).

Craig Packard is Research Coordinator for CAELA, having worked for nearly 15 years with the ERIC Clearinghouse on Languages and Linguistics answering questions, conducting searches of ERIC, and representing CAL at conferences. Craig is an East European language specialist, having received his PhD from Ohio State in contemporary Yugoslav literature back in 1975. Along the way from there to here, he has done technical translation, interpeting for the U.S. State Department, and test development with the WIDA Project.

Julie Mathews-Aydinli is Program Associate for CAELA. She has a Ph.D. in Second Language Education from McGill University. She has worked as an ESL/EFL instructor in North America and abroad, and in recent years as an assistant professor of TEFL at Bilkent University in Turkey. Her research interests have focused on the social contexts of academic literacy development, genre-based studies of writing in different disciplines, and curriculum development. Her publications have appeared in journals such as the Journal of Literacy Research, International Studies Perspectives, and Higher Education.

Kirsten Schaetzel is Program Associate of CAELA. She has a PhD in Applied Linguistics from Boston University and an MATESL from the University of Illinois. Her PhD research centered on an adult literacy project in Bangladesh. She has over twenty years of teaching experience and has worked in teacher training in Singapore, Macao, Bangladesh and the United States. She also has experience in curriculum and materials development, academic literacy and monitoring bilingual and special education programs. She is co-author of Think Your Way to Effective Writing (Pearson/Prentice-Hall).

Sharon McKay is Program Associate for CAELA. She has a MAT in TESOL from Georgetown University. She has been working in Adult ESL since 1985. Sharon has 20 years experience in the classroom as well as extensive efforts in curriculum development and piloting in workplace ESL, lifeskills ESL, academic transition ESL, computer assisted language learning, family literacy and alternative assessment and testing. She is the co-author of text with video, English Works! (Addison Wesley).

Sarah Young is a Program Associate on several K-12 and adult ESL projects at CAL, and also works part-time as an adult ESL instructor in Arlington, VA. Prior to coming to CAL in 2003, she earned an MA in TESOL at the Monterey Institute of International Studies and was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Cameroon.

Lupe Hernández-Silva is Administrative Assistant for the CAELA and the Foreign Language Education Division at the Center for Applied Linguistics. Having worked for over 20 years with various organizations such as NCBE, Inter-America Research Associates, and the Center for Applied Linguistics, she is an experienced professional administrative assistant in the field of foreign language education. She has also served as the membership secretary for the National Network for Early Language Learning.