Sandra McKay (born 1945) is

Professor Emeritus ''Emeritus/Emerita'' () is an honorary title granted to someone who retirement, retires from a position of distinction, most commonly an academic faculty position, but is allowed to continue using the previous title, as in "professor emeritus". ...

San Francisco State University San Francisco State University (San Francisco State, SF State and SFSU) is a Public university, public research university in San Francisco, California, United States. It was established in 1899 as the San Francisco State Normal School and is ...

. Her main areas of interest are

sociolinguistics Sociolinguistics is the descriptive, scientific study of how language is shaped by, and used differently within, any given society. The field largely looks at how a language changes between distinct social groups, as well as how it varies unde ...

English as an International Language English is the concept of using the English language as a global means of communication similar to an international auxiliary language, and often refers to the movement towards an international standard for the language. Related and someti ...

, and

second language A second language (L2) is a language spoken in addition to one's first language (L1). A second language may be a neighbouring language, another language of the speaker's home country, or a foreign language. A speaker's dominant language, which ...

pedagogy. For most of her career she has been involved in second language teacher education, both in the United States and abroad. She has received four

Fulbright The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States cultural exchange programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people ...

grants, as well as many academic specialists awards and distinguished lecturer invitations.

Education and career

Sandra McKay earned a bachelor's degree in English (1966), a master's degree in

American Studies American studies or American civilization is an interdisciplinarity, interdisciplinary field of scholarship that examines American literature, History of the United States, history, Society of the United States, society, and Culture of the Unit ...

(1969), and a Ph.D. in

Applied Linguistics Applied linguistics is an interdisciplinary field which identifies, investigates, and offers solutions to language-related real-life problems. Some of the academic fields related to applied linguistics are education, psychology, Communication stu ...

(1971) from the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota Twin Cities (historically known as University of Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint ...

. After graduation, she went on to earn an international reputation as an educator in the field of

English as a Second Language English as a second or foreign language refers to the use of English by individuals whose native language is different, commonly among students learning to speak and write English. Variably known as English as a foreign language (EFL), Engli ...

. Her interest in English as an international language developed from her extensive work in countries such as Chile, Hong Kong, Hungary, Latvia, Morocco, Japan, Singapore, South Africa and Thailand.

Publications

Her books include ''Principles and Practices for Teaching English as an International Language'' (edited with L. Alsagoff, G. Hu & W. Renandya, 2012, Routledge), ''Sociolinguistics and Language Education'' (edited with N. Hornberger, 2010, Multilingual Matters), ''International English in its Sociolinguistic Contexts: Towards a Socially Sensitive Pedagogy'' (with Wendy Bokhorst-Heng, 2008, Frances Taylor) and ''Teaching English as an International Language: Rethinking Goals and Approaches'' (2002, Oxford University Press, Winner of the Ben Warren International Book Award for outstanding teacher education materials). Her articles appeared in such journals as the Annual Review of Applied Linguistics,

Harvard Educational Review The ''Harvard Educational Review'' is an academic journal of opinion and research dealing with education, associated with the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and published by the Harvard Education Publishing Group. The journal was established ...

, English Language Teaching,

International Journal of Applied Linguistics International is an adjective (also used as a noun) meaning "between nations". International may also refer to: Music Albums * ''International'' (Kevin Michael album), 2011 * ''International'' (New Order album), 2002 * ''International'' (The T ...

Journal of Second Language Writing The ''Journal of Second Language Writing'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal in the fields of linguistics and language education. Its scope encompasses all aspects of second and foreign language writing, including writing instruction and assessme ...

System A system is a group of interacting or interrelated elements that act according to a set of rules to form a unified whole. A system, surrounded and influenced by its open system (systems theory), environment, is described by its boundaries, str ...

TESOL Quarterly ''TESOL Quarterly'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal published by Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of TESOL International Association. It covers English language teaching and learning, standard English as a second dialect, including articles ...

and

World Englishes World Englishes is a term for emerging localized or Indigenous language, indigenized varieties of English, especially varieties that have developed in territories influenced by the United Kingdom or the United States. The study of World English ...

. She has published many chapters in edited books and given plenary talks at various international conferences, including the Asian International TEFL Conference in Korea, the Regional English Language Conference in Singapore and the EFL Asian Conference in Turkey.

Honors and awards

* McKay served as

editor from 1994 to 1999 and has served on the editorial advisory board for the

and TESOL Quarterly. * She is the recipient of the University of Minnesota Outstanding Achievement Award, 2004 * She is the winner of the Ben Warren International Book Award for outstanding teacher education materials for ''Teaching English as an International Language: Rethinking Goals and Approaches''.

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...

, 2002

Books

* ''Teaching English Overseas: An Introduction'' (1992, published by Oxford University Press) * ''Sociolinguistics and Language Teaching'' (edited with Nancy Hornberger, 1996,

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press was the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted a letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it was the oldest university press in the world. Cambridge University Press merged with Cambridge Assessme ...

) * ''New Immigrants in the US: Readings for Second Language Educators'' (edited with Sau-ling Wong, 2000, Cambridge University Press) * ''Teaching English as an International Language: Rethinking Goals and Approaches'' (2002, Oxford University Press, winner of the Ben Warren International Book Award) * ''International English in its Sociolinguistic Contexts: Towards a Socially Sensitive Pedagogy'' (with Wendy Bokhorst-Heng, 2008, Frances Taylor) * ''Sociolinguistics and Language Education'' (edited with N. Hornberger, 2010, Multlingual Matters) * ''Principles and Practices for Teaching English as an International Language'' (edited with L. Alsagoff, G. Hu & W. Renandya, 2012, Routledge)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McKay, Sandra Lee Living people Sociolinguists San Francisco State University faculty American women linguists 1945 births University of Minnesota College of Liberal Arts alumni