Maria Parker |
Main Menu
Maria Parker has been at Duke since 1998 and program director since 2000. She currently teaches advanced academic writing and academic presentation courses. Maria also developed and has taught an integrated-skills course in English for environmental science for international students in the Masters of Environmental Management program as well as a TA training course for international students in engineering. Maria earned her B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley, and M.S. at California State University, San Francisco. Before coming to Duke, she was at the English Language Institute of the University of Michigan, where she taught courses in pronunciation and writing, coordinated and directed the summer program in English and Business Studies, and was a member of the Institute's Testing division. She also co-taught the English language courses in training workshops for international student teaching assistants and conducted ITA testing.
Maria’s current research interests include pronunciation, specifically intelligibility in English as a Lingua Franca teaching, and incorporating new AV technology into the oral course curriculum. Recent presentations include “A Situational Approach to Oral Skills Instruction” (ABS Congreso Profesores; Buenos Aires, 2006), “Glocalization and the Curriculum” (International Cultural Research Network; Glasgow, 2007), both with Brenda Imber, and "Enhancing Feedback with Audio and Video Technologies" with Janet Maceda (TESOL; New York, 2008). Outside the classroom, she follows Duke basketball and football, along with other sports, and enjoys various genres of music from classical to hip-hop, reading, and spending time with her family. Maria is very fond of elephants and collects elephants in all forms (except living ones, which are too large to be pets).