The field of Linguistics believes that we communicate more effectively when we are aware of our own language facility. As an expert in language structure and its social applications, including accent and dialect bias in the education world, I want to use my training and experience to help everyone achieve a higher degree of linguistic awareness in order to communicate with more control. Since earning my doctorate in Linguistics from Brown University, I have spent many years teaching, presenting, and writing about the role of language in higher education and professional development. I have honed my skills at making the complicated accessible, reaching audiences as varied as high school, undergraduate and graduate students; professors and reading instructors; social workers; and professional writers.
Over the years, I have also reached a larger audience outside of academia. To that end, I’ve written for The New York Times, including as a contributor to the Learning Network site for teachers and The New York Times in Education; and for The New York Daily News. I have appeared on many radio programs, including NPR’s The Academic Minute (https://www.insidehighered.com/audio/2011/01/27/changes-proper-grammar). I am also producer and director of The Three Rs, a linguistics documentary-tutorial for those in higher education (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJ3ZC9hklAM).
My Grammar: A Pocket Guide is a book that I always wanted to exist: a guide to what we already know about grammar, side-by-side with the prescriptive beliefs of education (https://www.routledge.com/Grammar-A-Pocket-Guide/Behrens/p/book/9780415493598). Besides Grammar, I have published four other textbooks, numerous chapters in texts, over 45 peer-reviewed articles internationally, essays in academic and popular press venues, book and film reviews; and I have presented at dozens of conferences.
I am committed to spreading the kind of language awareness that the field of linguistics brings to all areas of communication.
Specialties: Author, College Professor, Linguist, Grammar, Pedagogy, Science of Reading, Language, Teacher, Workshop Presenter, Media Personality, Blogs, Columnist, English Language Expert, The New York Times, Marymount Manhattan College, Columbia University, Northeastern University, Speech Pathology, Culturally Aware Pedagogy.