Looking back at his career during the annual Alice Pack Lecture, Dr. Neil Anderson said expecting the unexpected, fostering a culture of collaboration and building meaningful relationships helped him learn and grow throughout his career in TESOL.
“Each of these three relationship lessons have resulted in forming and building lasting friendships with others that have molded me into a very different person today than I was 40 years ago,” Anderson said.
Associate Professor Brent Green, in the Faculty of Education & Social Work, introduced Anderson at the lecture on June 3, 2021, as an author and co-author of more than 50 books, book chapters and articles. Anderson’s research involved second language reading, language learner strategies, learner self-assessment and ELT leadership development, Green explained. In 2014, Green said Anderson received the TESOL International Association James Alatest Service and, in 2016, was recognized as one of the 50 individuals who made a significant contribution to the TESOL profession.
Lessons learned
Anderson stated, “The last 40 years have provided rich and rewarding opportunities to engage in teaching English to speakers of other languages and training teachers entering the profession.” He expressed gratitude for the opportunities he was given to speak and teach those in the profession and shared his excitement to look back on his career to “reflect on lessons learned.”
He said, “There is one overarching concept that ties together the major lessons that I have learned over my career. That concept is relationships.” He shared the relationships he has made with colleagues and students throughout his career have made a big difference in what he’s learned.
He added his relationship experiences are summarized in three major lessons: expect the unexpected, foster a culture of collaboration, and connect your scholarship to your teaching and your teaching to your scholarship.
Expecting the unexpected
Anderson said people believe they are in control of what happens to them. However, he said the good things in his life have come unexpectedly. He acknowledged his challenges have required him to rely on his relationships in order to overcome them. He said a phrase that has guided him the last seven years is, “Question all assumptions.”
Although this lesson came later in his career, he said, “[It] has provided me with opportunities to grow and develop as a TESOL professional.” Anderson said he knew he wanted to teach the next generation of TESOL professionals at the beginning of his professional career.
Anderson said he applied to the University of Texas to work towards his doctorate and said he had also applied for a position working at a refugee camp in the Philippines. He also applied to the University of California, Los Angeles, which he said was his first choice in schools.
Being rejected by the UCLA graduate program was devastating, he expressed. However, he said by applying for the refugee camp position and for the University of Texas, he gave himself the options to enjoy the unexpected situations in life.
Fostering a culture of collaboration
Anderson said being a language teaching professional has given him opportunities to collaborate with others. He said fostering a culture of collaboration within professional communities, by joining professional associations, making international connections and collaborating with students can help build relationships within the profession.
Anderson said he went to Egypt as part of the United States Department of State English Language Specialist Program. He said he was located at the Suez Canal University in Suez, Egypt, in February 2001. He said the training was given in two parts, and after the first part, he returned to Utah. He said he was to return to Egypt in September of the same year, however, due to the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, he was unable to return until flights were opened.
Despite his friends and family’s concern for his safety, Anderson said he was determined to see the program through. He said when he arrived back at the university, the Egyptians stood and applauded because they were certain he would be too discouraged to continue the program.
He said he was overcome with emotion and told them, “I know that my Muslim sisters and brothers will protect me from any danger while I am in Egypt.” Anderson said he knew he would always remember that moment.
“By fostering a culture of collaboration, [it] has provided these rich and rewarding relationships.” He said by building these relationships it has enhanced his career and has moved strictly professional relationships to meaningful friendships.
Connecting your scholarship to your teaching
Seeing his students with low reading rates and skills, Anderson said he applied his interest in reading to the classroom. He explained, “I would connect my scholarship to the challenges that I saw in the classroom.” He said by connecting his scholarship to his teaching and his teaching to his scholarship, he was able to make important relationships with other professionals within the field of TESOL.
Leola Solis, assistant professor of the Faculty of Education & Social Work, said she believes Anderson’s decision to end his career at BYUH was spiritually driven and said his spirit continues to uplift those within the program. Solis declared, “I can't imagine our program without him and the person who is eventually hired to replace him will have big shoes to fill.”
Dr. Anderson expressed gratitude towards his wife for leading him to the TESOL major. He said, “I was in an accounting class that caused me to completely rethink my undergraduate studies.” He said his discouragement and confusion caused him to question his original hopes of being a businessman. After graduating with a bachelors in Spanish, he started his master’s program in TESOL the next semester, he said.
The annual Alice Pack Lecture
Green opened the lecture by introducing the legacy behind the Alice Pack Lecture. He said Alice Pack was an incredible woman who began her college education at the age of 53 and graduated at the end of three years.
He said she acquired her master’s and doctorate in TESOL at the University of Hawaii and is the co-founder of the BYU–Hawaii TESOL major and co-founding editor of BYUH’s TESL Reporter.
According to the Faculty of Education & Social Work’s website, the TESL Reporter is an online peer-reviewed publication from the Department of English Language Teaching and Learning. The website says the TESL Reporter “is dedicated to the dissemination of ideas and issues of interest to teachers of English to speakers of other languages worldwide.”
Pack taught in the BYUH TESOL program from 1967 to 1980, Green explained, adding Pack also wrote many language textbooks and language software programs. Green noted all the royalties made from these works were donated to BYUH and help pay for BYUH TESOL majors to attend the TESOL International Convention and English Language Expo every year. Green said the lecture started in 2011 on her 100th birthday to honor her legacy.