John Murphy began his career as a teacher of English to speakers of other languages in 1974. He joined Georgia State University as an ESL teacher educator in 1988 where he currently serves as Professor in the AL/ESL Department. He received his doctorate in the teaching of English to speakers of other languages from Teachers College of Columbia University (1985). In previous appointments he was an Assistant Professor of ESL at Brooklyn College of the City University of New York (1979-1988); an ESL teacher in New Jersey public schools (1977-1978); and a lecturer at the Pontificia Universidad Catolica Madre y Maestra in the Dominican Republic (1974-1977). Dr. Murphy has held guest lectureships in Barcelona, Spain and the Peoples Republic of China. His contributions include invited plenaries at national conferences in Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Egypt, Mexico, Spain and at several regional conferences in the United States. Dr. Murphy’s publications include two books: Understanding the Course We Teach: Local Perspective on English Language Teaching (2001) (with Pat Byrd) and Essentials in Teaching Academic Oral Communication (2005). He has also published numerous refereed articles in leading Applied Linguistics journals (e.g., TESOL Quarterly, TESOL Journal, TESL Canada Journal, Journal of Second Language Writing, English for Specific Purposes Journal, System), along with book chapters, and additional scholarly publications. Dr. Murphy has served as guest co-editor for TESOL Journal and currently serves as Chair of International TESOL’s Book Publications Committee (2006-2009). Dr. Murphy’s research interests span three areas of Applied Linguistics: second language teacher education, approaches to second language instruction, and the teaching of ESL oral communication (listening, speaking, and pronunciation). His contributions in research and teaching are informed by both social-cognitive and social-constructivist understandings of how second language teachers and second language learners develop new abilities.