Pitt Professor Named Co-Editor of Academic Journal

PITTSBURGH—Amanda Godley, a faculty member within the University of Pittsburgh School of Education, has been named co-editor of the academic journal English Teaching: Practice and Critique.

A peer-reviewed international journal, English Teaching: Practice and Critique encourages critical, reflective practice and classroom-based research on issues related to literacy. The publication promotes theories about English literacy that are grounded within a range of settings, including classrooms, schools, and wider educational constituencies. Each edition deals with a distinct topic of inquiry within language education. Godley’s editorship spans two years, ending in September 2018.

“English Teaching: Practice and Critique provides a space where authors from a range of backgrounds can identify matters of common concern in the fields of literacy and thereby foster professional communities and networks. It is an honor and a privilege to be a part of this publication’s mission,” said Godley.

A Pitt faculty member since 2002, Godley is an associate professor of English education and language, literacy, and culture. She holds secondary appointments within Pitt’s Department of Linguistics and Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies Program. She is affiliated with the University’s Center for Urban Education and Learning Research and Development Center. She served as associate chair of the School of Education’s Department of Instruction and Learning as well as acting director of the Western PA Writing Project. Godley previously taught at California State University in Sacramento and the University of California, Berkeley.

Through her research endeavors, Godley explores the design and implementation of writing and language instruction in high school English language arts classes. Her research falls under two distinct lines of inquiry. One line explores how language and grammar can be taught in accurate, useful, and critical ways. This research focuses mostly on African American students and that group’s perception of dialect diversity, linguistic prejudices, and their own language use. The second line centers on writing instruction in high schools and specifically seeks to show how well-designed peer review can help the development of high school students’ academic writing.

Earlier this year, Godley became one of only seven professors in the nation to be honored with the 2016 Spencer Foundation Midcareer Grant. Her other honors and distinctions include the 2012 Citizen Activist Award from the Keystone Research Center as well as a postdoctoral fellowship from the National Academy of Education in 2005. Godley has received grants and research funding from the National Science Foundation, the Institute of Education Sciences, and Pitt’s Learning Research and Development Center.

Godley earned a Bachelor of Arts in classics and great books at the University of Chicago as well as a Master of Arts and PhD in language, literary, and culture at the University of California, Berkeley.

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