Bio
Dr. Swanson is Associate Professor of Spanish. He designs and teaches Spanish classes in at USAFA. He is the Course Director for Spanish 131/132 and co-designed Spanish 321/322. His research focuses on World Language teacher effectiveness, integration of innovations into instruction, and the identity of world language teachers. He is the author of 6 books and more than 80 articles, book chapters, and reviews. He is the Past President of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages and serves on the Editorial Review Boards of the NECTFL Review (USA) and the E-FLT Journal (Singapore).
Education
B.A. Spanish, University of Arizona
M.A. Spanish, University of Wyoming
PhD. Curriculum & Instruction with an emphasis in Second Language Acquisition, University of Wyoming
Professional Experience
Dr. Swanson began his career in the late 80s teaching Spanish in Colorado and Wyoming. Upon completion of his doctorate, he accepted a tenure track position at Georgia State University in Atlanta, GA. He was tenured and promoted to Associate Professor in 2012 and to Full Professor in 2016. He has served as editor of Dimension, a journal dedicated to the teaching and learning of world languages (2010-2015). A year later, he was elected President-Elect of the international organization, American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages, and service as President in 2016. In 2017 he was invited to serve as Distinguished Visiting Professor at USAFA (2017-2019). He is a recognized leader in the field with an international reputation due to his research on language teachers' sense of efficacy and how it relates to various outcomes such as teacher effectiveness, impact on learners; scores on national exams, and teacher longevity in the profession. He pioneered the identity of world language teachers in terms of a vocational personality profile and how such a profile is related to teacher effectiveness and retention. His work has been published in esteemed journals and book publishing houses around the world.
Honors & Awards
Over the past several years, Dr. Swanson has been recognized in the field by receiving several prestigious awards. In 2022, Dr. Swanson received the Outstanding Academy Educator Award for the Dept. of Foreign Languages. Earlier he was honored to accept the Stephen A. Freeman Award for Best Published Article on Language Teaching (Northeast Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages, 2020), the Wilga Rivers Award for Leadership in Foreign Language Education (American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages, 2019), the Pace Setter Award (Department of Foreign Languages, United States Air Force Academy, 2018), and the University Professor of the Year (American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese-Georgia, 2013). Additionally, he was awarded an AFOSR grant to study the proficiency of cadets in Arabic, Russian, and Spanish.
Research and Scholarly Interests
Dr. Swanson's latest research focuses on the World Language edTPA, assessing student proficiency in the target language, and teaching languages during disruptive times.
Publications
Books
LeLoup, J.W., & Swanson, P. (Eds.) (2022). Handbook of Research on Effective Online Language Teaching in a Disruptive Environment. Hershey, PA: IGI Global.
Swanson, P., & Hildebrandt, S. A. (Eds.) (2018). Researching edTPA Problems and Promises: Perspectives from ESOL, English, and World Language Teacher Education. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.
Hildebrandt, S., & Swanson, P. (2016). Understanding the world language edTPA: Research-based policy and practice. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.
Li, S., & Swanson, P. (Eds.) (2014). Engaging language learners through technology integration: Theory, applications, and outcomes. Hershey, PA: IGI Global.
Swanson, P. (2013). Identifying and recruiting language teachers: A research-based approach. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.
Swanson, P. (2011). Cuentos preferidos. Newark, DE: Cervantes & Co. Classics.
Recent Journal Articles (peer-reviewed)
Swanson, P., Steeves, R., & Johnson, M. (2024). The human condition, cultures, and societies outcome: From the classroom to the field to the operational air and space force. Journal of Character and Leadership Development, 11(1), 23-32. http://dx.doi.org/10.58315/jcld.v11.28
McConnell, J.W., & Swanson, P. (2024). The impact of teacher empowerment on burnout and intent to quit in high school world language teachers. NECTFL Review,92, 103-127.
Troyan, F., Swanson, P., & Russell, V. (2023). Removing barriers to WL teacher certification: A closer look at edTPA ratings. Hispania, 106(4), 657-675.
Swanson, P., & LeLoup, J.W. (2022). A return to local governance of world language teacher preparation is needed. NECTFL Review, 89, 41-51.
Swanson, P., & LeLoup, J.W. (2022). Validating proficiency benchmarks at a US military academy. Language Testing International. Available from, https://blog.languagetesting.com/2022/06/27/validating-proficiency-benchmarks-at-a-us-military-academy/
Swanson, P. (2022). The world language shortage can be solved. The Language Educator, Spring, 38-40.
Russell, V., & Swanson, P. (2022). Communicative online language teaching in disruptive times: A redesign of the introductory Spanish curriculum. Dimension, 1-34
Swanson, P., Peltier, J.P., LeLoup, J.W., Earnest, D., & Malone, M.E. (2022). Proficiency benchmarking in Spanish. Central States Report, 1-16.
Recent Book Chapters (peer-reviewed)
Swanson, P. (2022). Language teachers’ sense of efficacy during the COVID-19 pandemic. In J.W. LeLoup & P. Swanson, Handbook of research on effective online language teaching in a disruptive environment (pp. 125-141). Hershey, PA: IGI Global.
Swanson, P., & LeLoup, J. W. (2020). Quality Videos and Integrated Performance Assessments Are Essential. In M. Khosrow-Pour (Ed.), Handbook of Research on Modern Educational Technologies, Applications, and Management (pp.124-138). Hershey, PA: IGI Global.
Swanson, P. (2019). Teacher education: Past, present, and future. In J. W. Schwieter & A. Benati (Eds.), The cambridge handbook of language learning (pp. 751-774). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108333603.032
Swanson, P., & Hildebrandt, S. A. (2018). Teacher education, evaluation, and edTPA: Problems and promises. In P. Swanson & S. A. Hildebrandt (Eds.), Researching edTPA Problems and Promises: Perspectives from ESOL, English, and wl teacher education (pp. 1-22). Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.
Swanson, P., & Goulette, E. (2018). The criticality of the integrated performance assessment in the world language edTPA. In P. Swanson & S. A. Hildebrandt (Eds.), Researching edTPA Problems and Promises: Perspectives from ESOL, English, and wl teacher education (pp. 201-222). Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.
See https://pbswanson.edublogs.org/ for entire list of publication