Hetty Roessingh

Dr. Roessingh was born in Indonesia but immigrated to Canada with her family at a young age. She completed her BEd, MA and PhD at the University of Calgary between 1968 and 1996, and taught English as a second language at the high school level until 2000, when she joined the Faculty of Education at U of C.

Dr. Roessingh’s research focuses on the role of vocabulary and reading in the longitudinal academic outcomes of English as a second language (or, more currently, English language learners: ELLs) learners K – 12 and into university. Curriculum, materials design, and the development and use of online vocabulary profiling tools are among the current funded research projects.

Current Projects:

SSHRC ($103,432). 2011 – 2014. From high school to university: Academic language proficiency and the impact of intensive English for academic purposes: EAP programming for English language learners.

Alberta Employment and Immigration, Language Training Programs ($150,000). Language learning support for first-year post-secondary ELLs: Curriculum Design and Development.

Corpus linguistics: Investigating the development of academic literacy in Grades 4 – 6.

PhD (1996)
University of Calgary

MA
University of Calgary

BEd
University of Calgary

Dr. Roessingh offers her expertise to Alberta Education (ESL Avisory committee, AUA representative) and is active in a number of Charter schools that have high numbers of ELLs. Staff development, classroom based research, and engaging pre-service teachers in service learning opportunities are the focus of this work, with a goal of classroom level impact, and policy reform at the jurisdiction and Ministry levels.

• Alberta Education, AUA representative on ESL Advisory Committee
• Almadina Language Charter Academy
• Westmount Charter School

Roessingh, H. (2016). Academic language in K - 12: What is it, how is it learned, and how can we measure it? BC TEAL Journal, 1(1), 67 - 81. http://ejournals.ok.ubc.ca/index.php/BCTJ/article/view/235.6

Roessingh, H. & Douglas, S. (2012). Educational outcomes of English language learners at university. Canadian Journal of Higher Education, in print, 2012.

Roessingh, H. (2011). Family Treasures: A dual language book project for negotiating language, literacy, culture and identity. Canadian Modern Language Review 67(1), 123-148.

Roessingh, H. & Douglas, S. (2011). English Language Learners’ transitional needs from high school to university: An exploratory study. Journal of International Migration and Integration, DOI: 10.1007/s12134-011-0202

Roessingh, H. (2010). Vocabulary profiling of oral and written discourse: An assessment tool for working with ELLs k – 12. Teaching English Language Learners: Paths to success. Number 5 in a Series of Monographs. Pp. 417-441.

Roessingh, H. & Elgie, S. (2009). Early language and literacy development among young ELL: Preliminary insights from a longitudinal study. TESL Canada Journal 26(2), 24-45.

• Dawn Seabrook de Vargas Award, ATESL Conference, 2011 Lifetime service award to the profession.

• Courses