Joan Kang Shin, PhD is a Professor of Education and the Associate Dean for Faculty Success in the College of Education and Human Development at George Mason University. She is also the founder and director of the Global Online Teacher Education Center (GOTEC) at Mason. Dr. Shin specializes in teaching ESL/EFL/EAL to young learners and teenagers and has provided professional development programs and workshops to English language teachers in over 100 countries around the world through both online and in-person programs. She is an expert in online TESOL education and professional development and conducts research on building international virtual communities of inquiry for English teachers. In her career, Dr. Shin has secured over $12 million in grants primarily focused on developing global online English language teacher professional development programs.
Dr. Shin is an award-winning author and series editor. She is a co-author with Dr. JoAnn Crandall of Teaching Young Learners English: From Theory to Practice, which won the Ben Warren International House Trust Prize. Dr. Shin is also a Series Editor, with Dr. Crandall, of four English language books series by National Geographic Learning: Our World, Explore Our World, Welcome to Our World, and Impact. She recently published a co-edited academic volume with Dr. Polina Vinogradova through Routledge called Contemporary Foundations for Teaching English as an Additional Language and a co-authored book through TESOL Press called The 6 Principles for Exemplary Teaching of English Learners: Young Learners in a Multilingual World with Dr. Vera Savić and Dr. Tomohisa Machida.
In 2016, Dr. Shin was named one of the 30 Up-and-Coming Leaders of TESOL by TESOL International Association. In 2021, she was named one of the top 30 English Language Specialists by the U.S. Department of State in recognition of her lasting impact on the Specialist Program and the field of TESOL.
