Edwin Dartey

 Welcome!  Akwaaba!  Káàbọ̀!  Karibu!

I recently earned my PhD in Applied Linguistics and African Studies at Pennsylvania State University. During the 2025-2026 academic year, I was a Graduate Scholar in Residence at Penn State's Humanities Institute and a Gil Watz Graduate Dissertation Fellow in Languages and Linguistics at Penn State's Center for Language Acquisition. Previously, I held a Dissertation Fellowship at the Africana Research Center at Penn State for the 2024-2025 academic year. 

My interdisciplinary research sits at the intersection of applied linguistics, African/Africana philosophy, and postcolonial studies. My dissertation project, which has been awarded a National Federation of Modern Language Teachers Associations/Modern Language Journal Dissertation Writing Support Grant and a  J. Jeffrey and Ann Marie Fox Graduate School- Dissertation Completion Award, is a case study where I explore how societal factors such as race, class, coloniality, and indigenous knowledge systems shape multilingual practices in Ghanaian elementary schools.  The project examines how African philosophical ideas can inform multilingual education in Global South contexts. More broadly, my work challenges Western-centered approaches to language policy and multilingual education by emphasizing community-based knowledge systems and the value of linguistic diversity in schools.

I also maintain research interests in corpus linguistics, second language writing, and English for academic purposes, particularly in areas such as syntactic complexity, metadiscourse, genre-based approaches to writing, and authorial presence in academic texts.

I have taught at the high school, undergraduate, and graduate levels in both Ghana and the United States. My teaching experience includes courses in academic communication, English composition, African literature and film, media literacy, and linguistics.

In addition to research and teaching, I contribute to the academic community through editorial and peer-review work. I previously served as co-editor of the Graduate Students’ Newsletter for the American Association for Applied Linguistics (AAAL), and I review manuscripts for journals including English for Specific Purposes, International Journal of Multilingualism, and Applied Linguistics.

A central goal of my scholarship is to examine how dominant theories of language marginalize non-hegemonic linguistic practices and epistemologies, particularly in Southern and postcolonial contexts.

To access or download a copy of my CV, please click on this link- Edwin's CV