Biography

Dr. Merrill Swain is Professor Emeritus in the Curriculum, Teaching and Learning Department at OISE at the University of Toronto.

Dr. Swain has significantly contributed to the field of study of second language education. One of her previous research entitled “The Output Hypothesis: A Search for Empirical Evidence in a Classroom Second Language Acquisition Context” has inspired researchers and educators worldwide.

More recently she has proposed the notion of languaging to the field and her research, informed by the Sociocultural Theory, has contributed advancement of knowledge and research.

Dr. Swain has taught graduate courses in Second Language Education Program at СƵ/UT. Her graduate level courses include “Sociocultural Theory and Second Language Learning,” “Second Language Classroom Research,” “Research Colloquium in Second Language Education (with Dr. Lapkin),” and “Advanced Research Colloquium in Sociocultural Theory and Second Language Learning.”