Jim Dyksen

Jim Dyksen first joined the ELP as a lecturer in 2004 and became a language specialist in 2005. He has taught a variety of courses for beginning to advanced-level learners in the Intensive Program and the Evening Program. He currently serves as the International Student Services Specialist.

Before joining the ELP, Dyksen taught basic academic writing at Temple University, where he worked with a broad range of students from pre-college high school students to adult evening division students. At Temple, he taught several writing classes for ESL learners and provided additional tutoring.

More recently he has taught courses in the Intensive English Program at Drexel University’s English Language Center, and has worked as an instructor in the Weingarten Learning Resources Center at Penn. At the WLRC he assisted international students in developing their skills in academic writing and he worked one-on-one with undergraduate and graduate students, helping them develop effective strategies for learning. He also worked for several years in the field of rare and antiquarian books.

In addition to his TESOL degree from the University of Pennsylvania, he has an M.A. in English and Creative Writing from Temple University and a B.A. in English from Amherst College.

Dyksen’s professional interests include ESL composition, the development of academic strategies and skills among ESL learners studying in the USA, teaching English grammar, and working with adult English language learners to improve their speaking proficiency.