Alison Mackey is a professor and Chair of the Linguistics Department at Georgetown University. Her research focuses on how second languages are learned and how they can best be taught. One of the most highly cited scholars in the world in second language research, Alison has published 100+ journal articles and book chapters, as well as 19 books. She has received a number of prizes, including the American Association of Applied Linguistics’ Distinguished Scholarship and Service Award in 2022 and the TBLT Association’s Distinguished Achievement award in 2023.

A graduate of the University of Cambridge (UK) and the University of Sydney (Australia), Alison has taught linguistics and trained teachers all over the world. She is a frequently invited speaker at conferences and organizations including the U.S. State Department, the Foreign Service Institute, the IMF and the World Bank, and has advised companies like Berlitz, Rosetta Stone and Age of Learning (where she is a curriculum board member). Alison has worked with Avenues since shortly after its foundation, translating research into practice and supporting language instruction, curriculum development, teacher training and assessment across campuses.