Areas of Professional Study and Interest: 

Patti Hartford comes to BYU Hawaii from Canada, where she taught both ESL and English literature and composition for several years. After earning a B.A. in English from BYU-Provo ('72), she served a mission to France and Switzerland. On returning to Provo to get a French teaching minor, she taught French in the MTC.

The combination of second language teaching and English naturally led her to the field of TESL, where she eventually got her MA in 1979. Since then she has taught ESL in colleges in Japan, Ontario, Alberta, and British Columbia, and has developed BC's Open University course in Native literature and composition.

After spending several years working with Native American students at the university level, she returned to the ESL classroom to resume "the best job in the world"-teaching international students. Patti maintains an ongoing interest in distance education for international students, especially in the areas of writing and speaking.