My name is Zack Miller, and I am currently a Ph.D. Candidate in Second Language Studies. I have developed a great appreciation for language study which has spanned across my entire military career. As a cadet at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, I majored in Latin American Studies with a focus on the Portuguese language. Upon graduation, I served in several overseas locations, such as Kuwait, Egypt, and South Korea, and worked directly with members of the host militaries on a variety of missions. Each time, I tried learning aspects of the different languages in order to communicate and establish better relationships with my counterparts. It was at this point that I became intrigued with the mechanics of acquiring new languages.

Later, I earned an M.A. in Portuguese at the University of New Mexico and served as a Portuguese instructor at West Point for three years. Following this assignment, I again worked in different overseas locations which offered a new opportunity—teaching English as a second language. The first position was as an advisor at the National Military Academy of Afghanistan, helping to design coursework and activities for their fledgling English language program. Next, I spent almost three years in South Korea, where I occasionally taught intermediate English to officers from neighboring Korean Army units. These experiences focused me as I prepared to embark on my doctoral degree with the Second Language Studies program at Michigan State University.

During my time in the SLS program, I have worked with a variety of outstanding faculty members and fellow students. These individuals have taught me a great deal and helped guide me towards my current areas of emphasis: psycholinguistics and L2 acquisition in a military context. I am now working on my dissertation, which focuses on the role of different emotions on the learning of L2 syntax under incidental instruction. I plan to defend my dissertation in Spring 2017 and am excited to see where this particular direction takes me as a future L2 researcher and educator