From where I started, I would not have expected to be where I am today.

Growing up, I was always intrigued by the idea of learning a second language. I always felt like it was kind of a superpower. I thought it would be so cool to be able to engage other people in what to me appeared to be like a secret code. As I got older, I had the opportunity to live and work in Sao Paulo, Brazil for over a year. There I learned to speak Portuguese and to engage with the wonderful people there.

 After returning home, I pursued a bachelor’s degree in advertising at Brigham Young University – Idaho. During my undergrad, I had the chance to teach English in Moscow, Russia to young children during one semester. Upon graduation, I realized what I really wanted to do was help international students and scholars get the language skills they needed. As a result, I pursued a Master’s degree in applied linguistics at Ohio University. While there I had the chance to work with a wonderful group of professors and students. My experiences there laid the groundwork for pursuing meaningful research and exposed me to linguistics and second language acquisition. During my second year there, I realized that I wanted and needed to know more – which led me to apply to the SLS Program at Michigan State.

Since joining MSU I have been actively engaged in research including work on Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) and Digital Literacies in a second language. My main research focus is on how language students and teachers can leverage current technologies to promote meaningful engagement with the second language and the language speaking community both in and outside of the class. I have also done work on language learner and heritage speaker identity. Other research projects I have been involved in focused on psycholinguistic measures of language knowledge, statistical literacy of second language researchers, mobile assisted language learning, and World Englishes research methodologies. My current work, and the focus of my dissertation, is on language teacher education for CALL and classroom technology. I am interested in examining how instructor knowledge and beliefs of technology use in the language classroom are impacted by an international teaching exchange program. Through this work, I provide insight into international language teaching assistant development and provide direction on how teachers can transfer their training into different contexts. I am currently a PhD candidate and work as a graduate assistant at the Center for Language Teaching Advancement (CeLTA). I look forward to bringing my experiences with me into my next great adventure.