My name is Daniel R. Isbell (or just “Dan” for short), and I am a PhD candidate in the Second Language Studies program at Michigan State University. Prior to beginning my PhD studies, I earned an MA in TESL from Northern Arizona University and taught English as a second/foreign language for over five years, including adult international students in the U.S. and children in South Korea. Teaching English and my own learning of Korean motivated me to find out what works in language instruction and how language tests can best be designed and used. Before my career in language teaching and learning began, I completed my bachelor’s studies at Arizona State University. Fun fact: My degree was a BFA in Intermedia (interactive media, e.g., computer graphics); this training ended up being useful for editing A/V, tweaking HTML, and doodling stimuli for experiments!
My main areas of interest are language assessment, L2 pronunciation, and instructed SLA. In language assessment, I have a strong base in real-world, operational test development and administration, including working on the Assessment Team at NAU’s Program in Intensive English, developing a test of occupational English for elastomer technicians, interning at Michigan Language Assessment (called CaMLA at the time), working in the Testing Office of the MSU English Language Center, and rating constructed responses for various English exams. My research on language assessments includes examining issues of fairness (e.g., rater effects, using different test forms) and methods for tapping into specific subskills in language tests. Related to L2 pronunciation, I am interested in the intelligibility of L2 speech and how L2 learners can develop their pronunciation abilities. Some of my research in this area has looked into measuring listener perceptions of L2 speech, the role of pronunciation in interaction between L2 learners, and the effectiveness of pronunciation instruction for learners of L2 Korean. My interest in pronunciation overlaps with ISLA. Outside of pronunciation, I am also keenly interested in how technology can be used in teaching and learning and the outcomes informal/non-formal language learning that happens on digital platforms (e.g., Duolingo).
My dissertation aims to unite my three main interests by documenting the development and investigating the validity of an assessment called the Korean Pronunciation Diagnostic (KPD). The connection between pronunciation and assessment are right there in the name, but the connection to instruction isn’t as immediately obvious. However, the KPD is designed to provide information on which Korean phonemes a learner has difficulty with, in production and in perception, and can be used to raise learner awareness and select instructional targets. Following up on my recently completed initial piloting, I will carry out my dissertation research in South Korea thanks to the support of the Fulbright U.S. Student Program. In fact, when you read this, I will already be in Korea, initially taking some time to work on achieving advanced Korean language proficiency as a FLAS Summer Fellow!