I was interested in the arts; I was interested in science; I was interested in both theoretical and practical subjects. Essentially, I always wanted to learn more about the world growing up, and I can say that from where I am now, I’m tasting a little bit of everything.

I majored English for my bachelor’s degree and was considering pursuing further studies in English literature. After taking a couple of courses in Education towards the end of my undergraduate years, however, I became more interested in the teaching and learning of English as a second language. Subsequently, I enrolled in an M.Ed. program with a specialty in English Education, which provided me with both insights into second language (L2) research and the training to earn a teacher’s certificate in South Korea. I also had a chance to work as a research assistant for a professor who oversaw the college English placement test. This experience led me to develop an interest in language assessment and L2 research. To have some hands-on experience before moving on to a doctoral program, I taught English at a high school and worked as a research intern for a government-funded research institute (Korea Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation). I joined the Second Language Studies (SLS) program at Michigan State University in 2014 to continue my inquiry into second language research and assessment.

Currently, my main research interests include language assessment, L2 writing, learner corpus research, and language proficiency standards. My research focus has much to do with linguistic features of L2 English—particularly within writing—across standard proficiency levels such as the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) scale. This interest budded from my master’s thesis on raters’ interpretation of the CEFR-scaled rating rubric and discussion on essay ratings, then blossomed into looking at learner language characteristics at different levels of proficiency using corpus-based analysis. Working in the Testing Office of the MSU English Language Center provided me with further opportunities to learn various aspects of developing and administering English proficiency tests. My dissertation sits in the intersection of assessment, L2 English, and corpus-based analysis, the interconnectedness and multifaceted nature of which keeps me engrossed.

Aside from working in the Testing Office, I’ve had opportunities to teach language and content courses at MSU. I have mainly taught undergraduate Korean language courses, where I engaged in promoting proficiency-based curriculum (based on ACTFL standards), using technology in language teaching and learning, as well as conducting research (on Korean language programs in the United States and L2 Korean learners). Though I am mainly focused on completing my dissertation, for now, I would like to further explore topics regarding foreign language teaching, learning, and assessment, using the knowledge and skill sets I have acquired and strengthened through the SLS program.