SLS in the Spotlight

Kiyotaka Suga is a fifth-year Ph.D. candidate in the Second Language Studies (SLS). His dissertation study is “The roles of output-induced noticing in adult L2 acquisition: A process- and product-oriented study through eye-tracking”. In this study, he uses eye-tracking and stimulated recalls to examine how engaging in L2 output practice can push adult L2 learners to pay more attention to grammar features that they are learning and then eventually facilitate their grammar learning.

Adam Pfau is a fourth-year Ph.D. candidate in the Second Language Studies (SLS) program. His dissertation examines how and to what extent direct (i.e., hands-on corpus use) or indirect (i.e., hands-off corpus materials) online data-driven learning modules can result in more appropriate hedging by Chinese English as a foreign language (EFL) writers in the context of academic English. This work involved developing and implementing two online courses, and a central focus of the study is on assessing the learners’ user experiences concerning any difficulties, challenges, or benefits they saw in engaging with the online course modules or the online language corpora.

Joanne Koh has won a highly competitive and prestigious dissertation support award from Mango, which is a company that provides online language learning support and platforms. In addition to obtaining support from Mango for her work, her dissertation work has also been included as an honorable mention from the TIRF.  Joanne’s dissertation investigates how adult Korean learners of English watch English language TV shows on Netflix. She is interested in how the learners use captions when they watch, as well as their motivations for turning captions on or leaving them off while viewing. By tracking learners’ viewing habits and patterns, along with their learning of new vocabulary, Joanne can see the benefits of extended viewing at home.

MSU was recently awarded a second round of funding for a STARTALK professional development program for Chinese language teachers in the United States. Second Language Studies PhD student Matt Coss is the Lead Instructor for this program. In his capacity as Lead Instructor for MSU’s STARTALK program, he has developed (along with other program team members) a series of 120 hours of synchronous and asynchronous online and face-to-face professional learning experiences for in-service Chinese language teachers from all over the United States.

Philip Montgomery has been in Michigan State University’s Second Language Studies (SLS) program since August 2020. Before then, he had ten years of teaching and administrative experience. He holds a BA in Spanish Language and Culture from the College of Wooster, and he first taught as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Kazakhstan. There, he taught […]

Dylan Burton joined Michigan State University’s Second Language Studies (SLS) program in May of 2019 after 15 years working in the field of language teaching and assessment in Europe and East Asia. He worked in a number of roles, including language education, teacher training, test development, speaking and writing examining, conference planning, and assessment policy […]

Yingzhao Chen joined Michigan State University’s Second Language Studies (SLS) program in Fall 2018 with a focus on interdisciplinary research centered around second language learning and processing, as well as cross-linguistic influence. She is particularly interested in what types of instruction improve vocabulary learning and how the types of instruction may impact the lexical representations […]

Robert Randez, a fourth-year student in Michigan State University’s Second Language Studies (SLS) PhD program, is an educational linguist interested in the experiences of neurodivergent multilinguals and those who teach them. Prior to joining the SLS program, Robert received his BA and MA from the University of Texas at San Antonio, and has taught learners […]

Curtis Green-Eneix is a Ph.D. candidate in the Second Language Studies (SLS) program at Michigan State University (MSU). Before joining MSU, he received his BA in English Linguistics with a minor in Chinese Studies at Boise State University and an MA in English as a Second Language at the University of Arizona. At the University […]

My name is Myeongeun Son, and I am a Ph.D. candidate in the Second Language Studies Program at Michigan State University. I have started my career as an assistant professor in the Department of International Studies at Nagoya University of Commerce and Business in Japan since April 2021. I completed my BA in English linguistics […]

Hello! I am Lee Her, a current student at Michigan State University’s second language studies program. Before joining MSU, I received my masters in TESOL from San Jose State University where I taught English to Spanish speakers through the Catholic Charities program. Afterwards, I worked as a procurement specialist for a tech company for a […]

My name is Magdalyne Oguti Akiding, currently a doctoral candidate in the Second Language Studies (SLS) program at MSU. I was born and raised in Kenya where I studied up to the undergraduate level. I earned a B.Ed. in English and Literature in 2015 from Pwani University in Kilifi, Kenya, which prepared me to teach […]

My name is Mashael Algana. I am from Saudi Arabia. Currently, I am enrolled in the Second Language Studies Ph.D. program at Michigan State University. I received my BA in English from King Khalid University (KKU) in 2009 and after graduating I worked at KKU as a teaching assistant in the English department. My teaching […]

The Second Language Studies Ph.D. Program likes to spotlight the current work of people in the Program and what brought them to that line of work. Today we feature SLS Graduate student Bronson Hui! My name is Bronson Hui, born and raised in colonial Hong Kong. I am currently a PhD candidate in the Second […]

The Second Language Studies Ph.D. Program likes to spotlight the current work of people in the Program and what brought them to that line of work. Today we feature SLS Graduate student Xiaowan Zhang! Hi! I am Xiaowan Zhang and am a PhD candidate in the Second Language Studies (SLS) program at Michigan State University […]

Hello everyone,My name is Dmitrii (Dima) Pastushenkov. I am a PhD Candidate in the Second Language Studies Program at Michigan State University. I hold a bachelor’s degree in intercultural communication and foreign language pedagogy from Tver State University (Russia). While I was a student at Tver State, I also worked as a lab assistant and […]

Hello!  My name is Matt Kessler, and I am a PhD Candidate in the Second Language Studies (SLS) program at Michigan State University (MSU).  Prior to joining MSU, I received a master’s degree in Applied Linguistics at Ohio University in 2013, where I taught numerous ESL courses at both the undergraduate and graduate levels.  Following […]

I am a pedagogy-focused psycholinguist. I have a strong desire to apply second language acquisition (SLA) research (informed by cognitive psychology) to pedagogy. Looking back, my research focus has developed naturally from my genuine interest in teaching and curiosity towards the human mind. I taught English and Korean in various contexts before joining the program; […]

My name is Wendy Li. I received my B.A. in Teaching English as a Foreign Language at Jiangxi Normal University, China, in 2010. After graduation, I worked as an English teacher in an international high school in Shenzhen, China, for two years. This teaching experience led me to pursue a master degree in TESOL at […]

Hi! My name is Xuehong He, and I go by Stella. I am a native speaker of Cantonese and Mandarin. I completed my B.A. in English (Translation and Interpreting) at Sun Yat-sen University and my M.Phil. in Applied Linguistics at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. My research interests are Instructed Second Language Acquisition, Second Language […]

My name is Jieun (Irene) Ahn, and I am a PhD candidate in the Second Language Studies (SLS) Program at Michigan State University. I was awarded a full research assistantship for the SLS program and worked as a research assistant under Drs. Susan Gass, Paula Winke, and Aline Godfroid. Before this, I received a BA […]

My name is Felix Kronenberg, and I am the new director of the Center for Language Teaching Advancement (CeLTA) and an associate professor of German. After working for 4 years at Pomona College and 9 years at Rhodes College, I am excited to be back at a research university, with all of its potential, resources, and, most […]

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 […]

My name is Jongbong Lee, and I am a Ph.D. candidate in the Second Language Studies Program at Michigan State University. I completed an M.A. in TESL from Georgetown University as well as a B.A. and an M.A. in English Language Education from Korea University. Before joining the SLS Program at Michigan State University, I […]

My name is Yaqiong Cui. I received my B.A. in Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language at East China Normal University, Shanghai. In 2009, I began my studies in the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign for my M.A. degree, focusing on Chinese linguistics, and the second language […]

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 […]

When I first started to learn English at middle school, I knew right away that I loved learning a new language, and that feeling was reconfirmed when German as a second foreign language was added in the curriculum of my high school. I was driven to learn all about the language and was so intrigued […]

My name is Jie Liu, and I am a Ph.D. Candidate in Second Language Studies at Michigan State University (MSU). Before coming to MSU, I completed my MA in linguistics at the University of Kansas, and an MA in linguistics and applied linguistics and a BA in Chinese culture and literature at Beijing Language and […]

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 […]

My name is Magda Tigchelaar, and I am a PhD Candidate in the Second Language Studies Program at Michigan State University (MSU). Before coming to MSU, I completed my BA and MA in French Studies at the University of Guelph, Canada, where I taught French as a second language. I have taught English as a […]

A PhD candidate in Michigan State University’s Second Language Studies program, my journey into academia began at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada with a BA in English Literature and a BFA in Theatre Performance. After 3 years as an adult English as a Second Language instructor, I spent 3 years in Shimonoseki, […]

Hello! My name is Emily Heidrich, and I currently work as the Project Manager for two of CeLTA’s grant projects: The Language Proficiency Flagship Initiative and the LCTL Partnership. I am originally from a suburb of Cincinnati, Ohio, but I most recently lived in Madison, Wisconsin for graduate studies in German and Second Language Acquisition. […]

My name is Irina Zaykovskaya, and I’m currently a Ph.D. student in Second Language Studies at Michigan State University. I teach Russian to MSU undergraduates and am planning to teach Second Language Learning and Pedagogical Grammar in Summer 2017 and throughout the next academic year. I am originally from St. Petersburg, Russia. Fortunate to have […]

My name is Sarut Supasiraprapa, and I am a Ph.D. candidate in Second Language Studies.  I received a bachelor’s in economics from Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, Thailand, and a master’s in TESOL from Michigan State.  Before joining the SLS Ph.D. Program, I worked at Chulalongkorn University Language Institute, where I taught undergraduate academic English courses […]

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 […]

My experience as a lifelong language learner fostered my interests in foreign language learning and teaching, and led me to purse BA and MA degrees in English language education, and a Ph.D. in Second Language Studies.  During my years in the SLS Program at Michigan State University, I explored diverse areas in the fields of […]

My name is Jessica Fox, and I am a Ph.D. Candidate in Second Language Studies. As I look back over the trajectory of my academic career, an interdisciplinary approach to language study has been at the core. I graduated from Calvin College in 2009 with a B.A. in Speech Language Pathology and Audiology and a […]

My name is Suzanne Johnston, and I am a Ph.D. Candidate in Second Language Studies. While pursing my B.A. in Spanish, I discovered that the process through which second languages were acquired was fascinating. My university at the time did not have a linguistic program, except for a few classes through the English department about […]

I am Hyung-Jo Yoon, a Ph.D. candidate in Second Language Studies. While pursuing my B.A (in English Education) and M.Ed. (in TESOL) degrees, I taught a variety of groups of language learners, including secondary-school EFL learners, adult immigrants, and Korean as a foreign language learners. These valuable experiences, together with my belief in the importance […]

My interest in language developed through my early years of living abroad in Israel and in the U.S. I experienced both day-to-day challenges and achievements during such time in acquiring Hebrew and English. That early experience always lingered on after I came back to South Korea, where I got to see the intense impact that […]

My experiences as a lifelong language learner and a foreign language teacher fostered my interest in pursuing a PhD in Second Language Studies, which I completed in summer 2016. I have taught in diverse classrooms and have had the opportunity to witness daily in my job the systematicity of language acquisition together with its variability. […]

It is a great honor to be one of the SLS students in the spotlight. I started my karma with languages as an EFL learner. This has developed into my career as a teacher in an EFL learning situation. Then I found myself a master’s degree student at Michigan State University as an ESL learner. […]

My interest in languages all started when I worked alongside a group of Spanish international students at a summer camp. I was intrigued by the challenge of communicating with second language learners and relished the opportunity to connect with people from a different culture.  This experience let me to study Spanish, international studies, and linguistics during my […]

I joined the Second Language Studies Ph.D. Program in fall 2012 after earning an MA in Foreign and Second Language Education at the Ohio State University. I was awarded a full scholarship for graduate study from Inha University in South Korea where I received a BA in English Language Education.As a graduate assistant, I have […]

From a young age, I wanted to become a teacher. A history teacher at first, but in my last year of high school I switched to Germanic Philology, which basically means studying the language and literature of two Germanic languages. I chose Dutch and English. Although I embarked on these studies out of an interest […]

My interests in Second Language Acquisition have been evolving throughout the years. I received my initial educational training from Chernivtsi Pedagogical College and Chernivtsi National University, Department of Pedagogy in Ukraine. Then, I earned my master’s degree in Second Language Acquisition and Teaching at National Tsing Hua University in Taiwan, and am currently a Ph.D. […]

My interest in second language acquisition has its roots in my experiences studying and working in Japan. In particular, I wondered why some of my non-Japanese friends and colleagues seemed better able to acquire Japanese than others. I also found the gap between my Japanese classrooms and natural Japanese language use vexing, and I wanted […]

I am an applied linguistic who is interested in the intersection of language learning and technology. I received a B.A. in Chinese Language and M.A. in Teaching Chinese as a Second Language from National Taiwan Normal University, and an M.A. and Ph.D. in Education (Language, Literacy, and Technology) from the University of California, Irvine. I […]

I am an applied linguist who is interested in theoretical as well as practical issues of second language reading and bilingual children’s literacy development. I received my PhD in Second Language Acquisition from Carnegie Mellon University, and am currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Teacher Education at Michigan State University where I also […]

Like many of us who call ourselves applied linguists, my academic journey has been a blend of carefully premeditated decisions and complete serendipity. Whether I am talking to insiders or outsiders, defining what I do at Michigan State, not to mention who I am and hope to be professionally, is a bit complicated. It may […]

Why study language you might ask? Well, I remember being drawn to the English language from an early age. I was fascinated by dialects and accents and I was especially taken by comedians, rappers and great orators and their abilities to make the English language entertain, inspire and provoke. I didn’t really do much with […]

My trajectory to the second language studies (SLS) program at MSU has been quite purposeful and direct: I knew from an early age that I wanted to learn and teach languages, and was always intrigued by the process of acquiring a second language (L2). Consequently, in high school, I took every language class that was […]

I have been involved into Linguistics from the moment I started my undergraduate study with a major in EFL and English literature from Egypt. After graduation, I was fortunate enough to take an English instructor job at my home university where I started to shape my teaching philosophy and approach to applied linguistics. I taught […]

My name is Mostafa Papi, and I am a Ph.D. candidate in the SLS Program.Before coming to MSU, I completed BA and MA degrees in TESOL in Iran, and I taught English for five years in Iran. From the very first days of my teaching career, I felt that a lack of motivation was a […]

My passion for teaching a second language began when I started teaching English as a foreign language (EFL) in my first year of college in Brazil. I taught at a private language school for 6 years. I had the pleasure to work with young children, teenagers, and adults of all proficiency levels. After college, I […]

Hello world:Like most researchers, my academic interests have grown organically from my past experiences and each reflects a little about me. My main research areas are: research ethics, humor, and technology. A fine collection of topics to be sure. During my undergraduate years I studied abroad in Costa Rica and realized two things about languages: […]

 I joined the SLS program in 2010. Looking back, I am grateful for the many opportunities I have had to learn in the program. Through my first research project I became acquainted with the visual world eye-tracking paradigm. In this paradigm, participants are presented with pictures on a computer screen while they listen to sentences. […]

It is a great honor to be the featured SLS member this month. I came to the field of Second Language Studies in a slightly non-linear way via my previous teaching career (English/German in Japan, Spain, and the U.S.), and my MA in Linguistics from Syracuse University.Since starting my PhD I have rarely said no […]

I am honored to be the SLS student in the spotlight this month. My major research interest is computer-assisted language learning, so I spend a great deal of my time considering how we can more effectively use technology inside and outside of the language classroom. One of the products of that is a list of […]

Jimin joined the Second Language Studies program in fall 2009. She earned her M.A. in English Language Teaching at the International Graduate School of English in Seoul, Korea. Before she joined the Ph.D. program at MSU, she taught English and Korean language to various student populations in different settings. While working at the English Education […]

Wen-Hsin (Kelly) Chen joined the Second Language Studies Ph.D. Program in fall 2009. She received her M.A. in Teaching English as a Second Language from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and her B.Ed. in Children’s English Education from National Taipei University of Education (Taiwan). During her second year at UIUC (2008-2009), she taught Chinese reading […]

Solène Inceoglu joined the Second Language Studies Ph.D. Program in fall 2009. She holds a BA in English from the University of Tours (France), an MA in Applied Linguistics, and a Maitrise in Teaching French as a Foreign Language from the University of Grenoble (France). Before joining the SLS program, she was a Fulbright FLTA […]

Hyojung Lim joined the Second Language Studies Ph.D. Program in fall 2009 after completing an MA at Columbia University Teachers College, where she studied language assessment with Dr. James Purpura. At MSU, Hyojung researches second language reading and listening processes and language assessment. During her first two years in the Ph.D. Program, Hyojung worked as […]