Staff

Dr. Okim Kang, Director

My research focus lies in the areas of speech production and perception, second language (L2) oral assessment and automated scoring, L2 pronunciation and intelligibility, language attitudes, World Englishes, and L2 phonology in second language acquisition. My overall research goal is to investigate the nature of accented speech of non-native speakers (NNSs) of English, which includes several sub-areas of research: (a) how accent is perceived by listeners, (b) how accented speech is characterized linguistically, (c) how the assessment of accented speech is validated through automatic systems, (d) how speakers with accents can better communicate with others, and (e) what constitutes intelligible speech and how we can promote intelligible speech in the global contexts.

Affiliated Faculty

Dr. Meghan Moran

Dr. Moran is the interim Director of the University Writing Program at NAU. Since receiving her doctorate in Applied Linguistics from NAU (under the tutelage of Okim Kang and Mary McGroarty), she has been continuing her research in intelligibility, speech perception, and linguistic prejudice. She has taught pre-K through adult learners; ESL, teacher training, and English composition. Recently, she has collaborated with Mexico's Language and Education Consulting in the development of an online EFL teacher training course.

Dr. Kate Yaw

Dr. Yaw is an Assistant Professor of Applied Linguistics at the University of South Florida, where she trains future language teachers and researchers at the BA, MA, and PhD levels. She received her PhD in Applied Linguistics from Northern Arizona University in 2022 (supervised by Dr. Okim Kang). As a researcher, she seeks ways to help individuals build their listening, speaking, and general communication skills in both their first (L1) and second (L2) languages. Her primary research focuses on the role of listeners in successful communication, including language attitudes, linguistic and reverse linguistic stereotyping, perception of speech, and cognitive processing of different L1/L2 speech varieties. Additionally, she does work in research methodology, quantitative research ethics, and collaboration in applied linguistics.

Dr. Mohammadreza (Reza) Dalman

Reza Dalman (PhD Northern Arizona University) is an Assistant Professor of TESOL/Linguistics in the English Department at Winona State University. Reza’s research focuses on second language (L2) speech and intelligibility, speech perception and production, and oral assessment and testing. He has published the findings of his research in various TESOL-and Second Language Acquisition-related journals, including TESOL Quarterly, Language Teaching Research, International Journal of Listening, Australian Review of Applied Linguistics, Advances in Language and Literary Studies, and Asia TEFL, inter alia. Reza is currently working on two grant research projects investigating young learners’ English proficiency gains in EFL contexts.

Dr. Maria (Masha) Kostromitina

Dr. Masha Kostromitina is an Assessment Specialist at Duolingo working on the Duolingo English Test team. She earned my Ph.D. in Applied Linguistics from Northern Arizona University in 2023. Masha’s primary research area is L2 speech acquisition with the focus on language learners' development of pragmatic skills. She is also interested in fairness and Global Englishes representation on listening tasks of high stakes English proficiency tests. In her research, Masha uses corpus linguistics approaches to studying language patterns. Masha’s work has been published in top-tier journals including Studies of Second Language Acquisition and Language Testing.

Dr. Kevin Hirschi

Dr. Hirschi is an Assistant Professor at The University of Texas at San Antonio. He received his PhD in Applied Linguistics from Northern Arizona University in 2024 with Dr. Okim Kang as his supervisor. His research interests include second language acquisition with a focus on pronunciation, technology for analytic and learning purposes, discourse intonation, and corpus linguistics. He leverages large data sets and computational techniques for statistical and perceptual analyses of speech to better our understanding of language development and fully describe the dimensions needed for language learners to communicate successfully.

Students

Sung Eun Choi

Sung Eun is a Ph.D. student of Applied Linguistics at Northern Arizona University. Her research interests include spoken interaction of second language (L2) learners of English with a specific focus on prosody and pronunciation. She holds an M.A. in TESL from NAU and a B.A. in English Education from Seoul National University. The aim of her research is to understand L2 interaction and to promote communication in English as a second language.

Vito Miao

Vito Miao 缪永智 joined the PhD Applied Linguistics program in 2021. He is interested in applied linguistics, social psychology, and social justice. He attended schools at Oxford University, UC Berkeley, and Guangdong University of Foreign Studies. His recent research has appeared in peer-reviewed journals such as System and Language Testing, and TESOL Quarterly (see here for details).

Yuna Bae

Yuna Bae is a PhD student in Applied Linguistics at Northern Arizona University. Her research interests include speech intelligibility, automatic speech recognition (ASR), speaking assessment, and pronunciation in the context of second language acquisition (SLA). She holds an MA in English Education from Seoul National University and a BA in English Language and Literature from Ewha Womans University, Seoul, South Korea.

Michelle Richter

Michelle Richter is a second-year PhD student at Northern Arizona University. Her research interests include speech perception and production, corpus linguistics, and applications of Artificial Intelligence. She has a B.A. and M.Phil in Linguistics from the University of Ghana.

Francesca Grixoni

Francesca Grixoni is currently pursuing her Ph.D. degree in Applied Linguistics at NAU. She holds a BA in Linguistic and Cultural Mediation from University of Bologna and an MA in Interpreting and Translation from University of International Studies in Rome. Her research interests include speech perception, with a particular focus on accentedness in interpreted language and its impact on listener judgments in legal contexts, as well as second language fluency in Italian as an L2.

Seiji Takahashi

Seiji Takahashi is a PhD student in the Applied Linguistics program. His research interests include second language acquisition (SLA), speech perception and production, speech technology, and pragmatics in SLA. He holds a master’s degree in TESOL from University College London in the UK. Prior to joining this program, he taught English as a second language at universities in Japan and Japanese as a second language in the UK.

Shannon Dunn

Shannon Dunn is a doctoral student of Applied Linguistics at NAU focusing on ethics and rigor in classroom-based research, along with instructed second language acquisition. She holds an MA in Curriculum and Instruction: TESOL from the University of Missouri- Kansas City, and a BA in Secondary English Education from Washburn University. Shannon previously taught intensive English in multiple Saudi Arabian Universities and was a consultant for Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Education: Education and Training Evaluation Commission supporting topics of school evaluations, university acceptance protocols, and education during COVID.

Thomas Abdull Jamel Asare

I am Thomas Abdull Jamel Asare, a PhD student in Applied Linguistics in the English Department of Northern Arizona University. My research interests include but are not limited to second language acquisition, L2 Phonology, Speech Perception and Production, and Syntax. Before joining Northern Arizona University, I was teaching English Linguistics in Ghana. I currently hold a Master of Philosophy in English from the University of Ghana. I am currently a Graduate Teaching Assistant at Northern Arizona University.

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