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MULTILINGUAL & MULTICULTURAL PROFESSIONAL
MULTILINGUAL & MULTICULTURAL PROFESSIONAL
Hala Sun received her Doctorate Degree (PhD) in Education at the University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB), with dual specializations in Applied Linguistics and Writing Studies.
She aspires to use her education and experiences to help empower the lives of people, especially underrepresented people and immigrant children. With her background of being a South Korean who grew up in the Philippines, attending a Chinese school, and has traveled to many Latin American countries, she is able to speak five languages.
She is an activist, fighting for sociolinguistic justice issues, including turning deficit views towards multilingual immigrant speakers into a celebratory one.
She is also passionate about implementing effective strategies to support educators to nurture and help students feel empowered, particularly multilingual learners.
RESEARCH PROJECTS:
(1) Multilingual immigrant children and youth's identity and diverse language practices (KAERA grant)
(2) Multilingual and multicultural capacities of AI and emerging technologies (CER fellowship)
(3) Effective and ethical use of AI/digital tools in teaching & learning contexts, including curriculum and assessment integration (NSF, CESRL grants)
(4) Participatory action research: K-16 teacher partnership in AI/edu tech literacy, focused on multilingual and Indigenous learners (Spencer grant, pending)
(5) Research methodologies using generative AI (focused on qualitative methods) (Statler grant)
(6) Impact of AI tutoring tools on self-efficacy & self-regulated learning (Catalyst grant)
(7) Exploring AI inclusivity in teacher education (CED MSU grant)
(8) AI emotions amongst multilingual writers (CTLI fellowship partnership)
TEACHING & RESEARCH:
She leads the only college-wide learning community on AI for all educators. Methodologically, she specializes in qualitative research, sociolinguistics, and classroom discourse analysis. Complementing her research expertise, she has extensive experience teaching ESL/TESOL, linguistics, education, and writing courses at universities, and supervising ESL teachers in K-12 and community contexts. Her teaching and research experiences have informed her numerous publications on topics of immigrant multilingual children's ethnolinguistic and translanguaging practices, AI-integrated curriculum/assessment design in multilingual writing, and the application of AI in qualitative research methods.
IT / EDTECH, MANAGEMENT & PROGRAM EVALUATION:
As an Instructional Design and Online/EdTech expert in various universities, she has trained educators on how to create innovative online content materials and how to enhance student engagement in e-learning platforms. Aside from teaching, Dr. Sun has worked as a Language Assessment Analyst for McGraw-Hill Education and the American Councils for International Education, utilizing national (e.g., CCSS, WIDA, ELPA21) and international standards (e.g., TESOL, CEFR). For five years, Dr. Sun has also worked as a Research Analyst/Program Evaluator at Oxnard College, designing and evaluating programs, using quantitative and qualitative analysis, as well as analyzing student success pathways, retention, and persistence levels in K-12 + community college; she played a key role in securing 6 million dollar multi-year grants (e.g., HSI STEM, Title V) for the university. Finally, Dr. Sun has worked as a consultant to many nonprofit and nongovernmental organizations to help assess their overall organizational sustainability, including their financial management and support systems, as well as organizational structures in place.
EXPERTISE:
- Fluency in 5 languages
- Classroom discourse analysis
- Translanguaging / Hybrid Language Practices
- Sociolinguistics
- Classroom discourse analysis
- Teacher education & methodologies
- Language Assessment (Heritage language assessment)
- Multilingual Learners' Writing
- AI/Digital Tools in Curriculum & Assessment
- AI Literacy & Ethics in Multilingual Contexts
- Online/Hyflex Teaching & Learning Practices & Student Engagement
- Teacher Agency and the Use of AI
- UX Research & Software Evaluation
- Program Evaluation
As the Associate Director of Assessment and Evaluation at Michigan State University’s Evidence Driven Learning Innovation (EDLI), she oversees the evaluation of digital learning innovations to improve the educational experiences of faculty and students. Her primary responsibility is to design and implement assessment protocols that measure the effectiveness of advanced technologies, including generative AI, within classroom settings. She conducts both qualitative and quantitative research to analyze how these technologies influence key outcomes such as student engagement, self-efficacy, and academic achievement.
In addition to leading research initiatives, she manages a range of large-scale projects, including a recently awarded National Science Foundation (NSF) grant (PI) focused on the ethical use of generative AI for STEM educators. This project involves cross-departmental collaboration, allowing her to work alongside experts in educational technology to develop training modules and resources that support teachers in adapting to the AI-driven educational landscape. She also collaborate closely with faculty members in conducting research and applying for external grants, ensuring that the projects are well-funded and aligned with the university's strategic goals. Furthermore, she mentors students and faculty in applying evidence-based practices for their assessment and curriculum design, guiding them in harnessing the full potential of digital tools to create more inclusive, equitable, and effective learning environments.
Dr. Sun conducted a macro-level correlation analysis between conflict level and microfinance, as an income generation strategy. Her study was part of a larger project, studying the following research question: To what extent is there an association between income generation through agriculture development, microfinance, and remittance strategies with level of conflict? The question is approached from several perspectives: at the micro-level, analyzing integrated interventions in geographical areas experiencing a high level of conflict (Colombia and South Sudan); and at the macro level focusing on specific intervention strategies (agricultural development, microfinance and remittances) across a sample of countries experiencing various levels of conflict.
She also conducted extensive research on North Korea's human rights and effective humanitarian assistance, as well as U.S. relationship with Columbia (paper written in Spanish). In addition, while working at U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, she wrote two policy memos addressing the issue of human trafficking, specifically from Latin American countries. One memo focused on training, outreach, and protection programs, and the other focused on the supply and demand issues. Finally, she worked as a consultant at the World Bank in the poverty reduction and economic management department. She helped analyze the pay and employment data of all the countries in the world, which is now published in the World Bank's portal.
Click here for links to her policy-related projects.
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