Miranda Dufour

Hello,

I’m Miranda, a University of Oregon LTS Masters student and I received my Bachelors degree in Linguistics (also at the University of Oregon). I am originally from Southern Oregon (Medford) surrounded by the beautiful Rogue Valley. Growing up, I initially had a difficult time in school (likely due to home issues and not understanding my neurodivergence and sensory issues). What helped me was having teachers who were kind, patient, passionate, and seemed to truly care for their students as people. These teachers were a source of consistency and reliability in my life, and I will always be grateful for that. Because of this, I was always attracted to the idea of being a teacher, but because of how teachers are treated in the US I was discouraged from it. Long story short, I found the intersection of my interest in other cultures, languages, and teaching with the career path of teaching English in another country. From that point (late high school), I have been on this path to where I am now. 

This has culminated into my LTS Masters Capstone Project (which is where you are now). For this project, I was tasked with interpreting and exemplifying my mastery in these 6 Key Competency Areas: language as a dynamic system, design, digitally mediated language learning (DMLL), assessment, teaching, and research. I have defined my interpretation of each competency area as well as reflected on artifacts provided to demonstrate this mastery. A running theme throughout my artifacts is the relation to South Korea and South Korean learners of English. This is because I plan to teach in this context. 

For navigation purposes, there is a sidebar with each section as well as a button to the Directory below. In the Directory, there are buttons leading to each competency area. I hope my project is as interesting to read as it was to create. 

Thank you!