I am an Assistant Professor of Applied Linguistics and Language Assessment Coordinator in the Department of Modern Languages and Classics at the University of Alabama (see my department webpage here). I earned my PhD in Second Language Studies from Michigan State University in 2025. 

As a language teacher and researcher, I am interested in the ways that research does, could, and should (not) dialogue with language teaching and teacher education. My position is that the research-practice interface should be bidirectional and multi-level, and that researchers have a responsibility to make any research intended for practice and practitioners accessible (physically and conceptually) and applicable. With this core interest driving my research agenda, I am working on a number of collaborative projects (see Research and Current Projects for details), and am always excited to explore new collaborations with like-minded teachers, researchers, and teacher-researchers. 

My dissertation was a program evaluation of a task-based university language program, in which I am looking at the program's implementation of task-based language teaching as well as the language development and proficiency attainment of students in the program. This research was supported by generous funding from the National Federation of Modern Language Teachers Association (NFMLTA), Language Learning, and Duolingo. 

In conjunction with my research, I am a language teacher with 12 years of experience teaching Spanish and Chinese to students from age 3 to age 90, from Novice to Superior proficiency, in traditional and non-traditional, online and in-person learning settings. I am also an award-winning teacher educator, and I regularly offer workshops, trainings, and give talks in and beyond the U.S. to share research- and experience-informed best practices with fellow teachers and program leaders. Some of my most recent presentations and related materials can be found in the Presentations tab, and all related information can be found on my CV. If you are interested in professional development, also check out the Consulting page [coming soon].

In addition to my teaching, research, and service at the University of Alabama, I am the co-convener (with Caitlyn Pineault) of the Collective Wisdom series in ACTFL's The Language Educator professional magazine, the co-editor (with Carlo Cinaglia and Ellen Serafini) of the Focus on Practice section of the journal Language Awareness, and the Interviews section editor for TASK: The Journal of Task-Based Language Teaching.

I also serve on the American Association for Applied Linguistics (AAAL) 2026 Online Conference Team, and continue to engage in other local and field-level service, including the ACTFL World Language Teacher Retention and Recruitment Task Force (for details, see my CV).

I was also recently interviewed on three podcasts: You Can Learn Chinese (#68), The Language Lounge (#31), and Barbarians at the Gate (Do you really need to learn to write characters to study Chinese?)

Please feel free to reach out any time about teaching, research, collaborations, professional development, or anything else! The best way to reach me is by email, at mattcoss (at) ua (dot) edu.