I'm a PhD candidate in the Second Language Studies (SLS) program at Michigan State University, working with Dr. Koen Van Gorp. 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 is 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.

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 [coming soon], 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].

Prior to coming to MSU, I earned a MA in Second Language Acquisition from the University of Maryland. Prior to that, I earned my BA in Hispanic Linguistics and Chinese with a minor in Entrepreneurship from UNC Chapel Hill.

Since May of 2021, I have served as Assistant to the Editors for TASK: The Journal of Task-Based Language Teaching, co-edited by Dr. Koen Van Gorp and Dr. Kris Van Den Branden. From May 2022-May 2024, I worked with Dr. Aline Godfroid as the Assistant to the Journal Editor for Language Learning. 

I am the Lead Instructor (along with PI Dr. Jiahang Li and Co-PI Dr. Paula Winke) on the MSU Chinese STARTALK Project. I have also recently worked on the American Association of Applied Linguistics (AAAL) 2023 Conference Team with Dr. Peter De Costa, 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) msu (dot) edu.