People
Faculty
Joan Kelly Hall is Professor of Applied Linguistics and Director of the Center for Research on English Language Learning and Teaching in the Department of Applied Linguistics at Penn State University. Her research interests are in the interactional foundations of teaching and learning, with particular focus on the crucial contribution of conversation analysis to understanding and documenting their interdependent relationship.
Stephen Looney is Teaching Professor of Applied Linguistics and Director of the International Teaching Assistant Program in the Department of Applied Linguistics at Penn State University. His research interests are classroom interaction and second language development. He is particularly interested in using conversation analysis to look at L1 and L2 English speaking teachers in STEM classrooms.
Affiliated Faculty
Taiane Malabarba is a Lecturer and Postdoc researcher in Interactional Linguistics and Second Language Acquisition in the Department of English and American Studies at the University of Potsdam, Germany. Her current work involves longitudinal and cross-sectional micro-analysis of foreign language talk-in-interaction in alternative learning settings (e.g. at the workplace) and through computer and smartphone applications (e.g. WhatsApp).
Research Assistants
Lyana Sun Han Chang is a third year PhD student in the department of Applied Linguistics at Penn State. She has taught academic writing at the undergraduate level and at an Intensive English Program. Her research interests include: translanguaging, identity, and narrative and positioning analysis. Her research focuses on analyzing different narrative genres produced by undocumented immigrants in order to better understand how they negotiate identities to support their communities and to enact reformative change.
Sarah received her B.A. in Political Science with double minors in German and Music and her M.A. in Applied Linguistics with a subfield in German from the University of Mississippi. Her research interests include internet and popular culture discourse; marketing and advertising communications; social media studies; and virtual intercultural discourse.
Past Research Assistant
Yingliang (Elvin) is a fourth-year Ph.D candidate. His research interests include Conversation Analysis, particularly in epistemics and group work in language learning and other instructional contexts, and Conceptual Metaphor in Cognitive Linguistics.
Tianfang Sally Wang is a fourth-year PhD candidate. Her research interests include Conceptual Metaphor Theory, Sociocultural Theory and L2 pedagogy, and Conversation Analysis.
Shuyuan Liu is a third-year PhD student in the Department of Applied Linguistics at Penn State. She is interested in the pragmatics of English as a lingua franca (ELF) interactions and the development of ELF pragmatic competence in study abroad contexts.
Yuanheng (Arthur) Wang is a second-year Ph.D. candidate. He holds an M.A. in Applied Linguistics from Teachers College, Columbia University and a B.A. in English from Penn State. His research interests include second language writing, corpus-based genre analysis, corpus linguistics, and English for Academic/Specific Purposes.
Su Yin is a fourth-year PhD candidate. She's interested in multilingual writers, adult ESL learners in community-based programs, language socialization, and classroom discourse.
Brett Diaz is a fifth-year PhD student, and holds an MA in Composition and Applied Linguistics from California State University San Bernardino. Brett's interests are in the linguistic manifestations of emotion, social and cognitive processes behind language production and reception, and linguistics methodologies for language collection and analysis.
Leo Jian Liao is a Ph.D. candidate and received his master degree in Educational Technology (MSET) from Beijing Normal University, China. Leo's research interests include computer-assisted language learning, second language acquisition, and emerging technologies. He is also a developer mastering video processing, HTML5 website development, Drupal, and Apple app development.
Jamie is currently an assistant director of Faculty Programs and Services in the Center for Teaching and Learning at Columbia University. She develops and facilitates programming and services for faculty, postdoctoral, adjunct, and other instructors at Columbia University. Her research interests include classroom discourse, classroom interaction, and L2 teaching and learning.
Michael’s research interests include: applying a Vygotskian Sociocultural Theoretical (SCT) perspective to L2 language teaching-and-learning; the development of L2 teacher cognition; the theory and practice of L2 teacher education; and utilizing the framework of Conversation Analysis to analyze classroom interactions and institutional discourse.
