Peer & Conference Review
Manuscript review for journals in applied linguistics and language education, with abstract review for the TESOL Convention and AERA since 2023.
Ph.D. Candidate, Second Language Studies
Michigan State University
I am a Ph.D. candidate in the Second Language Studies program at Michigan State University, advised by Dr. Peter I. De Costa. My research examines how students’ and teachers’ emotions and investments shape language learning and teaching in the age of AI, with a particular focus on building more inclusive language classrooms. I am particularly interested in the structural tensions between classroom realities and broader social forces, examining why research-informed approaches often struggle to translate into practice. My work draws on classroom-based qualitative inquiry, narrative approaches, discourse analysis, and participatory design to address questions at the intersection of language education and human agency.
As a language learner, teacher, and teacher educator, I study how emotion and investment shape language teaching and learning in the age of AI. I am particularly interested in how young language learners and the teachers who work with them can be repositioned as critical, agentive participants rather than deficient subjects.
My research primarily draws on participatory, ethnographic, narrative, discourse analytic, and other qualitative approaches to investigate language learning and teaching. I also collaborate across methodological approaches, including quantitative and experimental research using tools such as eye-tracking. My dissertation integrates the research questions below through work with multilingual elementary students in language classrooms. See below for selected publications and presentations organized by research strand.
Questions that come from classrooms, and go back to them.
Conducting classroom-based research grounded in real educational concerns
Using participatory design, ethnography, narrative inquiry, and systematic synthesis
Collaborating with teachers and returning research findings to classrooms and communities
How do language teachers and learners critically engage with AI and digital technologies as sites of agency and power?
Negotiating the affordances and constraints of AI for language learning and teaching
Interrogating bias, exclusion, ideology, and power in digital platforms and algorithms
Exploring digital multimodal composing as a space for agency, and social action
How do emotions and investments shape and get shaped by the contexts of language learning and teaching?
Investigating how learners' emotions and investments influence language learning
Examining how language teachers' emotions, investment, and well-being shape language teaching
Examining why pedagogical ideals often struggle against the realities of classroom practice
How can English language education treat learners' linguistic repertoires as assets?
Questioning who defines "inclusion" and whose knowledge counts
Centering social justice by valuing students' diverse linguistic repertoires (e.g., Global Englishes, translanguaging) in classroom practice
I support the Postprint Pledge, a movement toward making scholarship more accessible. If you or your institution do not have access to any of the publications below, the postprint links will open an accepted version of each publication that is freely available.
Revise & Resubmit
Under Review
Teaching Philosophy
My teaching centers on helping students develop their identities as capable language learners and fostering a curiosity and passion for language that continues beyond the classroom. I design lessons that make room for risk-taking, treat mistakes as part of learning, and ground language use in authentic, contextualized work. I draw on an asset-based pedagogy that recognizes students’ linguistic and cultural backgrounds as resources rather than deficits, inviting their home languages, families, and ideas into the classroom.
I work with both current and future language teachers. As a practicing teacher licensed in Michigan, Alabama, and South Korea, I try to carry these commitments into my own classroom.
Teach undergraduate courses in the TESOL minor at MSU that connect SLA theory with classroom practice, focusing on learner identity, investment, and equity in linguistically diverse settings.
Mentor doctoral students and early-career scholars on qualitative research methods, dissertation writing, and scholarly publication through coursework, guest lectures, and invited panels.
Draw on a decade of experience in elementary multilingual and EFL education in my work in teacher education and research.
National and international approaches, methods, materials design, learner characteristics, and needs assessment in ESL and foreign language settings. Survey, evaluation, and application of major effective methods and materials.
Basic principles of learning a second or foreign language. Issues in first language acquisition. Theories of second language learning. Aptitude, motivation, attitude, learning grammar, age, learning in a classroom, myths, and facts about second language learning.
“Nari is an extremely empathetic instructor who clearly cares about the quality of teachers in this next generation. She cares about her students and about the kind of teachers they want to be. She is also personable, and I felt that she cared about my learning and success.”
“Her content is really helping me do what it is supposed to do: get me thinking about ELLs’ needs and how to create content that will help them be successful. Her content is relevant, and I can tell she constructed it with our work in mind, making me want to be more attentive.”
“I would say she is super on top of her side of things. Whether it’s making assignments accessible or having strong communication, she’s on it. Her lectures really pull everything together and narrow the content down, so it isn’t overwhelming and I know what is expected of me.”
“Nari did a great job of making the course feel engaging and supportive. The activities and assignments helped me really focus on the different needs that students have so that, overall, my lessons and activities are inclusive and can be done by all my future students.”
“I could tell that she really cared about teaching the material and knew a lot of information about it. She was very good at explaining concepts and being there for students.”
“Nari was super flexible and communicative. She also gave long, thorough feedback on each assignment that I really enjoyed reading and found very helpful.”
“She put so much effort into engaging with us. All the feedback she gave me was very helpful and thorough.”
“I have developed a much deeper knowledge of the theoretical basis of language learning and skills on making an inclusive lesson plan.”
I believe service is an essential part of sustaining a collaborative and supportive field. My service work includes reviewing scholarship, mentoring graduate students, organizing academic events, and offering invited teaching and workshops. Through these efforts, I aim to support accessible and supportive field.
Manuscript review for journals in applied linguistics and language education, with abstract review for the TESOL Convention and AERA since 2023.
Panels at Michigan State University on K-12 research partnership, qualitative research practices, and graduate-school life.
Symposium organizing volunteer, KERIS content reviewer, and a member of the SLS graduate community.
Scholarly Review
Since 2023 I have served as an ad hoc reviewer across applied linguistics, education, and multicultural venues.
Knowledge-Sharing
I use invited panels and student sessions to translate research methods and graduate-school experience into practical guidance for peers and newer students at Michigan State University.
Association & Program Work
I contribute through the program structures that make scholarly exchange possible, helping organize events and host visiting scholars who connect the wider field.
The Language Pod
I contribute to making language science accessible to the public. I took part in public-facing language science at the Language Pod, the COSI (Center of Science and Industry) lab devoted to the study and communication of language.