Professor: TESOL

Dr. Nobuhiro Kamiya is a Professor in the Anaheim University Graduate School of Education and an internationally recognized specialist in second language acquisition, corrective feedback, gesture, multimodality in language learning, and English language pedagogy. His research explores how learners acquire a second language, how instructional strategies influence language development, and how nonverbal communication—including gesture—affects learning outcomes in classroom environments.

Dr. Kamiya earned his PhD in Second Language Studies from Michigan State University, where his dissertation investigated the relationship between teachers’ beliefs, instructional practices, and research-informed approaches to corrective feedback. He also holds an MA in Applied Linguistics from Teachers College, Columbia University and an MA in Education Heidelberg College, with additional TESOL certification from San Diego State University.

Before entering higher education, Dr. Kamiya spent more than a decade teaching English in junior high schools across Japan, experience that continues to inform his evidence-based approach to teacher training and classroom-focused research. His teaching career later expanded to roles at Michigan State University, Columbia University, and Gunma Prefectural Women’s University, where he now serves as a full professor.

Dr. Kamiya’s scholarly work includes peer-reviewed journal articles, book chapters, encyclopedia entries, and contributions to professional teaching publications. His research has been supported by numerous competitive grants, including multiple awards from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (KAKENHI). He frequently presents at scholarly conferences, delivers invited lectures, and provides consultation and training for educators and institutions in Japan and abroad.

Passionate about bridging research and practice, Dr. Kamiya’s teaching focuses on applied linguistics, second language acquisition, corrective feedback, listening and speaking development, vocabulary learning strategies, and teacher education. He is also active in editorial and review work for leading academic journals in applied linguistics and language education.

Associate Professor: TESOL

Dr. Anna Siyanova is an Associate Professor in the Anaheim University Graduate School of Education and an internationally recognized scholar in applied linguistics, psycholinguistics, and second language acquisition. Her research focuses on how people learn, process, and use vocabulary in a second or additional language, with particular emphasis on formulaic language, bilingual processing, and the role of frequency and cognitive mechanisms in language learning.

Throughout her career, Dr. Siyanova has held academic appointments across several global institutions, including Victoria University of Wellington, Ocean University of China, and Temple University Japan. Her research has received support from international organizations including the European Commission and national research councils, and she has been invited to deliver keynote lectures and workshops at universities and conferences around the world.

Dr. Siyanova’s publications include numerous journal articles, book chapters, and edited volumes on vocabulary learning, bilingual processing, multi-word expressions, and advanced research methods. Her work bridges empirical research and educational practice, supporting more effective and evidence-informed approaches to language teaching and learning.

In addition to her research, Dr. Siyanova is an experienced teacher and supervisor at both the master’s and doctoral levels, and has guided graduate research in areas such as psycholinguistics, vocabulary development, learner corpora, and quantitative research methods.

Dr. Siyanova holds a PhD in Applied Linguistics from the University of Nottingham, where her work was funded by the UK Economic and Social Research Council.

Dr. Neal Snape is a Professor of TESOL in the Anaheim University Graduate School of Education and a Professor of Language and Linguistics in the Faculty of International Communication at Gunma Prefectural Women’s University in Japan, where he specializes in second language acquisition with a particular focus on the English nominal domain, article systems, definiteness, genericity, and cross-linguistic influence. His research examines how linguistic knowledge is acquired, processed, and retained in second, third, and heritage languages, with a growing body of work dedicated to multilingualism and returnee language development.

Dr. Snape earned his PhD in Language and Linguistics from the University of Essex, where his dissertation explored acquisition patterns of the English determiner phrase among Japanese and Spanish learners. His work has since contributed to key theoretical discussions on interface phenomena, generative approaches to second language acquisition, and the pedagogical implications of grammatical complexity. Following his doctoral work, he completed a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Calgary’s Language Research Centre, continuing research into article acquisition while leading pedagogy-focused scholarly groups.

Over the course of his career, Dr. Snape has held faculty roles at leading institutions, including Hokkaido University, the University of Tokyo, Chuo University, and Anaheim University. He has served as principal investigator and co-investigator on numerous large-scale research projects supported by Japan’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), advancing empirical research on bilingualism, processing, and the development of linguistic competence across learner populations.

His publication record includes peer-reviewed articles, edited volumes, and book chapters with major academic presses and journals. His invited lectures and conference presentations span Asia, Europe, and North America, making his work a recognized contribution to the field internationally. In addition to his research and teaching, Dr. Snape is an active member of the academic community, serving on editorial boards and reviewing for journals, book publishers, and research councils across multiple countries.

A dedicated educator, he teaches courses in bilingualism, psycholinguistics, second language acquisition, academic writing, and research methodology, mentoring both undergraduate and graduate students pursuing advanced study in applied linguistics. Originally from the United Kingdom, Dr. Snape brings a global perspective and expertise to his teaching and research, informed by extensive experience living and working internationally.

Dr. Martha Cummings is a TESOL Professor at Anaheim University. She received her doctorate from Columbia University Teachers College. She has served on the Nominating Committee of TESOL and is currently a member of the Standing Committee on Diversity. Dr. Cummings has taught for The Monterey Institute of International Studies and the New School Online University, as well as ESL courses for the University of Aizu in Aizuwakamatsu, Japan, where she lived from 2002-2006. She has also lived and worked in New York City; Paris, France; Bratislava, (the former Czechoslovakia); Monterey, California; and Thermopolis, Wyoming. As part of the United States Department of State English Language Specialist Program, she has trained English language teachers in Cyprus, Thailand, Tunisia, and Turkey. She is co-author of two intermediate-level ESL textbooks, Changes, and Inspired to Write, published by Cambridge University Press, and author of numerous academic articles and short stories.

Dr. Andy Curtis is a TESOL Professor in the Anaheim University Graduate School of Education. From 2015 to 2016, he served as the 50th President of TESOL International Association, the largest association of its kind in the world, as the first Association President of Indian origin, and the first from the Afro-Caribbean Pacific (ACP). As one of the very few presidents of color, in the 55-year history of the Association, much of his work has focused on the intersectionality of Race, Color and English Language Teaching (Curtis & Romney, 2006). After some years of working in UK hospitals, as a clinical, medical biochemist, Dr. Curtis finally found his true passions: teaching and learning; languages and cultures. Having no background in language studies or linguistics, in his 20s, he started over, from the beginning. First, with mail-in distance learning education courses, then a science teaching degree, then a Master’s in Applied Linguistics and Language Education, and eventually a PhD in International Education. That journey has enabled him to take an interdisciplinary approach to language education, that breaks down barriers and builds bridges between hitherto disconnected domains of knowledge. His recent work, at the forefront of the field of the New Peace Linguistics, is an example of that scholarly and academic interdisciplinary bridge-building. He is also the editor of a nine-book series, ELT In Context, and the editor of a five-book series, Applied Linguistics for the Language Classroom. He has published 200 articles, book chapters and books, and presented to more than 50,000 language educators in 100 countries. He is based in Ontario, Canada, from where he works with language education organizations around the world.

Dr. Ken Beatty is a TESOL Professor in the Anaheim University Graduate School of Education. A specialist in the area of Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL), Dr. Beatty is the author/co-author of more than 140 textbooks and readers from the primary through university levels. Although most of these focus on various aspects of English as a Second Language, he also writes and reviews on the topic of Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL). Dr. Beatty has worked at universities in Asia, North and South America, and the Middle East. He holds a Ph.D. in Curriculum Studies from the University of Hong Kong.

Dr. Thom Hudson is a TESOL Professor in the Anaheim University Graduate School of Education. He received his BS degree in sociology from the University of California at Berkeley, and his MA degree in TESOL and Ph.D. in Applied Linguistics from the University of California at Los Angeles. Dr. Hudson is professor of Second Language Studies (SLS) at the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa, and co-editor of the electronic journal Reading in a Foreign Language. He has been on the Department of SLS faculty at UHM since 1989. Prior to coming to Hawai’i, he taught three years in Cairo, Egypt, numerous years in the U.S., directed a reading English for science and technology project for two years in Guadalajara, Mexico, and since coming to Hawai’i has spent a sabbatical year teaching in Japan. He was the Director of the English Language Institute at the University of Hawai’i for three years. He was also Co-Principal Investigator of a grant entitled “Expanding English Language Capacity in Vietnam” for three years from 2003-2006, and made several teacher training visits to Vietnam during that time. He was the Graduate Chair of the Department of Second Language Studies from August 2006 until the end of July 2012.

John Macalister is a TESOL Professor at Anaheim University and Head of the School of Linguistics and Applied Language Studies at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, and immediate past president of the Applied Linguistics Association of New Zealand. His work in language curriculum design and language teaching methodology have been highlighted in two books published by Routledge and co-authored with Professor Paul Nation. One of the defining characteristics of John’s work is the link between research and practice with a recent example being the design of an English curriculum for trainee seafarers in Kiribati, an island republic in the Central Pacific.As well as Kiribati and New Zealand, John has worked in Namibia, Thailand, Cambodia and Vanuatu. Kia ora tatou, and welcome. I’m excited to begin teaching on the TESOL program at Anaheim, and look forward to getting to know you and to learn about the challenges in your part of the world over the next few weeks.

Dr. Sandra McKay was a TESOL Professor in the Anaheim University Graduate School of Education, Professor Emeritus of English at San Francisco State University and an affiliate faculty member in the Second Language Studies program at the University of Hawaii, Manoa. She received her doctorate from the college of education at the University of Minnesota in applied linguistics. Her main areas of work and research were second language teacher education, sociolinguistics (with a focus on English as an international English) and research methods. She also published and presented on topics related to culture, diversity and inclusion. Her books include Teaching English as an International Language: Rethinking Goals and Approaches (2002, Oxford University Press) which was the Winner of the Ben Warren International Book Award for outstanding teacher education materials, Sociolinguistics and Language Education (edited with Nancy Hornberger, 2010, Multilingual Matters) and Researching Second Language Classrooms (2006, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates). She also published widely in international journals. She served as TESOL Quarterly editor from 1994 to 1999 and has served on the editorial advisory board for the Journal of Second Language Writing and the TESOL Quarterly. She received four Fulbright grants, as well as many academic specialist awards and distinguished lecturer invitations. Her research interest in English as an international language developed from her Fulbright Grants, academic specialists awards and her extensive work in international teacher education in countries such as Chile, Hong Kong, Hungary, Latvia, Morocco, Japan, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea and Thailand.

Dr. Jo Mynard is a Professor in the Anaheim University Graduate School of Education, Professor in the English Department, Director of the Self-Access Learning Center (SALC), and Director of the Research Institute for Learner Autonomy Education (RILAE) at Kanda University of International Studies (KUIS) in Chiba, Japan. She completed her Ed.D. in TEFL from the University of Exeter, UK in 2003 and an M.Phil. in Applied Linguistics from Trinity College, University of Dublin, Ireland in 1997. She has lived in Japan since 2015, but has also worked in the United Arab Emirates, France, Spain, Germany, Australia, the USA and Ireland and has been involved in language education since 1993. She is the founding editor of SiSAL Journal (Studies in Self-Access Learning), has been a committee member of the IATEFL Learner Autonomy Special Interest Group since 2001, and is an executive officer for the International Association for the Psychology of Language Learning. Her professional interests are learner autonomy, advising in language learning, affect, and learning beyond the classroom/self-access. She has co-edited four books. Two on learner autonomy (2011; 2014), and two on advising in language learning (2012). She co-authored Reflective Dialogue (Research and Resources in Language Teaching) with Satoko Kato (Routledge, 2016) and Dynamics of a Social Language Learning Community: Beliefs, Membership and Identity (Multilingual Matters, 2020).

Dr. Brian Tomlinson is a TESOL Professor in the Anaheim University Graduate School of Education. He is considered to be one of the world’s leading experts on materials development for language learning. In 1993 he established the world’s first MA dedicated to the study of materials development for language learning (at the University of Luton in the UK) and he founded MATSDA (Materials Development Association). He has been Chair and then President of MATSDA ever since 1993 and, as such, he launched the journal Folio and ran (with Hitomi Masuhara) a number of materials writing workshops in the UK and in Botswana, Malaysia, Mauritius, Mexico, the Seychelles, Singapore, Turkey and Vietnam. He has also organised and presented the opening plenary at thirty international MATSDA conferences. In addition he has given plenary presentations on materials development in over sixty countries. His many books on materials development are considered to be the leaders in the field. They include Materials Development in Language Teaching (Cambridge University Press: 1998, 2011), Developing Materials for Language Teaching (Continuum: 2003), English Language Learning Materials: A Critical Review (Continuum: 2008), Research for Materials Development in Language Learning – with Hitomi Masuhara (Continuum: 2010) and Applied Linguistics and Materials Development – with Hitomi Masuhara (Continuum: 2012). He has also just finished a state of the art survey of the literature on materials development published in the Cambridge University Press journal Language Teaching. Dr. Tomlinson has also published books on language teaching methodology (Teaching Secondary English – with Rod Ellis: Longman 1980), on language through literature (Openings: Penguin: 1994) and on language awareness (Discover English – with Rod Bolitho: Macmillan 1995), as well as contributing to textbooks for Bulgaria, for China, for Ethiopia, for Japan, for Malaysia, for Morocco, for Nigeria, for Turkey, for Namibia, for Singapore and for Zambia. He is currently a Visiting Professor at Leeds Metropolitan University, and an Advisor for the British Council English Language Advisory Group.

Alessandro Benati is a professor at University College Dublin (Ireland). He has held positions in several British and overseas institutions. He is known for his work in second language acquisition, and he published ground-breaking research on the pedagogical framework called processing instruction. His research on processing instruction has been recently driven by the use of new online measurements (e.g., eye tracking, self-paced reading). Alessandro has coordinated national and international high-impact research projects which have been influential in determining educational policy and had an impact in providing effective language teacher training. He is author and co-author of several research monographs and peer-reviewed articles in high-ranked journals. Editor and co-editor of book series and scientific journals such as Cambridge Elements in SLA and Instructed Second Language Acquisition. He was a member of the sub-panel for Modern Languages and Linguistics for the Research Excellence Framework for England (REF 2021), and he is Honorary Professor at Your SJ University (UK), University of Hong Kong, and Associate Professor at Anaheim University (USA).

Dr. Talia Isaacs is a TESOL Associate Professor in the Anaheim University Graduate School of Education. She holds a Ph.D. in Second Language Education from McGill University and serves as Associate Professor of TESOL and Applied Linguistics at the UCL Institute of Education, University College London. She has designed and taught a wide range of courses in applied linguistics and TESOL at four UK and Canadian universities, including in language testing, aural/oral communication, TESOL pedagogy and curriculum, second language acquisition, and research methods. Her work on assessing second language speech (particularly pronunciation) has been shaped by her language teaching and learning experience and background in voice performance, particularly taking diction courses for opera singers. She has a strong track record of leading research and consultancy projects on language and communication and often serves in an assessment advisory capacity, most recently as a core expert group member for the OECD’s PISA 2025 foreign language assessment questionnaire, and as a member of the TOEFL Committee of Examiners (ETS, 2020-24). With growing research interests in computer-mediated assessment and language for specific and academic purposes, she is increasingly active in the UK clinical trials methodology community, injecting a social sciences dimension into a complex, interdisciplinary research area. Her research is methodologically eclectic and mostly resides within the mixed methods paradigm.

Dr. Casey Keck is a TESOL Associate Professor in the Anaheim University Graduate School of Education and Associate Professor of Linguistics and Associate Chair of the English Department at Boise State University. She has over 20 years of experience teaching English as a second language to immigrants, refugees, and international students. She holds an MA in TESL and a PhD in Applied Linguistics from Northern Arizona University. Her research focuses on best practices in teaching English to adults in both community and university contexts, and her book, Pedagogical Grammar, is used in graduate teacher-training programs throughout the world. Her areas of expertise include corpus linguistics, second language acquisition, TESOL teacher education, and language program evaluation. Casey has provided technical assistance to nonprofits that focus on immigrant and refugee inclusion, including Welcoming America, the Idaho Office for Refugees, and LDS Charities. At Boise State, she coordinates Project SHINE, a service-learning initiative in which university students assist elder refugees in their efforts to obtain citizenship. Casey is a member of Boise’s Neighbors United Adult Education Task Force and the BSU-Jannus Refugee Collaboration Team. In 2016, she received the Exceptional Partnership Award from Boise State Service-Learning, for her long-standing partnerships with local ESL programs.

Dr. Masatoshi Sato is a TESOL Associate Professor in the Anaheim University Graduate School of Education. Dr. Sato earned his Ph.D. in Educational Studies, Language Acquisition and a Master of Arts in Second Language Education from McGill University, as well as a Graduate Certificate in TESOL from the University of New Mexico and a Bachelor of Arts in International and Intercultural Communication from Kobe University. In addition to serving as Associate Professor in TESOL at Anaheim University, Dr. Sato is a Professor in the Department of English at Universidad Andrés Bello, Chile. His research interests include peer interaction, corrective feedback, learner psychology, and teacher education. He is interested in ways in which foreign language learners’ grammatical knowledge can be used accurately and fluently during real-world communication. He has published in various international journals, such as International Review of Applied Linguistics, Language Awareness, Language Learning, Language Teaching, The Modern Language Journal, Studies in Second Language Acquisition, and System. He recently co-edited books from John Benjamins (with Susan Ballinger, McGill University: 2016) and Routledge (with Shawn Loewen, Michigan State University: 2017). His new co-edited volume from Routledge will appear in 2018. He is the recipient of the 2014 ACTFL/MLJ Paul Pimsleur Award.

Dr. Natsuko Shintani is a TESOL Associate Professor in the Anaheim University Graduate School of Education. She obtained her Ph.D. from the University of Auckland in 2011. She has worked as a language teacher in Japan and New Zealand, including in her own private language school for children. Her research interests include task-based language instruction, the role of interaction in second language acquisition and written corrective feedback. She has also worked on several meta-analysis studies of form-focused instruction. She has published widely in leading journals and is currently working on a single-authored book, The Role of Input-Based Tasks in Foreign Language Instruction for Young Learners, to be published by John Benjamins.

Dr. Scott Aubrey is a TESOL Assistant Professor in the Anaheim University Graduate School of Education. Scott Aubrey received his Ph.D. in Applied Linguistics from the University of Auckland in 2016. He has taught at language schools and universities in Korea, Japan, and Hong Kong. Scott’s research and teaching interests include L2 motivation, the role of inter-cultural contact (inside and outside the classroom) in language learning, task-based language teaching, and L2 writing instruction. His published work includes articles in leading journals such as TESOL Quarterly, Language Teaching Research, and The Modern Language Journal. Scott currently lives in Hong Kong and teaches courses in English language education at The Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Dr. Vivian Bussinguer-Khavari is a TESOL Assistant Professor in the Anaheim University Graduate School of Education. Originally from Brasilia, Brazil, she was raised bilingually, acquiring both Portuguese and English simultaneously, while attending an international school from age 3 to 18. Upon high school completion, she was granted a full scholarship by the Japanese government, offered directly by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. She took up the challenge of studying in a brand-new environment and pursued higher education in Japan. After studying the Japanese language for one year at Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, she was admitted into Kobe University, where she remained for both the undergraduate and graduate programs, completing her bachelor’s degree in Communication Studies, and eventually her master’s and doctoral degree in Applied Linguistics. From a very young age, she has experienced multicultural and multilingual settings and has built an interest and passion for both multiculturalism and multilingualism. She has conducted research in the field of Heritage Language Education (HLE), studying Nikkei-Brazilian immigrant families in Japan, investigating their school-aged children’s linguistic development in the L1 (Portuguese) and the L2 (Japanese), as well as the parents’ attitudes towards their children’s language learning. Other than HLE, her research interests include TESOL, intercultural communication, Performance-Assisted Learning (PAL), Performance in Education (PIE), and immigrant language education. She is an active member of the Japan Association for Language Teachers (JALT), having been the coordinator for their Speech, Drama and Debate (SD&D) Special Interest Group (SIG), now renamed to the Performance in Education (PIE) SIG, for four years and currently serving as their program chair. She continues to reside in Japan, where she has been teaching at the university level for the past decade, and is currently an associate professor at Kwansei Gakuin University as well as a lecturer at Kobe University.

Dr. Stephen Ryan is a TESOL Assistant Professor in the Anaheim University Graduate School of Education and a professor in the School of Culture, Media, and Society at Waseda University in Tokyo. Stephen Ryan has been involved in language education for over 25 years, and for most of that time, he has been based in Japan. His research and publications cover various aspects of psychology in language learning, including the award-winning Exploring Psychology in Language Learning and Teaching, co-authored with Marion Williams and Sarah Mercer, and The Psychology of the Language Learner Revisited, co-authored with Zoltan Dörnyei. He is also series editor for the Multilingual Matters book series Psychology of Language Learning and Teaching. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Nottingham School of English Studies and an M.A. in Linguistics (TESOL) from the University of Surrey.

Dr. MaryAnn Christison is a TESOL Professor in the Anaheim University Graduate School of Education. A past President of TESOL (1997-1998), MaryAnn Christison serves on the Board of Trustees for The International Research Foundation (TIRF). Holding a Ph.D. in English/Linguistics from the University of Utah, Dr. Christison has been teaching graduate and undergraduate courses in applied linguistics for over 30 years. She is the author of over 80 refereed articles in journals on language teaching and second language research and 18 books including Leadership in English Language Education: Theoretical foundations and practical skills for changing times (with D. E. Murray), A Handbook for Language Program Administrators (2nd Edition) (with F. L. Stoller), What language teachers need to know: Understanding learning (with D. E. Murray), What language teachers need to know: Facilitating learning (with D. E. Murray), Multiple intelligences and language learning, and Learning to teach languages. She has been a classroom teacher for 38 years, teaching in U.S. K-12, adult education, and university contexts. She has developed many multi-media projects, and online ESL Endorsement program, and four online courses for language teachers. Christison has been a teacher educator for over 20 years, working with teachers in the U.S. and in over 30 different countries. Her current research interests are in leadership, second language teacher development, and language and the brain.