During my first year in the program, I was admitted to a PhD program in Germany and offered a lecturer position. After a year of working and researching in Germany, I decided to return to UIUC to pursue my PhD in Curriculum & Instruction.

One of the most important skills I developed is essentially project management. With the research goal in mind and the time/budget/resources constraints: What can reasonably be accomplished, and how can I make sure that it happens? This training helped me define my projects and prioritize tasks more effectively.

​​​​​​​TESL extends beyond English teaching. My MA in TESOL provided a platform to develop skills in scientific language analysis, computer programming, and statistics for language data. It also honed soft skills such as communication, time management, coordination, and professionalism. This program offers a broader perspective on language and teaching.

My favorite thing about linguistics is how versatile of a field it is. Language is everywhere and it's possible to study so many different aspects of it.

 Editors: Tania Ionin, Silvina Montrul, Roumyana Slabakova (2024). The Routledge Handbook of Second Language Acquisition, Morphosyntax, and Semantics. Routledge.   This handbook provides innovative and comprehensive coverage of research on the second language acquisition (SLA) of morphosyntax, semantics, and the interface between the two. Organized by...

The university's diverse academic community ,which supports interdisciplinary professionals, makes it an ideal environment for aspiring language teachers and researchers. For instance, I am getting my Graduate Minor in Game Design along with my MATESL degree, which allowed me to work on several projects on educational games development.

At the University of Illinois, I have had the pleasure of working with the experts in the field. I have had guidance at every step of the way from publishing my first article to navigating in the academic job market. The department has been supportive of my work, encouraging me to achieve more.

Studying linguistics at Illinois has helped me to grow immensely as a scholar. The department places a strong emphasis on research and the faculty works tirelessly to help students develop and hone their research skills.

I am working on several collaborative projects with faculty members and students at UIUC. I recently started a 5-year project funded by the Illinois State Board of Education, along with 4 other PIs at UIUC, to develop a training and certification program for qualified interpreters, to facilitate non-English speaking parents during individualized education program (IEP) meetings in the K-12...

I received an HRI (Humanities Research Institute) summer grant of $3,000 for my in-progress ethnography of a French dual immersion program in Urbana-Champaign. I will be tracking the language acquisition outcomes and motivation/investment to learn French among different students who speak French as a second or a heritage language. In summer 2023, I will be using the grant towards interpreter and...