Hello

Thank you for visiting my site! I am a Japanese language teacher and researcher at Clemson University (South Carolina, USA). My first language is English and, like many of my students, I started learning Japanese as a college student. I went to Japan for the first time after completing my BA in Japanese. I was an ALT with the JET Program for three years and after that I held various English instructor positions and did freelance J-E translation and interpretation. While living in Japan, I continued to study Japanese and passed the Japanese Language Proficiency Test level 1, and passed levels 5 through pre-2 of KanKen, tests of kanji designed for first-language speakers of Japanese. In all, I lived in Ehime, Japan for 12 years (during which time I also met my spouse). We returned to the US so I could go to graduate school. After completing an MA and a PhD in Japanese linguistics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, we came to SC so I could start my position at Clemson University. At Clemson I teach courses in Japanese language, business Japanese, Japanese culture and Japanese sociolinguistics, and general linguistics. In 2020, I took on the role of program director for the Language and International Business (LAIB) program, and I have been enjoying getting to know LAIB students beyond the Japanese program as well.

My research is situated at the intersection of sociolinguistics and second language acquisition and I use qualitative research methods, including ethnographic interviewing, on-site observations, and recordings of naturally-occurring conversation, to examine L2 speakers’ beliefs and perceptions about Japanese speech styles such as regional dialects and honorifics (keigo). I have ongoing projects focusing on L2 speaker legitimacy and native speaker bias. You can learn more about my research projects and publications on this site.

Feel free to drop me a note if you have any questions about my work! Otherwise, I hope you'll look around my website and engage with the publication and teaching links available.