The mission of the TOP Grant program is to nurture research talent overseas in the humanities and social sciences, the NSTC designed this program to help PhD candidates with research potential stay focused on writing their dissertations once they’ve reached that stage, and to enhance both the quality of their dissertations and the level of their research.

Congratulations, Yu-Tzu!

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Congratulations, Fred!

The post PhD Alumnus Fred Zenker lands Post-Doctoral position at TU Braunschweig appeared first on Department of Second Language Studies.

Dr. Theres Grüter was the plenary speaker at the held at Seoul National University on September 20, 2025. The conference was organized by Kitaek Kim (PhD 2014).

Dr. Grüter’s talk was titled, “Why Being Surprised is a Good Thing: Prediction Error as a Form of Negative Evidence in Language Learning.”

While at the conference, Dr. Grüter was able to connect with both current and former students (by row, left to right):

Joonhee Kim (SLS PhD student)
Jieun Kim (SLS PhD 2025, Soongsil University)
Sun-Young Lee (Linguistics PhD 2003, Cyber Hankuk University of Foreign
Studies)
Jin-Hwa Lee (SLS PhD 2006, Chung-Ang University)
Kitaek Kim (SLS PhD 2014, Seoul National University)
Hyunwoo Kim (SLS PhD 2018, Yonsei University)
Theres Grüter
On-Soon Lee (Linguistics PhD 2014, Sunchon National University)
Kum-Jeong Joo (Linguistics PhD 2014, Induk University)

Congratulations on a great conference!

The post Dr. Theres Grüter Plenary Speaker at 2025 ALAK International Conference appeared first on Department of Second Language Studies.

For more information and to apply, please follow this link:

The post SLS is looking for a tenure-track professor! appeared first on Department of Second Language Studies.

It is with heavy hearts that we announce the passing of PhD Candidate Rickey Larkin, Jr. The text below, , also includes a guestbook if you would like to leave any memories for his family:

Rickey was a remarkably intelligent and compassionate soul whose life was marked by deep curiosity and a thoughtful spirit. He was a PhD candidate (ABD) in the Department of Second Language Studies at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, where he was writing his dissertation on language policy in the Philippines. Nearing completion of his degree, Rickey’s work reflected his passion for language, communication, and the power of words to bridge cultures and connect people.

Rickey loved to write—not just academically, but personally—as a way to reflect, communicate, and build understanding. His intellect was matched by his empathy, and his presence left a meaningful impact on everyone who knew him.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to:

1. Rickey’s family, with all donations going directly to Rickey’s memorial service. The following link can be used to donate directly to his sister, Amberly:
2. The department’s SLS Enrichment Fund. Donations will be used to support students whose work aligns with Rickey’s research passions. Please give or give via check made payable to “University of Hawaii Foundation” and indicate the gift is to support the SLS Enrichment Fund 121-4590-4.

If giving to either cause, please indicate that the donation is “in memory of Rickey Larkin, Jr.”

The family also wishes to invite you to his memorial service in Ohio:

Date/Time: Saturday, October 4, 2025, from 12:00–4:00 PM
Location: Michael J. Colligan Lodge, Veterans Park, 20 New London Road, Hamilton, OH 45013

The post Remembering Rickey Larkin, Jr. appeared first on Department of Second Language Studies.

Her article, “Automated Essay Scoring With GPT-4 for a Local Placement Test: Investigating Prompting Strategies, Intra-Rater Reliability, and Alignment With Human Scores,” originated from her qualifying paper.

The study explores the potential of OpenAI’s ChatGPT-4 (gpt-4-0613) as an automated essay scoring (AES) tool in a trial involving 300 essays from an American university’s academic English program placement test. The study also examined improvements through NLP-derived linguistics features and averaging multiple GPT-4 ratings.

Way to go, Yoonseo!

You can find the paper here: 

The post PhD Student Yoonseo Kim publishes in TESOL Quarterly appeared first on Department of Second Language Studies.

PhD Student Sera Chun has won the 2025 Professor Jack Bilmes Endowed Award for her work on her dissertation titled “Second language teachers’ cognition and practices for pronunciation-focused instruction.”

The Professor Jack Bilmes Endowed Award provides support to dissertation-level doctoral students pursuing studies focused on ethnomethodology, conversation analysis, or occasioned semantics within the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa College of Arts, Languages & Letters (CALL).

 was a prolific cultural anthropologist whose work explored the development of human societies and cultures. A dedicated scholar and author of Discourse and Behavior and The Structure of Meaning in Talk, he was known for his keen analytical mind and contributions to category analysis. Beyond academia, Dr. Bilmes embraced life fully—pursuing passions such as tennis, golf, and African drumming.

Congratulations, Sera!

The post Sera Chun wins Professor Jack Bilmes Endowed Award appeared first on Department of Second Language Studies.

This website was designed by Kenton “Kenny” Harsch, retired English Language Institute Director and Undergraduate Coordinator and Advisor, and Michelle Kunkel, PhD candidate. The website includes an explanation of what Global Englishes is, and provides materials for teachers to use in-class and to reflect on their own teaching.

The website is also available in our Main Menu under “Research & Resources.”

The post New Resource Website for Global Englishes-focused Teaching Materials appeared first on Department of Second Language Studies.

On Friday, February 7th, the graduate assistants of the Center for Academic Spoken English (CASE) delivered a workshop on small group debate skills to Grade 10 and 11 English Language Learners at Waipahu High School. The workshop aimed to promote students’ abilities to share their opinions, respond to those of their peers, and to arrive at a consensus. The workshop was facilitated through , and CASE worked closely with Second Language Studies alumna and Waipahu High School teacher Jiamin Ruan.

The post CASE teaches debate skills at Waipahu High School appeared first on Department of Second Language Studies.

Jieun Kim, PhD candidate, is one of eight recipients of the 2024 Duolingo English Test Doctoral Dissertation Award.

Through our annual , the Duolingo English Test (DET) proudly recognizes and celebrates outstanding doctoral research in the field of language assessment.

This year’s winners represent a diverse range of projects, tackling critical challenges in language assessment with creativity and rigor. From exploring the use of virtual reality in oral proficiency testing to analyzing the impact of note-taking methods on listening comprehension, these researchers are breaking new ground and offering fresh insights into how language assessments can better serve learners, educators, and institutions around the world.

Jieun won for her dissertation on note-taking methods and their effect on listening test performance, titled “Handwritten versus typed notes: The impact of note-taking modes in second language listening tests.” Her advisor is Dr. Daniel Isbell.

Congratulations, Jieun!

The post Jieun Kim wins Duolingo English Test Dissertation Award appeared first on Department of Second Language Studies.