Directors
Matthew E. Poehner, Director
Matthew E. Poehner is Professor of Applied Linguistics and Education and Director of the Center for Language Acquisition at Penn State. A former teacher of French and English as a second language in secondary and university settings, Matthew Poehner, Ph.D.’s research engages Vygotskian Sociocultural Theory to understand processes of instructed L2 development and to organize educational environments and activities to promote learner language abilities. A major line of this work is devoted to Dynamic Assessment, a rethinking of assessment practice that embeds instruction as part of the procedure to broaden diagnoses of abilities. He has participated in collaborative Dynamic Assessment research projects in both classroom/tutoring environments and formal testing contexts around the world, including in the U.S., Finland, and China. Results of this work have been reported in numerous journal articles and book chapters. Matthew Poehner, Ph.D.’s recent publications include a co-authored book, Sociocultural Theory and second language developmental education (with J. P. Lantolf, Cambridge University Press, 2024) and two co-edited volumes, Dynamic and diagnostic language assessment. Learning across frameworks to support L2 education (with D. Leontjev & A. Huhta, De Gruyter, to appear) and Sociocultural Theory: Creating conditions for L2 development (with J. P. Lantolf, University of Toronto Press, to appear). His teaching includes undergraduate and graduate courses on Vygotskian Sociocultural Theory, philosophy of science and educational research traditions, second language acquisition theory, language testing and assessment, and second language teaching methods. He is co-editor of the journal Language and Sociocultural Theory (University of Toronto Press).
Kevin McManus, Director (2022-2025)
Kevin McManus is Professor of Linguistics at the University of Pittsburgh. He previously served as director (2022-2025) and co-director (2018-2022) of CALPER, as well as director (2019-2025) of the Center for Language Acquisition at Penn State. His research interests include crosslinguistic influence and instructional effects in second language learning, and replication research. More information about his work in these areas can be found here: https://kmcmanusuk.github.io
Olesya Kisselev, Co-director
Olesya Kisselev is assistant professor in the Department of Bicultural-Bilingual Studies at The University of Texas at San Antonio. Her research expertise is in the areas of second and heritage language acquisition, second/heritage language pedagogy, and learner corpus research.
Jialing Wang, Associate Director
(2022-2025)
Jialing Wang served as assistant research professor in the Department of Applied Linguistics, Assistant Director of the Center for Language Acquisition and Associate Director of CALPER from 2022-2025. Jialing holds an Ed.D. from Penn State, an M.Ed. in TESOL from the University of Georgia and an undergraduate degree from Wuhan University (China).
Project Coordinators 2022-2026:
Brody Bluemel is associate professor and chair of the Department of Languages and Literatures at Delaware State University. His research focuses on bilingual education, dual-language immersion, and educational technology.
Becky H. Huang is professor of Multilingual Language Education at The Ohio State University. Her research focuses on bilingual/dual-language learners’ language and literacy development and its assessment.
Amanda Huensch is assistant professor in the Department of Linguistics at the University of Pittsburgh. Her research examines second language speech development in and outside of the classroom, including the acquisition of L2 phonology and the pronunciation pedagogical practices of language instructors.
Akiko Imamura is assistant professor of Japanese and Coordinator of the Japanese Language Program in the Department of Linguistics, Languages, and Cultures at Michigan State University. Her research focuses on language use in first and second languages. Her broader interest include pedagogical discourse, Japanese language pedagogy and program direction.
Stephen Looney is teaching professor of Applied Linguistics and the director of the International TA Program in the Department of Applied Linguistics at The Pennsylvania State University. His interests include language use, classroom interaction, L2 assessment, and teacher education.
Innhwa Park is associate professor of TESOL in the Department of Languages and Cultures at West Chester University. Her research interest include second language use, educational discourse, online communication, and meeting interaction.
Jayoung Song is an Assistant Professor of Korean and Applied Linguistics at Penn State University. Her research interests include Korean applied linguistics, computer-assisted language learning, intercultural communication, and second language reading. Dr. Song has published in peer-reviewed journals such as Education and Information Technologies, Language Learning & Technology, ReCALL, and The Korean Language in America. She works with projects incorporating virtual and augmented reality, supported by funding from the Academy of Korean Studies (AKS-2020-R39, AKS-2023-R063) and the U.S. Department of Education (CALPER P229A220016).
Zhongfeng Tian is assistant professor of Bilingual Education at Rutgers University-Newark. His research centers on working with language educators to create equitable and inclusive learning environments for bilingual and multilingual students in dual-language immersion contexts.
External Evaluators
Victoria Hasko is Associate Professor of TESOL & World Language Education, Director of the Russian Flagship Program and the STARTALK Russian Language, Culture and Communities in the Baltics Program at the University of Georgia. Her research expertise centers on language learning of LTCLs (e.g., Russian, Portuguese). As the director of the Russian Flagship program and the director of STARTALK Russian for Global Professionals (federally-funded program for teaching critical languages), Hasko has expertise on administration and implementation of federally-supported programs.
Luke Plonsky is an Associate Professor of Applied Linguistics at Northern Arizona University, where he teaches courses in L2 acquisition and research methods. His work in these and other areas appears in over 100 articles, book chapters, and books. Plonsky is Senior Associate Editor of Studies in Second Language Acquisition, Managing Editor of Foreign Language Annals, and he serves on the editorial boards of several other journals, including Language Teaching and Research Methods in Applied Linguistics.