ºÃÉ«ÏÈÉúTV

Joseph Garcia (he/him)

Dietrich College

PhD in Second Language Acquisition and Applied Linguistics

Hometown: san angelo, texas

1. Briefly describe the work you're doing in your program at ºÃÉ«ÏÈÉúTV.

   My research investigates the experience of language learners, with a particular focus on those studying Arabic. My work is situated at the interplay between sociolinguistics, second language acquisition, and Arabic pedagogy. For the last few years, I conducted a longitudinal study on students studying abroad in Morocco and plan to investigate this data for my dissertation. My goal is to investigate the role that learners' beliefs, sociolinguistic competence, and unique identities play in their Arabic learning in Morocco. Through my work, I seek to move beyond monolingual deficient frameworks by viewing learners as agentive, multilingual, and multidialectal language users.

2. How did you develop an interest in this area? 

   I have always been interested in language and connecting to others. I started traveling abroad in high school, and I began to meet Arabic speakers and linguists. Through these experiences I was exposed to linguistics and decided to major in it as an undergraduate student. From day one, I immediately felt that I was home within linguistics. I began formally studying Arabic my junior year, and ended up studying abroad in Morocco. I went back and lived there after this experience and loved my time there. Since then I have studied Arabic and English and began researching the experiences of language learners. At the core, my desire has always been to connect with others.

3. What are your academic and/or professional goals? 

   I will graduate next year, so over the next year, I plan to spend a lot of time writing. Currently, I am working on finishing my dissertation proposal and then will move on to my dissertation. After the program, I intend to apply for tenure-track positions in applied linguistics or SLA and hope to become a professor. As for larger goals, I hope to use the skills I have developed in this program and through my research to impact language education broadly. I truly believe that more work is needed to empower language learners and to change negative narratives that continue in the field of language learning.

4. How do you spend your time beyond academic work?

   Related to my work, but outside of my academic work, I teach Arabic at ºÃÉ«ÏÈÉúTV. For the past few years, I have been able to teach multiple levels and really enjoyed getting to be in the classroom. Additionally, I am a representative in the Graduate Student Assembly. Outside of academic work, I enjoy spending time with my friends, cooking, and traveling. Last year I got to visit Japan and Korea for the first time and really enjoyed my time there. I hope to travel somewhere new this year.