Texas Tech University

Faculty in AL & SLS

Core Faculty

Stefanie Borst, Associate Professor Applied Linguistics & German (Ph.D., University of Texas at Austin). Dr. Borst is Associate Dean of the College of Arts & Sciences. She currently focuses on student success initiatives for students of the College of Arts & Sciences. She teaches German language & culture classes, and Language Policy & Politics in Higher Education.

Idoia Elola, Professor of Spanish and Applied Linguistics (Ph.D., University of Iowa). Dr. Elola is the Editor-in-Chief of System. Her research focuses primarily on (digital) second language writing, such as collaborative and individual writing using social tools, digital literacies, feedback, and the use of multimodal texts (digital stories, story maps, blogs) from cognitive and sociocultural perspectives. Her research also focuses on L2 and SHL learners' writing cognitive processes to understand how both populations may approach writing similarly or differently and investigates best practices for learners to become better writers in the less dominant languages. She has lately worked on linguistics landscapes in the area of Texas. She teaches graduate courses such as L2 Writing, Multiliteracies: Writing, Second Language Acquisition, Introduction to Hispanic Linguistics, Spanish Applied Linguistics, and Instructional SLA: Speaking & Writing.

Greta Gorsuch, Professor of Applied Linguistics (Ed.D., Temple University Japan). Dr. Gorsuch is the Co-Editor of Reading in a Foreign Language. Her research focuses on Foreign Language Reading Fluency, Second Language Testing, and Second Language Curriculum. She is also a published author of original fiction for adult literacy learners. She teaches courses such as Conversation Analysis, Second Language Testing, Second Language Materials Design, Communicative Competence, and Second Language Course Evaluation.

James Lee, Jeanne Charnier Qualia Professor of Applied Linguistics (Ph.D., the University of Texas at Austin). Dr. Lee is the Director of the Applied Linguistics program and the CMLL Eye-Tracking Research Laboratory for Language Processing. Dr. Lee's research focuses on the cognitive behaviors (eye movements) that characterize grammatical processing among classroom learners, Heritage bilinguals, and Spanish dominant bilinguals born and raised in Spanish-dominant countries. He teaches courses such as Eye Tracking and L2 Processing, Linguistics for Second Language Educators, and Instructed Second Language Acquisition

Kristen Michelson, Assistant Professor of French and Applied Linguistics at Texas Tech University. Her scholarship is anchored in multiliteracies pedagogies and is currently focused on investigating how L2 learners of French interpret everyday internet texts. She has employed various methodologies in solo and collaborative research projects, including digital social annotated reading and prompted think-alouds. Her work aims to raise awareness of how representational choices are made with agency and intention against a backdrop of broader social contexts, and to provide opportunities for second language learners to understand and participate flexibly in cultural discourses of target language cultures. Dr. Michelson teaches courses in Foreign Language Teaching Methods, Theories of Second Language Acquisition, Technology and Language Teaching, and Reading and Interpreting L2 Texts, in addition to teaching courses on the French language. In her courses you can expect to be challenged to reflect on biases and beliefs and to grapple with challenging concepts through collaborative, discovery-oriented activities.  

Meixiu Zhang, Assistant Professor of Applied Linguistics (Ph.D., Northern Arizona University). Dr. Zhang's main research areas include Corpus Linguistics, Second Language Writing, and Second Language Pedagogy. Her work has mainly focused on understanding the potential of collaborative writing and multimodal writing in foreign language teaching, exploring language use through corpus methods, and investigating the role of learners' L1 in language learning. Dr. Zhang regularly employs a wide range of research methodologies in her work, including qualitative methods (e.g., stimulated recall interview), statistical analyses, corpus analyses, and research synthesis methods (e.g., meta-analysis, scoping review). She teaches courses such as Corpus Linguistics for Research and Teaching, Collaborative Tasks in L2 Classrooms, Introduction to Language and Culture, and Language Learning Myths and Realities

Affiliate Faculty

Aaron Braver, Associate Professor of Linguistics, Department of English. 

Fanni Liu Coward, Associate Professor of Curriculum and Instruction, Teacher Education Department. 

Yesim Dollar, Lecturer, Department of Classical and Modern Languages and Literatures. 

Min-Joo Kim, Professor of English and Linguistics, Department of English. 

Brendan Regan, Assistant Professor of Spanish, Department of Classical and Modern Languages and Literatures.

Paola Guerrero Rodríguez, Assistant Professor of Spanish, Department of Classical and Modern Languages and Literatures.

Brandon Rogers, Assistant Professor of Spanish, Department of Classical and Modern Languages and Literatures.

Roman Taraban, Professor of Psychology, Department of Psychological Sciences. 

Yanlin Wang, Assistant Professor of Practice, Department of Classical and Modern Languages and Literatures.

Classical & Modern Languages & Literatures

  • Address

    CMLL Building, 2906 18th St, Lubbock, TX 79409
  • Phone

    806.742.3145