HI, I’M KRIS.

Winner of the 2024 Outstanding Leader in a Graduate Student Organization Award

DIRECTOR
of the Undergraduate Interdisciplinary Program in Cognitive Science

INSTRUCTOR &
PROGRAM COORDINATOR of 
Research-based Undergraduate Linguistics Experience (RULE)

ASSISTANT TEACHING PROFESSOR

“LOVE LANGUAGING” LINGUIST investigating multilingualism and language learning in romantic relationships and families.
TEACHER of language—online 💻, in the U.S. 🇺🇸, and abroad 🇯🇵🇪🇸.
RESEARCHER of applied psycholinguistics, communication and technology, digital discourse, multilingualism in romantic relationships, cognitive and affective factors in L2 learning.
FORMER PRESIDENT of the Georgetown Linguistics Student Association (2022-2024).

NEWS

"LOVE LANGUAGING"
💕📲 & 🏫👩‍🏫 “Love Languaging” Available Now! & Announcing My New Role…
CALICO, CALICO 2025, CogSci
💕📲 & 🏫👩‍🏫 “Love Languaging” Available Now! & Announcing My New Role…
CALICO, CALICO 2025, CogSci

“Love Languaging” is available now! Also, I’m excited to finally share the news about my next step after graduating with my doctoral degree… I’ve officially joined the Georgetown University faculty as Director of the Undergraduate Interdisciplinary Program in Cognitive Science and Assistant Teaching Professor in the Department of Linguistics!

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CALICO, CALICO 2025, CogSci
Celebrating Recent Nominations, Awards, & Honors 🎓✨
conferences, CALICO, CALICO 2025, nominations, awards
Celebrating Recent Nominations, Awards, & Honors 🎓✨
conferences, CALICO, CALICO 2025, nominations, awards

As I near the end of my Ph.D. journey at Georgetown and I prepare for the next chapter (more on that soon! 👀), I’ve been reflecting on the roles and responsibilities that have shaped my experience beyond my research—particularly those centered on teaching, mentorship, student advising and professionalization, and community-building. I’m excited to share that this spring, I’ve been honored with two award nominations that speak directly to these passions!

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conferences, CALICO, CALICO 2025, nominations, awards
💕📲 SUCCESSFULLY DEFENDED
conferences, CALICO, CALICO 2025, memes, digitally-mediated communication, AAAL, AAAL 2025, awards, dissertation, my books
💕📲 SUCCESSFULLY DEFENDED
conferences, CALICO, CALICO 2025, memes, digitally-mediated communication, AAAL, AAAL 2025, awards, dissertation, my books

Last Friday, I successfully defended my doctoral dissertation! 🎉💕📲 This post contains 6 BIG UPDATES, including the defense, next steps, an award nomination, and more. The video of my 19-minute, captioned Dissertation Defense presentation is included inside!

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conferences, CALICO, CALICO 2025, memes, digitally-mediated communication, AAAL, AAAL 2025, awards, dissertation, my books
Presenting at CALICO 2025!
conferences, CALICO, CALICO 2025, memes, digitally-mediated communication
Presenting at CALICO 2025!
conferences, CALICO, CALICO 2025, memes, digitally-mediated communication

MEMES, EMOJIS, CHATGPT, & TEXT EDITING—oh my! I'm thrilled to announce that my paper presentation has been accepted for the CALICO 2025 Conference in San Diego, CA! 🎉

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conferences, CALICO, CALICO 2025, memes, digitally-mediated communication
Presenting at AAAL 2025!
AAAL, conferences, AAAL 2025
Presenting at AAAL 2025!
AAAL, conferences, AAAL 2025

I'm thrilled to announce that my paper presentation has been accepted for the American Association for Applied Linguistics (AAAL) 2025 Conference in Denver, CO, as part of the Invited Colloquium, "Investment in language learning and teaching: The negotiation of identity, capital, and ideology," organized by Conveners Professor Ron Darvin and Professor Bonny Norton! 🎉

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AAAL, conferences, AAAL 2025
Embracing Open Science: Transparency and collaboration in linguistics research and the "Love Languages" Study
open science, transparency, publications, friedman 2023, collaboration
Embracing Open Science: Transparency and collaboration in linguistics research and the "Love Languages" Study
open science, transparency, publications, friedman 2023, collaboration

My co-authored chapter, “Open Science and Research Materials,” has just been published in the new book, Open Science in Applied Linguistics, edited by Luke Plonsky. Today, in honor of the release of our chapter, here are two examples of my open science practices in my current research...

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open science, transparency, publications, friedman 2023, collaboration
Language learning through “FALLING” (🍁🍂🍃) in love: Kicking off the fall semester with “love languaging” insights—and TikTok! 📲
tiktok
Language learning through “FALLING” (🍁🍂🍃) in love: Kicking off the fall semester with “love languaging” insights—and TikTok! 📲
tiktok

If you are here, you have probably heard the saying that “the easiest way to learn a language is to fall (🍁🍂🍃) in love” with a native speaker… right? 👀 Well, while it might sound romantic, the reality of language learning and language choice for many multilingual and intercultural couples is far more complex.

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tiktok
Winner of the 2024 Georgetown University Outstanding Leader in a Graduate Student Organization Award
awards, glsa, leadership
Winner of the 2024 Georgetown University Outstanding Leader in a Graduate Student Organization Award
awards, glsa, leadership

🌟 I am deeply honored and thrilled to announce that this past Monday, I was awarded the 2024 Georgetown University Outstanding Leader in a Graduate Student Organization Award for my role as President of the Graduate Linguistics Student Association (GLSA) from 2022 to 2024!

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awards, glsa, leadership
✅ #AAAL2024
AAAL, AAAL 2024, conferences
✅ #AAAL2024
AAAL, AAAL 2024, conferences

Thank you to all who attended and brought such great and curious energy, who offered thoughtful feedback and thought-provoking questions, who shared personal anecdotes and insights (and laughter), and all those who enjoyed analyzing various memes and text messages with me in the context of multilingual, intercultural, and romantic communication! 😂👏 Absolutely an inspiring and productive weekend—looking forward to next year! 🤞

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AAAL, AAAL 2024, conferences
“Love Languages” featured on @gulingmasters
featured on, gulingmasters
“Love Languages” featured on @gulingmasters
featured on, gulingmasters

@gulingmasters, the official account of the Department of Linguistics at Georgetown University, featured “Love Languages” on Valentine’s Day. 💕📲 Happy “Love Languages” Day!

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featured on, gulingmasters
Presenting at AAAL 2024!
AAAL, conferences, AAAL 2024
Presenting at AAAL 2024!
AAAL, conferences, AAAL 2024

Presenting on Sunday, March 17, 2024, @ 4:00 PM - 4:30 PM!

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AAAL, conferences, AAAL 2024

FOLLOW MY RESEARCH

 AS FEATURED ON…

AS FEATURED ON @GULingMasters, the official Instagram for the Linguistics Department @GeorgetownUniversity | Happy "Love Languages" Day! 💕

AS FEATURED ON @GULingMasters, the official Instagram for the Linguistics Department @GeorgetownUniversity | Happy "Love Languages" Day! 💕

AS FEATURED ON the HAPA英会話「eikaiwa」Premium Course Podcast！Episode: "How to Learn English," recorded in October 2020 and available from October through December 2020.

AS FEATURED ON the HAPA英会話「eikaiwa」Premium Course Podcast！Episode: "How to Learn English," recorded in October 2020 and available from October through December 2020.

AS FEATURED ON Hapa 英会話「eikaiwa」！• Hapa English Conversation with Jun Senesac on: ネイティブ英語講師の談話「日本人特有の英表現」Discourse of Native English Instructors:" English Expressions Peculiar to Japanese People" • 160K+ views • Streamed live on June 26, 2020.

AS FEATURED ON Hapa 英会話「eikaiwa」！• Hapa English Conversation with Jun Senesac on: ネイティブ英語講師の談話「日本人特有の英表現」Discourse of Native English Instructors:" English Expressions Peculiar to Japanese People" • 160K+ views • Streamed live on June 26, 2020.