Masaru Yamamoto

(he/him) [məˈsɑːru ˌjæməˈmoʊtoʊ]

I am a PhD candidate in the Department of Language and Literacy Education (LLED) at the University of British Columbia.

My scholarly interests centre on critical applied linguistics and language socialization, with a particular focus on multimodal interaction, language learner identity and agency, (non-)participation, and access issues to socializing opportunities in postsecondary settings, including study abroad contexts. Methodologically, he integrates ethnographic case study approaches with various other analytic approaches, such as multimodal interaction analysis, social network analysis, and thematic analysis, among others.

I have taught in various formal and informal contexts, at the secondary level as an English teacher in Japan and at the university level in Canada as a disciplinary content instructor. I like to approach teaching as a space for dialogic inquiry, in which students and the teacher together identify sites and moments of joy and discomfort, collaboratively explore epistemic resources to make sense of the struggles they encounter, and, in turn, construct a deeper understanding of the socially situated and fundamentally intricate nature of additional language learning and teaching. For me, language socialization, critical applied linguistics, and pedagogy converge as praxis, with teaching, theory, research, and our own experiences informing one another in ongoing dialogue. I have also delivered numerous invited workshops and presentations on a range of topics.

I have also been actively engaged in professional service and community initiatives, including accessible knowledge mobilization (mostly through multimedia production), digital materials development, and community-building initiatives. He was also a member of the conference organizing team for the American Association for Applied Linguistics (AAAL) in 2021.

His work has appeared bilingually, in English and Japanese, in venues such as Applied Linguistics, TESL Canada Journal, Alternative Approaches to Second Language Acquisition (2nd ed.), and 英語教育 (English Teachers Magazine, published in Japanese), among others. He is the recipient of several awards, including the AAAL Graduate Student Award (2022), the LLED Outstanding Graduate Student Service Award (2024), and the LLED Best MA Thesis Award (2022).