Hi, there! My name is Kira Dunton, a poet and writer who received my Master’s degree in Applied Linguistics & TESOL at the University of Alabama in 2022. My research interests include Corpus-Assisted Critical Discourse Analysis and other areas of linguistics, especially as it intersects with Critical Theory. I am currently working as an English as a Foreign Language instructor for Young Learners in Normandy, France.
In May 2019, I received my Bachelor’s degrees from Lipscomb University, majoring in English Writing and French Language Studies. While in my undergraduate program, I benefited from small class sizes and close relationships with my professors, allowing me to discover the research areas I loved best. Linguistics, especially as it intersects with other aspects of academic theory, began to permeate my undergraduate career, and my work was selected for presentation at the graduate level at the PCA/ACA international conferences in 2018 and 2019. Linguistics started to seep into my work as a poet, as I used my craft to explore themes such as the lingua franca, a mother tongue, and processing trauma in a second language. Throughout my undergraduate career, I served as a Student Administrator for the Lipscomb University Writing Studio and took advantage of several Teaching Assistant opportunities within the English department.
After my graduation, I accepted the Deauville Scholarship, a one-year English Teaching fellowship in Deauville, France, where I taught English and extra-curricular activities to students at the preschool and primary school, gaining first-hand experience in the field of second language acquisition.
In August 2022, I received my Master’s degree in Applied Linguistics and TESOL from the University of Alabama. During this two-year Master’s program, I taught traditional and international students Freshman Composition in both online and in-person classrooms. I did a fellowship with the University of Alabama English Language Institute, where I served as a resource in their language learning classrooms, preparing students to matriculate into the traditional student body. I benefited from the support of the TESOL program and the strength of my peers in my cohort, developing my teaching philosophy, TESOL methods, and research skills. I published my Master’s thesis: “Exploring Teacher Attitudes Regarding Corpus-Assisted Language Learning for Young Learners of English.”
Following my graduation from my Master’s program, I returned to Deauville, France, to teach for another year in their public and private schools, returning with the knowledge and skillset I gained from my Master’s degree to continue teaching young learners. I’ll continue working with this program until July 2023, and I’m very excited to announce what’s coming next very soon!
I’d love to connect with you! Check out my contact page or follow my social links below!
Kira Dunton 