Work
- 2018-present: Birmingham Fellow (2018–2023), Assistant Professor (2023–2025), and Associate Professor (2025–) at the University of Birmingham.
- 2018-present: Visiting Scientist at the Center for Advanced Intelligence Project, RIKEN.
- 2017-2018: Post-doctoral Researcher at the University of Tübingen. I worked at LEAD Graduate School & Research Network.
- 2015-2017: Research Associate at the University of Cambridge. I worked at the EF Education First Research Lab for Applied Language Learning.
- 2016-2017: Associate Lecturer at Anglia Ruskin University.
- 2013-2015: Research Fellow at the University of Birmingham. I worked for the ESRC-funded project ‘Investigating interdisciplinary research discourse: the case of Global Environmental Change’.
Education
PhD in Theoretical and Applied Linguistics
2010-2014
University of Cambridge (UK)
PhD Thesis: “Individual variation and the role of L1 in the L2 development of English grammatical morphemes: Insights from learner corpora”
Supervised by Dora Alexopoulou
2010-2014
University of Cambridge (UK)
PhD Thesis: “Individual variation and the role of L1 in the L2 development of English grammatical morphemes: Insights from learner corpora”
Supervised by Dora Alexopoulou
MA in Linguistics (TESOL/TEFL)
2007-2009
Tokyo University of Foreign Studies (Japan)
MA Thesis: “A corpus-based analysis of English textbooks in Japan and Asian countries: Multidimensional approach”
A paper based on the thesis is available here.
Supervised by Yukio Tono
BA in Foreign Studies (Linguistics Minor)
2003-2007
Sophia University (Japan)
BA Thesis: “Purposes of English education in Japan, their relationships and the implications on future education”
Supervised by Shinichi Izumi
Prospect High School, Illinois, USA
1999-2002
1999-2002
Awards, Scholarships, and Other Qualifications
- 2021 Best Article Award by the International Association for Task-Based Language Teaching (IATBLT) for our paper “Effects of task type on morphosyntactic complexity across proficiency: Evidence from a large learner corpus of A1 to C2 writings”.
- The Albert Valdman award for outstanding publication in Studies in Second Language Acquisition for the paper “L1 influence on the acquisition order of English grammatical morphemes: A learner corpus study”.
- A scholarship by the Japan Student Services Organization that covers the tuition fee and living expenses for my PhD study for three years (January 2010 – November 2012)
- Hughes Hall Travel Grant (£250.00; July 2011, October 2011, and September 2012)
- The representative graduate at the graduation ceremony of Tokyo University of Foreign Studies for achieving high academic performance among those who obtained masters’ degrees in 2009
- One of the two debaters in the Japanese national debate team of Japan-US Exchange Debate in 2008, organized by the National Communication Association (US) and Japan Debate Association [our report (in Japanese)]
(last updated: 17 October, 2025)