I am a Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) in Asian Studies at the University of Auckland. I received my MA in Second Language Studies in 2008 and PhD in East Asian Languages and Literatures (Korean Linguistics) at the University of Hawaii at Manoa in 2014. I have taught Korean at the University of Auckland since 2014 and spearheaded an overseas partnership with Korea University that has become integrated into the Korean programme as a study abroad option. Before joining the University of Auckland, I have taught all levels of Korean language courses from beginning to advanced at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. 

I am a sociolinguist, and much of my work has focused on exploring the relationship between language learning and identity construction among diverse Korean language learners in and outside the classroom. I am particularly passionate about revealing and documenting the lived social and academic experiences of underrepresented migrant groups, such as marriage-migrant women and North Korean refugees in South Korea, as well as (mixed) Korean heritage language learners in New Zealand. 

Outside sociolinguistics, I enjoy travelling, dining out, going for a walk, and spending time with my niece and nephew.