Biography
Hyun-Sook Kang earned her Ph.D. in Educational Linguistics from the University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Education in 2007, and prior to her post in EPOL, she was on the faculty at Illinois State University and the University of Texas at San Antonio. She currently serves as Co-Editor of Journal of Language, Identity, and Education. In addition, she serves on the editorial boards of several academic journals, such as the European Journal of Education, Study Abroad Research in Second Language Acquisition and International Education, Humanities & Social Sciences Communications, International Journal of Qualitative Methods, Language and Assessment, and Language-Related Research.
Research Interests
Hyun’s research interests center on language practice and ideology in relation to global mobility, such as immigration and study abroad. Her recent research has examined student agency, belief, and identity in context with implications for teacher development and internationalization of education. She is also interested in ontological, epistemological, and methodological considerations in educational research. Her work has been published in international peer-reviewed journals, such as American Journal of Distance Education, Asia Pacific Journal of Education, European Journal of Engineering Education, and International Journal of Applied Linguistics.
Additional Campus Affiliations
Associate Professor, Education Policy, Organization and Leadership
Associate Professor, Center for the Study of Global Gender Equity
External Links
Recent Publications
Kang, H.-S., & Pacheco, M. B. (2026). Engagement with language in study abroad: Accounts from Korean English-major students in the United States. Asia Pacific Journal of Education, 46(1), 341-353. https://doi.org/10.1080/02188791.2024.2356621
Kang, H.-S., & Hinds, A. (Accepted/In press). Joint-degree language programs for future business and health professionals: Student perspective . Language Teaching Research.
Kang, H.-S., Broscritto, E., Carruth, J., Jangjou, P., & Xu, S. C. (2026). Multilinguals as legitimate citizens in U.S. higher education: Collaborative autoethnography . In V. Tavares (Ed.), Critical Perspectives on Diversity in English Language Education (pp. 253–276). Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-032-11430-3_10
Shin, D. S., Kang, H.-S., & Cimasko, T. (Accepted/In press). TESOL educators’ critical reflections on shifts to online education: A multiple case study . In F. Karam , & A. Warren (Eds.), Criticality, dialogism, and advocacy in online language teacher education. De Gruyter Mouton.
Kang, H.-S., & Vigil, J. (2025). Decolonizing language education through internationalization: The case of Nahuatl in U.S. institutions of higher education . In V. Tavares, & S. Melo-Pfeifer (Eds.), The Palgrave Handbook of Internationalization of Language Education (pp. 607-622). Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-032-00887-9_31