Faculty

Irshat Madyarov, Ph.D.
Associate Professor; MA TEFL Program Chair; Director of Center for Research in Applied Linguistics
Irshat Madyarov, Ph.D.Associate Professor; MA TEFL Program Chair; Director of Center for Research in Applied Linguistics

University of South Florida, USA

Irshat Madyarov received his MA in TESOL at West Virginia University, WV and his Ph.D. in Second Language Acquisition and Instructional Technology at University of South Florida (USF), FL. He has taught English as a second and foreign language, and applied linguistics courses at the graduate and undergraduate levels in the US. He has been a coordinator of Computer-assisted Language Learning and Academic English Curriculum at the English Language Institute, USF, as well as a number of distance courses and projects at the Baha’i Institute of Higher Education, Iran. He has presented and published internationally. His interests include digital technologies in TESOL, language assessment, teacher education, bilingual preschool education, and brain studies. His blog can be found at:  LinkedIn profile

 

 

Rubina Gasparyan
Lecturer; Head of the EEC After School English Program 
Rubina GasparyanLecturer; Head of the EEC After School English Program 

MA, American University of Armenia

Rubina Gasparyan graduated from the Yerevan State Linguistic University after Brusov. Later, she completed her graduate studies towards an MA TEFL at the Monterey (now Middlebury) University of International Studies and received her MA in TEFL in 2001 from AUA. She has been working at AUA since 1992. Currently, Rubina is teaching in the MA TEFL and Gen Ed programs. She is also the head of the EEC after school English program, a CRAL project.

Her major interests are language assessment and teacher training. Rubina has participated in a number of local and international research and assessment projects. She has also presented papers in professional conferences. She has authored and co-authored reports, manuals, and articles in the area of language assessment.

 

Irena Galikyan, Ph.D.
Lecturer, Research Associate, Center for Research in Applied Linguistics
Irena Galikyan, Ph.D.Lecturer, Research Associate, Center for Research in Applied Linguistics

 

Irena Galikyan, Ph.D. is research associate at the Center for Research in Applied Linguistics and lecturer in the Teaching English as a Foreign Language Program, American University of Armenia. She received her PhD in Social Sciences from Leiden University. Her PhD research was on learner–learner interaction in digital learning environments. Her interests include learning in online/blended learning environments, learner interactions, teacher education, and learning analytics.

 

 

Talin Grigorian
Lecturer
Talin GrigorianLecturer

MA, California State University

Talin Grigorian received her BA in Art History and English Literature from the University of Toronto and her MA in Linguistics (ESL) from California State University, Fresno. She worked at AUA in the Department of English Programs from 2001-2006. She returned to Armenia in 2014 and currently teaches in the MATEFL and BA in English & Communications programs. She was involved in establishing AUA’s Experimental English classes for children (EEC), a project with which she is particularly proud to be associated.

Anna Gevorgyan
Lecturer
Anna GevorgyanLecturer

MA, University College London Institute of Education

Anna Gevorgyan holds an MA degree in Lifelong Learning Policy and Management from the University College London Institute of Education (2017) and an MA in Teaching English as a Foreign Language from the American University of Armenia (2008). She has taught English to adults in various settings and has been leading teacher training schemes for local and international pre- and in-service teachers. She is experienced in higher education program policy and management, both locally and in the context of her work with international organizations. Her research interests include aspects of higher education policy and practice, language teaching and pedagogy, rights-based approach to education.  In 2019 she joined the Erasmus+ Higher Education Reform Expert team.
Mimi Zarookian
Adjunct Lecturer
Mimi ZarookianAdjunct Lecturer

Mimi Zarookian is a career educator of 35+ years holding a BA & MA in English Literature from California State University Northridge, a Clear Life Teaching Credential from the State of California, and a Bilingual Certificate of Competency from the University of La Verne. She has worked with school districts in the greater Los Angeles area in instructional and administrative capacities. She moved to Armenia in 2014 and joined AUA’s faculty teaching in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences and the MA TEFL Program. Mimi proudly serves on the Armenian Educational Foundation Scholarship Committee and is responsible for their annual publication. She is also a board member of Orran NGO. Mimi’s passion for education has made each day of her career a joyful journey.

E-mail: [email protected]

Phone: +37460 61 2581

Office location: PAB 607MB

Founders of the MA TEFL Program

IN MEMORIAM

RUSSELL N. CAMPBELL, Ph.D.

Professor Emeritus of Applied Linguistics & TESL, Los Angeles

The following bio has been adapted from the UCLA website:

Professor Russ Campbell was Founding Dean of the AUA's Department of English Programs and was actively engaged in assisting the growth and development of AUA, holding the position of Dean until he passed away in 2003. In 1991, on his trip to Armenia, he became involved in testing the first group of applicants to AUA. He understood Armenia's needs to train English language teachers, and consequently developed AUA's Certificate Program in Teaching English as a Foreign Language. Finally, he brought into existence the Master's Program in Teaching English as a Foreign Language in 2002.

Professor Campbell was a leader in the field. He served as president of TESOL (Teacher of English to Speakers of other Languages) from 1971 to 1972 and developed the concept of the TESOL Summer Institute, organizing the first one at UCLA in the summer of 1979. His most recent contribution to TESOL was the establishment of the TESOL Research Fund. His lifelong commitment to language education was realized in a variety of capacities in many countries all over the world: Director of the English Language Institute, American University of Cairo, Coordinator of Peace Corps Training Programs in Thailand, Iran, Nigeria and Ethiopia, Consultant for The Ford Foundation in Lebanon, Jordan and Egypt, and for the United States Information Service in Italy, Tunisia and Jordan, as a Fulbright Grantee in Peru, and as U.S. State Department Representative to TESL Seminars in Rumania, Poland, and Yugoslavia.

MARIANNE CELCE-MURCIA, Ph.D.

Professor Emerita, Department of Applied Linguistics and TESL, UCLA, Los Angeles

The following bio has been adapted from the University of California website:

Marianne Celce-Murcia, Ph.D., is Professor Emerita of Applied Linguistics & TESL at the University of California, Los Angeles, where she taught and mentored graduate students for thirty years. Professor Celce-Murcia has published widely in the areas of language teaching methodology (including discourse-based approaches), the teaching of pronunciation, and pedagogical grammar. Both at UCLA and at AUA she has worked with professionals who are non-native speakers of English in need of improving their spoken and written English to progress professionally.

Professor Celce-Murcia served as Dean of the AUA's Department of English Programs from 2003 through 2007.

ANTONY JOHN KUNNAN, Ph.D.Professor, California State University, Los Angeles

The following bio has been adapted from the Cal State LA page:

Antony John Kunnan areas of expertise lie in language testing, language planning and policy and ethics and educational research. He is the author of Test Taker Characteristics and Test Performance: A Structural Modeling Approach (Cambridge, 1995, editor of Validation in Language Assessment (Lawrence Erlbaum, 1998), editor of Fairness and Validation in Language Assessment (Cambridge, 1999), and co-author (with Lyle Bachman) of Workbook and CD for Statistical analyses for language assessment (2005).

He is a frequent keynote speaker in Asia and Europe; in 2010, he gave talks at Shanghai Jiatong University, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, the Language Testing and Training Center, Taipei, the American University of Armenia, and the Association of Language Testers of Europe Conference in Prague. In 2004, he was also the President of the International Language Testing Association and currently he is the editor of Language Assessment Quarterly. He is now working on many research and publication projects: one of them is an edited 4-volume 150-chapter Companion to Language Assessment (print and on-line version) to be published by Wiley-Blackwell in 2013.

Professor Antony John Kunnan served as Dean of the AUA's Department of English Programs from 2007 through 2011.