DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH PROGRAMS

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Faculty*

ANTONY JOHN KUNNAN, PhD, University of California , Los Angeles , USA
Dean and Professor
akunnan@calstatela.edu

Antony John Kunnan , Ph.D. (UCLA) is Dean of the Department of English Programs at AUA. He is Professor of TESOL in the Charter College of Education at California State University , Los Angeles where he teaches courses in language assessment, research methods for second language research, and applied statistics. In addition to his teaching at CSULA, Professor Kunnan has taught courses and conducted workshops at University of California, Los Angeles; University of Southern California; University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; Cambridge University, Delhi University, Instituto Cultural Argentino Norte Americano, Buenos Aires (Argentina); and in 2006-2007 as a Fulbright scholar and visiting professor at Tunghai University, Taichung, (Taiwan). He has also given plenary talks, invited presentations, and short workshops on language test fairness, language assessment for immigration and citienship, statistics for language assessment, and the application of structural equation modeling to language assessment in 25 countries. He has 10 authored and edited books and special issues of journals and 60 refereed papers, test and book reviews, and technical reports. In 2004, he was elected President of the International Language Testing Association and he is currently the editor of Language Assessment Quarterly.

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CATHERINE BUON, PhD, Louisiana State University, USA
Assistant Dean/Assistant Professor
Director of Center for Research and Development in Applied Linguistics and Language Teaching
cbuon@aua.am

Catherine Buon is an applied linguist and teacher trainer. She received a PhD in Applied Linguistics and an MA in French and Francophone Literatures from Louisiana State University. She has extensive experience training language teachers, teaching EFL/ESL, and teaching French as a foreign language in the USA, the EU, Asia, and the Middle East. Dr. Buon has presented numerous papers at international conferences. She has also published in the areas of teacher training, testing and assessment, the teaching of reading and writing, as well as pedagogical materials.

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LILIANNA EDILIAN, MA, Advanced Professional Degree in Teacher Training, Yerevan State Linguistic University after V. Brusov
MA, American University of Armenia
Lecturer
edlil@aua.am

Lilianna Edilian graduated from the Yerevan State Teacher Training Institute of Russian and Foreign Languages (named after V. Brusov), Department of English and Second/Foreign Languages. She continued her studies in Moscow taking "A Two-year Advanced Professional Degree Training" at Morris Torrez Institute of Foreign Languages. Upon completion she was conferred the title of "Senior Lecturer" and worked at Yerevan State University in the Department of Romance and Germanic Languages. She received her MA in TEFL in 2005. She has presented at international conferences and published in professional journals.
She has been working at AUA since 1994. She is the author of an ESP book for students of theology and co-author and editor of the manual "A Practical Course in Written English" (a textbook on the writing course for the students of Romance and Germanic Languages).

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MELISSA BROWN, MFA, New York University
MA, American University of Armenia
Lecturer
mbrown@aua.am

Melissa Brown holds a BA in Theatre Arts from Brown University, an MFA in Acting from New York University, and an MA in Teaching English as a Foreign Language from American University of Armenia. Her interests include the sociocultural and political aspects of language learning and teaching, and the role of extracurricular activities in an EFL setting. She has been in Armenia with her family since 1996, and has taught at AUA since 2002. As part of her work in the DEP, she runs the Debate Club, which is open to all local university students, and directs a yearly theatre project.

RUBINA GASPARYAN, Diploma, Yerevan State Linguistic University after V. Brusov
MA, American University of Armenia
Lecturer
rgaspari@aua.am

Rubina Gasparyan graduated from the Yerevan State Teacher Training Institute of Russian and Foreign Languages (named after V. Brusov), Department of English and a Second/Foreign Language. She completed her graduate studies towards an MA TEFL at the Monterey Institute of International Studies and received her MA in TEFL in 2001 from AUA.
She has been working at AUA since 1992. Her major interest is language assessment. She participated in a number of research and assessment projects and was a team member and report writer of the Armenian Baseline ELT Study Project (2001-2005) under the auspices of the British Council and the Ministry of Education and Science of Armenia. In 2007, by the request of the Centre of Testing and Assessment, she directed the work of the committee which was entrusted with the task of developing the Guidelines for the Nationwide School Leaving and University Entrance Unified Tests of English.
She has presented papers on issues related to language testing and assessment at professional conferences such as AELTA, TESOL Arabia, ALTE. She is also co-author of reports, manuals, and articles in the area of language assessment.

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IRSHAT MADYAROV, PhD, University of South Florida, FL
Assistant Professor
imadyaro@aua.am

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 at international conferences and published in peer-reviewed journals on the topics of distance language learning and teaching, curriculum development and assessment, critical thinking, socio-cultural theory, and different aspects of instructional technology. He is also interested in bilingual education, English for academic purposes, second language writing, serious gaming, language assessment, teacher education, and brain studies. His blog can be found at: http://irshat.edublogs.org.

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* The University employs a community of scholars who teach full-time, part-time and/or on a visiting basis. The M.A. TEFL degree faculty consists of highly qualified Professors and Lecturers in their fields including faculty from overseas with professional degrees from Universities in the United States , Britain and Canada.