Elizabeth Miller

My early research focused on the intersections of identity, ideology, power relations, and agency and their influence on the learning of English among multilingual adult immigrants living in the U.S. I then began to focus on similar issues as they relate to language teachers, with particular attention paid to the role of emotions in teaching practice. In exploring the mutually shaping effects of emotion labor, teacher agency, and emotional rewards from a critical poststructural perspective, this work treats language teacher emotions as entangled in the structures and spaces in which they work as well as the discourses that assign meaning and particular values to teacher dispositions. This research likewise contends that language teachers can come to understand their emotions as “feelings of structure,” as Sara Ahmed (2014) describes them, and reflect on them as ethical concerns rather than personal shortcomings. (These perspectives are my own and do not represent the views of UNC Charlotte nor the UNC System Board of Governors.)

Selected Current or Recent Activities

• Co-Editor of Critical Language and Literacy Studies book series, Multilingual Matters, 2024-present
• American Association of Applied Linguistics, Executive Committee, Member-at-Large, March 2023-2026
• Associate Chair, Director of Undergraduate Programs, Department of English, January 2020-June 2023
• Co-editor of Brief Research Reports for TESOL Quarterly, March 2020-July 2023
• Spring 2019 Fulbright Research Fellow at the University of Cologne, Germany
• Editorial Board Member:
• • Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, Liaison for AAAL, 2019-present
  • Critical Inquiry in Language Studies, 2023-present
  • Journal of Education for Multilingualism, 2024-2026
  • Profile: Issues in Teachers’ Professional Development, 2024-present
  • Research Methods in Applied Linguistics, 2021-2024
  • TESOL Quarterly, 2018-2020
• Google Scholar link
• ResearchGate profile
• ORCID account

Education

• Ph.D. English Language and Linguistics, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2006
• M.A. Applied Linguistics, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2000
• M.A. Linguistics, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1999
• M.A. English, Indiana-Purdue University, Fort Wayne, 1996
• B.A. English Education, Grace College, 1991