The English Language Institute (ELI) is an English language program that serves students who have been admitted to the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa and who speak English as an additional language. The primary purpose of the ELI is to provide instruction to help students with academic English, effective study strategies, and integration into the UH-Manoa academic community, in order to facilitate their academic studies.
Meet the ELI Instructors
All ELI faculty are graduate students pursuing their MA or PhD in Second Language Studies. They have extensive language learning and teaching experience and expertise in language instruction.
Kallen Anderson
Born on Oʻahu, Kallen spent much of her life growing up in Hawaiʻi and lived in Taiwan for 10 years. She is a second-year MA student in the Department of Second Language Studies at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, where she also earned her bachelor’s degree in Second Language Studies. During her undergraduate studies, Kallen taught English in Thailand, focusing on effective speaking and listening. Her academic interests include multilingualism, teacher identity, pedagogical materials development, and Hawaiʻi Creole (Pidgin). This semester, she is also providing administrative support for the SLS undergraduate program. In her free time, she enjoys lei making, attending concerts, and playing board games with family and friends.
Lazzat Anefiya
Lazzat is an MA student in the Department of Second Language Studies at UH Mānoa and is originally from Kazakhstan. She holds a bachelor’s and master’s degree in Two Foreign Languages (English and Chinese) and has nearly 5 years of experience teaching and tutoring English in both academic and community contexts. Through her teaching and tutoring work, she has supported English learners in developing pronunciation, presentation skills, and spoken interaction in various settings. Her academic interests center on Global Englishes, accented speech, and immigrant language learners. Beyond academics, Lazzat enjoys content creation, video editing, and singing, and is passionate about using creative approaches to make language learning engaging and meaningful.
Ayoung Chung
Ayoung is a first-year PhD student in the Department of Second Language Studies. She has always enjoyed learning languages and studied English, French, and Chinese during her school years. Building on this passion, she became an English teacher, and taught at a public high school in South Korea for six years. As both a language learner and a teacher, she is interested in how people acquire and process non-native languages, and she explores these questions through psycholinguistic research. Outside of her studies, she enjoys exploring nature and experiencing new cultures—something she is especially excited to do in Hawai‘i.
Lucas Edmond
Lucas is currently a PhD student in the Department of Second Language Studies focusing on sociolinguistics and language education. He has been teaching English and academic writing since 2014 in various contexts, from a middle school in South India to a university in Japan. In his free time, he likes to cook, go hiking, and play games with friends.
Jerius Julius Gutierrez
Kamusta? Hello! 안녕하세요! And Hallo! My name is Jerius, and I am an MA student in Second Language Studies from Manila, Philippines. I hold a bachelor’s degree in Anthropology and TESOL, complemented by a minor in Psychology. I have two years of experience tutoring English pronunciation and presentation skills. Fascinated by languages and cultures, I speak Tagalog, English, Korean, and a little bit of German. I have lived in different places all my life—the Philippines, South Korea, and Hawaii. Having worked with culturally diverse communities for the past decade, I believe the best way to learn a language is to connect with and appreciate its people—which means actively using it with them. When I’m not at home or on campus, you’ll usually find me exploring Oahu’s hiking trails.
Carolina Macarena Iturriaga Moya
Carolina is an MA student in the Department of Second Language Studies at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa and is originally from Chile. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Education, majoring in English. She has more than 10 years of experience teaching English in different schools in Chile. Her academic interests include second language teaching and learning, sociolinguistics, and the relationship between language and culture. Beyond academics, her interests include cats, cooking, swimming and watercolors.
Matthew Kakimi
Matthew is a second-year MA student at the Second Language Studies department at UH Mānoa. Previously in Japan, he was a director for dramatic productions such as plays and musicals, performed by Japanese students and taught English to students in academic settings. He is interested not only in how he can help students improve their English but also in exploring unconventional learning methods that may better suit his learners on a personal level beyond the academic context. In his free time, he enjoys playing video games and listening to music such as power metal, musicals, and J-pop.
Yessie Lee
Yessie is an MA student in the Second Language Studies department at UH Mānoa. Originally from Korea, she has extensive experience tutoring English to Korean students and teaching Korean to English speakers and heritage learners in classroom settings. She is passionate about fostering cross-cultural connections through language education and is excited to support your journey in the program. In her free time, Yessie enjoys playing thought-provoking games like The Liar Game and Would You Rather, as well as spending time exploring new ways to connect with others through fun and creativity.
Shannon Pederson
Shannon is a first year MA student in the Second Language Studies program. She began learning Korean 10 years ago and lived in Korea for a year in high school; this inspired her to continue learning Korean by earning dual BA degrees in Second Language Studies and Korean Flagship at UH Mānoa, which allowed her to develop professional fluency in Korean while studying and working at Korea University in 2023-24. She is especially interested in English and Korean phonology, English literature and communications, and Project-Based Language Learning. She also loves to spend her time playing guitar and knitting!
Gabriella Sosnowski
Gabbie is a second-year MA student in the Second Language Studies department at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. She began teaching English as an Assistant de Langue in France. Subsequently, she spent four years as a conversation and listening instructor at Rutgers University in New Jersey. Gabbie also has over 10 years of experience in private tutoring, assisting students with speaking skills and vocabulary building. Beyond academics, her interests include languages, cooking, and drawing.
Priscilla Faucette
ELI Director
Priscilla, Faculty Specialist, has been involved in international education as a student or educator for more than 30 years. She holds an MA in ESL and a Graduate Certificate in Conflict Resolution, both from UH Mānoa. She currently serves as the Director of the English Language Institute (ELI) and also occasionally teaches courses in the SLS undergraduate program, such as the SLS Capstone course (SLS 485) and the SLS Practicum course (SLS 475).
Priscilla specializes in teaching advanced-level English for very specific purposes. She has taught customized English language courses to Executive MBA students in Vietnam, Architecture doctoral students in China, international scientists and real-estate professionals in Hawaiʻi, and delivered face-to-face and online teacher-training courses for English teachers from Korea.
Daniel Holden
Assistant Director
Daniel Holden is recent a Ph.D. graduate of the Dept of SLS at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, and has been a second language instructor for the past 15 years. He has previously taught a variety of classes in the ELI, and made the transition into the role of second language program administration.
His main research interests are critical language pedagogy, critical administration, second language teaching and learning, and language assessment.