Moore 585B
8089566946
uhmeli@hawaii.edu
Originally from New York State, Dan earned his BA in Writing from Ithaca College and, after a short period in journalism, began his career in language education as an English instructor in Matsumoto, Japan. After becoming deeply interested in language teaching and program work, he completed an MA in Second Language Studies (SLS) at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, where he focused on second language pedagogy and program administration. He has held teaching positions in the English Language Institute (ELI), the Hawaiʻi English Language Program (HELP), and served as a lecturer at Tokyo International University.
Dan holds a PhD in Second Language Studies from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. His dissertation examined critically-oriented values among second language program administrators, using mixed qualitative approaches including grounded-theory coding and cluster analysis.
He currently serves as the Assistant Director of the English Language Institute, where he coordinates placement testing, supports curriculum and assessment development, and assists with broader program operations.
Dan’s current research interests include:
- Critical Language Pedagogy (with a focus on critically-oriented program administration)
- Second Language Teacher Education
- Language Program Administration and organizational practices
- Automated Essay Scoring (AES) and the use of large language models in assessment