Dustin Crowther – Director, CASE

Dustin is an associate professor in second language studies, and director of the Center for Academic Spoken English. He has 10+ years of experience teaching English both in the US and internationally. His courses at University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa primarily emphasize both speaking and listening skills.

Lazzat Anefiya – Graduate Consultant

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.

Camille Anolin – Graduate Consultant

Camille Anolin is a PhD student in Second Language Studies at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa and a tutor of the Center for Academic Spoken English (CASE). Her passion for teaching pronunciation took root while teaching English in Japan, and online to students from Korea, China, and Japan, work that convinced her clear, confident communication matters more than sounding “native.” As a pronunciation tutor and researcher, she has put this belief into practice while pursuing her research interests in intonation across varieties of English, mutual intelligibility in multilingual and multicultural interaction, and pronunciation pedagogy. Her ongoing work explores how learners acquire, and how teachers can better teach, the sounds and rhythms of spoken English.

Juri Furukawa – Graduate Consultant

Juri is an MA student in the Department of Second Language Studies at the UH Mānoa and is originally from Japan. She has experience tutoring English in Japan and also holds an English teaching license. Through these experiences, she has worked closely with English learners to support their academic speaking and writing, in particular. Her academic interests center on second language acquisition and language teaching from the perspectives of phonetics and phonology. Beyond academics, Juri enjoys playing the piano, drawing, and gradually working on paint-by-numbers as a way to relax and stay creative.

Jerius Julius Gutierrez – Graduate Consultant

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.

Matthew Kakimi – Graduate Consultant

Matthew is a first 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.

Shannon Pederson – Graduate Consultant

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!

Maddie Ryan – Graduate Consultant

Maddie is a first-year MA student in the Department of Second Language Studies. Born and raised in Chandler, Arizona, she is the daughter of an Irish-American father and a Filipina mother. Her mixed heritage has greatly influenced her interest in multilingualism, language acquisition, and Filipino languages. Maddie graduated from Arizona State University with a Bachelor of Arts in French Language and Culture, where she was also a member of the Chinese Flagship Program. Following graduation, she was awarded a Boren Scholarship, which allowed her to spend a year in Brazil studying Portuguese. Outside of language learning, Maddie also enjoys spending time with her mini dachshund, Biko, creating content, traveling, creative writing, and cooking.