I am a Lecturer of Linguistics at Queen Mary University of London, UK. Before moving to England, I served as an Assistant Professor at the Defense Language Institute and coordinated and taught language programs at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies and Concordia College (USA). My research concerns the cognitive underpinnings of second language acquisition – in particular, individual differences in the acquisition of L2 phonetics and phonology. I am also interested in phonaesthetics, the aesthetic pleasure we derive from listening to the sounds of foreign languages.

A large part of my career has been dedicated to teaching Russian in a variety of contexts – from customized language consulting for the government personnel to intensive immersion programs for the military linguists.  Based on this experience, I developed several prominent research themes that cluster around the notion of dynamic transformative pedagogy: task- and content-based language instruction, gamification of learning, and cognitive approaches to L2 teaching. 

​At times I feel a bit entrepreneurial and design fun products for language learners. Check out LinguaPolis New York, a board game for practicing conversational English, and its Russian sister – LinguaPolis Moscow. I also write simplified readers for Russian beginner learners.

​Interested in Esperanto? Jump in over here.