Dr. Marcella Caprario is an Assistant Professor in the MA TESOL program in the College of Education at Wenzhou-Kean University. She earned a Ph.D. in Applied Linguistics from Northern Arizona University and conducted her dissertation fieldwork in Malaysia on a Fulbright study/research grant (U.S. Department of State). Her interdisciplinary research sits at the crossroads of language education, applied linguistics, and intercultural communication, with specific focal areas of Global Englishes, pragmatics, and language attitudes. Dr. Caprario has extensive teaching experience at the tertiary level, including courses in applied linguistics, teacher education, academic writing, and English language. Before joining WKU, she held academic positions in Hong Kong, Mainland China, Malaysia, and the United States. She has also taught at the high school and adult education levels.

2024 PhD Applied Linguistics, with distinction 

Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ, US

2013 MA TESOL 

SIT Graduate Institute of World Learning, Brattleboro, VT, US       

2005 MM Vocal Performance and Pedagogy, with distinction 

University of Missouri-Kansas City, Kansas City, MO, US 

2001 BM Vocal Performance, summa cum laude 

Westminster Choir College of Rider University, Princeton, NJ, US 

• Global Englishes (GE)
• Pragmatics of English as a lingua franca (ELF)
• Intercultural communicative competence
• GE-informed language teaching and teacher education
• Language attitudes and linguistic justice
• Corpus linguistics / corpus pragmatics in language education and materials development

August 2025–present Assistant Professor of TESOL 

College of Education, Wenzhou Kean University, Wenzhou, China 

January 2025–July 2025 Instructor 

English Language Centre, Faculty of Humanities, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Hong Kong 

June 2024–Dec 2024 Postdoctoral Fellow 

Department of English Language Education, Faculty of Humanities, The Education University of Hong Kong, Tai Po, HK 

Aug. 2023–June 2024 Editorial Assistant to Journal of Applied Pragmatics 

English Department, College of Arts and Letters, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ, USA 

Aug. 2020–May 2024 Graduate Teaching Assistant and Adjunct Instructor 

English Department, College of Arts and Letters, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ, USA 

Dec. 2021; Dec. 2023 Instructor 

Shanghai Normal University Tianhua College (上海师范大学天华 学院)--Northern Arizona University, Shanghai, China  

Aug. 2017–June 2020 Lecturer 

English for Academic Purposes Program, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, New York University Shanghai (上海纽约大学), China 

Sept. 2015–July 2017 Lecturer and Academic Coordinator 

School for Professional Studies, New York University Shanghai (上海纽约大学), Shanghai, China 

Nov. 2014–Sept. 2015 Academic and Program Manager 

TEFL Programs, CIEE: Council on International Educational Exchange, Portland, ME, USA 

Aug. 2012–Oct. 2014 Instructor 

English Language Institute, Pace University, New York, NY, USA 

Aug. 2011–June 2012 English Language Instructor 

Sino-American Joint Program, Saint Louis Priory School -- Changchun Second Experimental High School (长春二实验中 学),Changchun, China 

Oct. 2010–June 2011 English Language Instructor 

Rennert International, New York, NY, USA 

English Language Centre, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University 

ELC1A10: Sharing your story: Language for personal narrative and reflection 

Undergraduate credit-bearing elective course; meets general education core requirement 

ELC6011: Presentation skills for research students 

PhD-level required course 

Department of English Language Education, The Education University of Hong Kong 

ENG 5212: Phonetics and Phonology for English Language Teaching 

PGDE (post-graduate diploma in education) elective course 

English Department, Northern Arizona University 

ENG 121: Story of English (GTA) 

Undergraduate survey course; meets general education core requirement 

Led weekly break-out sessions; graded; guest lectured; held office hours 

Led modules on Global Englishes (WE, ELF) and language & gender 

ENG 668: Research Methods for Applied Linguistics (GTA) 

MA/PhD required course for Applied Linguistics 

Led weekly review sessions; guest lectured; graded; held office hours 

Developed and led module on ANOVA 

ENG 578: ESL Curriculum Development and Language Program Administration (co-taught) 

MA TESL required course 

Developed and led modules on pragmatics and English for Specific Purposes 

ENG 688: TESL Practicum (co-taught) 

MA TESL required course 

Developed and led modules on reflective teaching and exploratory practice 

ENG 105: Critical Reading and Writing in the University (instructor of record) 

Undergraduate required course 

Planned and delivered weekly lessons; graded; provided feedback; held office hours 

ENG 538: Cross-Cultural Aspects of Language Learning (instructor of record) 

MA-level elective 

Delivered weekly asynchronous, online lectures; graded assignments; provided feedback 

Shanghai Normal University Tianhua College 上海师范大学天华学院--Northern Arizona University English Department International Collaborative Program 

ESL Curriculum Development and Language Program Administration  

Undergraduate required course for English Education 

Planned and delivered a two-week intensive course 

Program in Intensive English, Center for International Education, Northern Arizona University 

Listening and Speaking Level A (advanced) 

Reading and Writing Level B (intermediate) [online] 

NAU Experience [online] 

Listening and Speaking Level B (intermediate) [online] 

Instructor of record for all courses; developed and taught courses 

English for Academic Purposes Program, Faculty of Arts & Sciences, New York University-Shanghai 上海纽约大学 

EAP 101: Science in the Public Sphere 

Required undergraduate course 

Developed and delivered a content-based advanced EAP course 

EAP 102: Ethical Considerations in Emerging Technology 

Required undergraduate course 

Developed and delivered a content-based advanced EAP course 

School for Professional Studies, New York University-Shanghai 上海纽约大学 

Communicating Effectively in a Global Business World  

Academic Listening and Speaking 

Academic Reading and Writing 

In Other Words: Source-Based Writing 

University Classroom Participation Skills 

English Language Institute, Pace University 

084S: Communication Skills for Graduate Students (required) 

084A: Academic Skills for Graduate Students (required) 

080Q: Grammar for Speaking and Writing (elective) 

080D: Advanced Grammar and Writing (pre-degree requirement) 

Sino-American Joint Program: Saint Louis Priory School & Changchun Second Experimental High School 长春第二实验中学 

Developed and taught first-year (Grade 10) English for Academic Purposes course 

Rennert International 

Taught integrated skills courses at multiple levels 

Taught TOEFL preparation 

Led conversation classes 

Books and Special Issues: 

Caprario, M., & Walkinshaw, I. (forthcoming, 2027). Guest editors, RELC Journal Special Issue: Teaching and Assessing Pragmatic Competence in Global English Contexts. 

Crawford, W., & Caprario, M. (forthcoming). English as a lingua franca: Practice and Research. Wiley. 

PRESENTATIONS  

Refereed Conference Presentations: 

Caprario, M. (2025, July). Global Englishes-informed pre-service teacher education in the metaverse: Effects of a COIL pedagogical intervention. Paper presented at the 23rd AsiaTEFL International Conference, Hong Kong SAR, China. 

Caprario, M., Li., V. W. K., Wong, K. T. N., & Linda, H. F. L. (2025, May). Integrating prompt writing into the curriculum: Insights into postgraduate EAP students' genAI prompting practices. Paper presented at Association of Hong Kong Language Centers (AHKLC) Symposium, Hong Kong SAR, China. 

Caprario, M. (2025, March). ELF Communication Strategies: A Pedagogical Intervention Pilot Study. Paper presented at the American Association for Applied Linguistics (AAAL), in the colloquium (organizers: Jim McKinley & Heath Rose), Innovating research and practice at the nexus of Global Englishes and TESOL, Denver, CO, USA. 

Caprario, M. (2025, February). Towards Assessing ELF Communicative Competence. Paper presented at CamTESOL, Phnom Penh, Cambodia. 

Caprario, M. (2024, November). An ELF-informed pedagogical intervention. Paper presented at the 22nd AsiaTEFL International Conference, Chiang Rai, Thailand. 

Caprario, M. (2024, August). ELF-informed instruction for Malaysian university students. Paper presented at AILA 2024 World Congress, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. 

Caprario, M. (2024, June). Corpus-based ELF-informed instruction for intercultural competence. Paper presented at Engagement in the Digital Age: International Conference on Language Teaching and Learning, Hong Kong SAR, China.  

Caprario, M. (2024, April). ELF communication strategies as pedagogical targets. Paper presented at the Virtual TESOL International Convention and Expo, in the colloquium (organizer: Meghan Moran), Incorporating Global Englishes into the L2 Classroom, virtual. https://www.tesol.org/virtual/ 

Caprario, M. (2023, June). Communication strategies for communicative competence in English as a lingua franca. Paper presented at D’ i-CELT 2023, Darul Aman English Language Learning and Teaching Association (DELTA), Sungai Petani, Malaysia. 

Caprario, M. (2023, March). English as a lingua franca communication strategies and L1 English speakers’ intercultural communication competence. Paper presented at the International Association for Intercultural Communication Studies (IAICS) conference, Macau SAR, China. 

Caprario, M. (2023, February). Communication strategies for intercultural communicative success in English. Paper presented at CamTESOL, Phnom Penh, Cambodia. 

Caprario, M. (2022, November). English Use Among International University Students in the United States: Challenges, Coping Strategies, and Attitudes Paper presented at ELF13 Conference [online]. 

Caprario, M. (2022, September). English as a lingua franca communicative strategies: A research synthesis Paper presented at Pragmatics and Language Learning Conference [online]. 

Caprario, M. (2022, March). The multifunctionality of ‘I mean’ in classroom discourse and its pedagogical implications. Paper presented at AAAL, Pittsburgh, PA, USA. 

Caprario, M. (2022, March). Corpus-based EAP activities for communicative competence. Paper presented at TESOL, Pittsburgh, PA, USA. 

Caprario, M. (2021, June). Epistemic stance markers in university classroom discourse: Variation across discipline and speaker role. Paper presented at the 17th International Pragmatics Conference, Winterthur, Switzerland [online]. 

Caprario, M. (2021, March). Supporting university students' development of L2 pragmatic competence. Roundtable presented at the AAAL Virtual Conference [online].  

Caprario, M. (2021, February).  Multiple pragmatic functions of frequently used expressions in university discussions. Paper presented at the 20th Annual Interdisciplinary SLAT Roundtable, University of Arizona [online]. 

Iams, S., & Caprario, M. (2019, October). A fine balance: Designing effective content-based EAP courses. Workshop presented at the 27th Annual Korea TESOL International Conference, Sookmyung Women’s University, Seoul, Korea. 

Caprario, M. (2019, May). The effect of self-reflection on university students’ spoken academic discourse. Paper presented at Alternative Approaches to English Language Teaching and Learning, Chinese University of Hong Kong. 

Caprario, M. (2018, July). Pragmatic competence in English-language class discussions. Paper presented at Exploring and Assessing Pragmatic Aspects of L1 and L2 Communication: From Needs Analysis Through Monitoring to Feedback, University of Padua, Italy.  

Caprario, M. (2018, February). Corpus-based classroom activities for academic English instruction. Workshop presented at the 14th Annual CamTESOL Conference, Phnom Penh, Cambodia. 

Caprario, M., & Daniels, M., Hiller, K. (2017, March). Assessment 2.0: Engaging students with program-wide digital portfolios. Paper presented at the TESOL 2017 International Convention and English Language Expo, Seattle, WA, USA. 

Caprario, M., Daniels, M, & Hiller, K. (2016, April). Bridging learning, assessment, and level advancement with program-wide digital portfolios. Paper presented at the 8th International Conference on TESOL, Shantou University, Shantou, China. 

Caprario, M., & Clements, B. (2015, May). Creating online learning communities through discussion boards. Poster presented at the NAFSA 2015 Annual Conference and Expo, Boston, MA, USA. 

Stakenburg, J., & Caprario, M. (2014, March). Exploring language: Creating corpus-based classroom materials. Workshop presented at the TESOL 2014 International Convention and English Language Expo, Portland, OR, USA. 

Caprario, M. (2014, February). Teaching academic English with the Experiential Learning Cycle. Workshop presented at the Applied Linguistics Winter Conference, Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA. 

Caprario, M. (2013, November). Guided discovery grammar materials for collaboration and problem solving. Workshop presented at the New York State Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (NYS TESOL) 43rd Annual Conference, White Plains, NY, USA. 

Caprario, M., & Wofford, A. (2013, February). Corpora in the classroom: Vocabulary and grammar discovery. Workshop presented at the Applied Linguistics Winter Conference, Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA. 

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University Faculty of Humanities Faculty Reserve for Learning and Teaching Projects (HK$149,742 / US$18,717), PI, 2024–26 

RGC (Research Grants Committee, Hong Kong) Junior Research Fellow Scheme (HK$840,000 / US$105,000); granted; declined 

Fulbright U.S. Student Research Award (US$9960 / HK$79,680 + RT airfare between US and Malaysia), Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 2023 

Presidential Fellowship (US$36,000 / HK$288,000), Northern Arizona University Graduate College, 2020–24 

TIRF (The International Research Foundation) Doctoral Dissertation Grant (US$2750 / HK$22,000), 2023–24 

NFMLTA/MLJ (National Federation of Modern Language Teachers Associations / Modern Language Journal) Dissertation Writing Support Grant (US$2500 / HK$20,000), 2023–24 

Ford Foundation Dissertation Fellowship (US$28,000, not funded), 2023–24 

Support for Graduate Students (US$2500 / HK$20,000), Northern Arizona University Office of the Vice President for Research, 2023 

Support for Graduate Students (US$1500 / HK$12,000), Northern Arizona University Office of the Vice President for Research, 2022