Mika Hama

Assistant Professor

Japanese Studies: Japanese Studies | Second Language Acquisition | Language Assessment | AI in Language Learning

I am an Assistant Professor specializing in Japanese Studies, with a research focus on second language acquisition, language assessment, and the integration of artificial intelligence in language education. I hold a Ph.D. in Applied Linguistics from Georgetown University, where I also taught Japanese language courses in the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures.

Over the past decade, I’ve challenged myself to bridge theory and practice by applying insights from my Ph.D. studies to support educators in real-world settings. I’ve held leadership roles at major educational organizations in both Japan and the United States. Most recently, I led global strategy for multilingual testing in 32 languages, serving over 200 clients worldwide. In this role, I collaborated with AI vendors to develop AI-scored assessment solutions. I also served as a consultant to education companies, designing innovative learning solutions for classroom, e-learning, and virtual environments and conducted program evaluations to improve instructional effectiveness and learner outcomes.

My research has been published in journals such as Studies in Second Language Acquisition, Language Learning, and the International Journal of Artificial Intelligence in Education.

I am passionate about lifelong learning, innovative pedagogy, and exploring how AI can both support and challenge language acquisition. My current work focuses on the pedagogical implications of AI in second language learning.