Sarah Miner

Education
Master of Arts in TESOL April 2018
Brigham Young University
• Thesis Title: Reading idioms: a comparative eye-tracking study of native English
speakers and native Korean speakers
• 3.99 GPA

Bachelor of Arts in Japanese April 2015

Brigham Young University
• TESOL Minor
• 3.99 GPA
• Graduated Summa Cum Laude

English Teaching Experience

English Teacher Sept 2016-Dec 2016
Internexus Language School Provo, Utah
• Taught a TOEFL test preparation class at an intensive English program to 11 adult
students from Brazil for 18 hours per week
• Taught a beginning grammar class, a beginning reading class, and an intermediate
listening/speaking class for 8 adult students from Chile, Brazil, and Mongolia
• Created teaching materials on a weekly basis to improve the TOEFL test preparation
class, including the creation and adaptation of level appropriate reading passages, test
preparation materials, and writing activities

Volunteer English Teacher Apr 2016-Jul 2016

L-Zone Language Café Busan, South Korea
• Taught individuals and groups beginning English grammar for 25 hours per week
• Provided individualized feedback for advanced students in areas of listening
comprehension, speaking, pronunciation, grammar, and writing

English Teacher May 2014-Aug 2014

Brigham Young University Provo, Utah
• Taught a beginning grammar class for 7 international students twice per week
• Prepared lessons and materials focusing on real-world application of grammar
principles leading to all students achieving course objectives and advancing to the
next level in a skill-based advancement program
• Tutored students who needed additional assistance after class hours

English Teacher May 2011-Aug 2011

Brigham Young University Language Teaching and Learning Program Osaka, Japan
• Taught 3-hour daily English classes to 12-15 Japanese students of varying language
abilities and ages ranging from 14 to 82
• Adjusted lessons and explanations to fit the abilities and needs of individual students
• Assisted in the development of a new edition of English 101 by Masakazu Watabe by
editing, evaluating, and re-formatting the previous edition
Teaching and Development Intern May 2010-Aug 2010
Selnate International School Provo, Utah
• Planned and carried out monthly cultural activities for 3 classes of students
• Created multimedia lesson plans for a summer language camp of 200 Chinese students
• Taught cultural principles and helped resolve cultural misunderstandings including
addressing issues of plagiarism and cheating

Research Experience
Eye-tracking Lab Assistant and Consultant April 2018-Present
Brigham Young University Provo, Utah
• Designed a curriculum and taught classes on the usage and development of eye-
tracking programs to graduate students and professors in the Department of
Linguistics & English Language and the Department of Asian and Near Eastern
Languages
• Assisted in the creation of programs for the Eyelink 1000+ eye-tracker to analyze
reading patterns in English and Korean
• Met individually with professors and students to advise them about planned eye-
tracking research

Research Assistant April 2017-Aug 2017

Brigham Young University Provo, Utah
• Analyzed variation in over 40,000 idioms from American and British English
• Developed and coded search terms for idioms to create a searchable corpus of idioms
and allow for analysis of idiom frequencies using existing corpora

Second Language Acquisition Research Assistant Sept 2011-May 2012

Brigham Young University Provo, Utah
• Studied and reported on a wide variety of topics within a general subject (individual
variation in language learning), allowing the supervising professor to access a well-
rounded database of research
• Researched second language acquisition to develop a greater understanding of current
practices and theories of language
• Applied theoretical research concepts to code and analyze language acquisition data
collected during university study abroad courses

Conference Presentations
• KOTESOL: Using Eye-Tracking to Understand English Reading Processes. Seoul,
Korea. May, 2017
• iTESOL: Newspaper Hide-and-seek. Salt Lake City, Utah, USA. March, 2017

Fellowships Received
Brigham Young University Graduate Research Fellowship: Reading idioms: a comparative
eye-tracking study of native English speakers and native Korean speakers, 2017, $10,000

Professional Affiliations
KOTESOL Member April 2017-Present
Volunteer Experience
Full-Time Representative May 2012-Nov 2013
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Manchester, England
• Studied Mandarin Chinese intensively for 12 weeks followed by continued language
study for 1 hour every day
• Taught international students from Mainland China skills and principles to improve
their quality of life and assisted them in setting and achieving goals
• Participated in personal development trainings and conferences on a weekly basis

Languages
• English: Native speaker; instructor
• Japanese: Advanced reading skills; intermediate-high listening, speaking, and writing
skills
• Korean: Intermediate-low reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills
• Mandarin Chinese: Beginning reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills

Areas of Interest
• Eye-tracking, Motivation, Reading, Vocabulary, Second Language Pedagogy,
Language Acquisition

Aspirations
• Become an English teacher that not only helps students learn grammatical and
sociolinguistic competency but also helps them increase their motivation to learn
English
• Continue to develop my language skills and develop an advanced proficiency in
Japanese, Chinese, and Korean in order to prepare for a long-term teaching career
based in Asia