J. Elliott Casal

I'm J. Elliott Casal, an Assistant Professor of Applied Linguistics in the Department of English and Affiliate faculty member of the Institute for Intelligent Systems at the University of Memphis. I also serve as the Director of Online Programs in the Department of English.

I completed a postdoc in Cognitive Science at Case Western Reserve University, my PhD in Applied Linguistics as a University Graduate Fellow at the Pennsylvania State University in 2020, my MA in Linguistics from Ohio University in 2014, and my BA in English Literature and Spanish language from Ohio University in 2008.

My research draws on corpus linguistics and genre analysis to address questions related to genre- and discipline-specific writing practices and literacies, multilingual and second language writing, and computer assisted language and literacy development. I have a broad interest in language technologies and a special focus on academic disciplinary writing, written professional communication, and graduate student writing. I approach these issues through Usage-Based approaches to language, Sociocultural approaches to learning and development, and Genre Theory. Recently, I've been exploring various aspects of so called 'GenAI' tools to stimulate discussions of ethics, explore perceptions of human and AI text, and examine what aspects of human language seem to be most reflected in generated text.

I've co-authored the following books:

Concept-Based Language Instruction and Genre-Based Second Language Writing Pedagogy: Provoking and Assessing Development (Casal, Kurtz, & Qiu, 2025, Multilingual Matters; link)
Making the Most of Graduate School: A Practical Guidebook for Students in Applied Linguistics, Education, and TESOL (Kessler & Casal, 2024, Applied Linguistics Press, link)

I also have two upcoming co-edited volumes:

Multimodal Practices in Higher Education: Analyzing and Teaching Diverse Genres (Kessler, Casal, & Marino, 2026, Routledge, link)
Researching L2 Writing as it Unfolds: Micro-Processes in Second Language Writing and Teaching (Shahri & Casal, in progress, Parlor Press)

Check out my research on my research tab, my Google Scholar page (link), or our Corpus Linguistics and Disciplinary Literacies Lab (link) at the University of Memphis.

I also serve on the editorial board of Journal of Second Language Writing, TESOL Quarterly, Journal of English for Academic Purposes, and Ampersand, and the advisory board of Applied Linguistics Press.