Lillian Jones, PhD

Faculty Profile: Professor of Spanish Linguistics and Spanish for the Professions at UC Irvine

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Lillian Jones, Assistant Professor of Teaching of Spanish, UC Irvine

Lillian Jones

Assistant Professor of Teaching
Director, Spanish Language Program
School of Humanities
Department of Spanish and Portuguese
University of California, Irvine

lillian.jones@uci.edu

Lillian Jones joined the University of California, Irvine in 2024. She has been teaching Spanish for over 10 years. Lillian has taught in-person, fully online, and hybrid classes, and has led several instructional design projects, including course design for a fully online task-based Spanish course and redesigning and enhancing fully online Intermediate Spanish courses for UC Online (housed at UC Davis). She also created the inaugural 2024 fully online intensive beginning and intermediate Spanish courses at UC Irvine. She teaches Spanish language classes and upper division Spanish content courses, such as Applied Spanish Linguistics, Spanish for the Professions, and Technology and Digital Literacies in Spanish.

As the Spanish Language Program (SLP) Director Lillian oversees the lower-level Spanish language courses (first-, second- and third-year Spanish). At UC Irvine, this is organized as the Fundamentals of Spanish: 1A, 1B, 1C, Intermediate Spanish: 2A, 2B, and 2C, and Advanced Spanish – Writing: Spanish 3. In this role, she designs and coordinates the curriculum, assessments, and instructional materials. Lillian also handles student questions and inquiries, graduate student TA coordination, scheduling, training, and evaluating program success. She also provides administrative and professional development support to instructors.

She is a dedicated educator with a passion for teaching. Her commitment to student success has been recognized through accolades such as the 2024 Outstanding Teaching Award from the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at the University of California, Davis. Lillian emphasizes the importance of developing Spanish language skills, intercultural knowledge, and digital literacy skills, as she believes that these competencies are essential for students’ academic and professional growth and success.

Lillian’s research is centered at the intersection of second language acquisition, second language (L2) teaching and learning, Spanish linguistics, and technology-enhanced language learning (TELL).

Her research focuses on the direct relationship between learning and teaching, drawing inspiration and insights from her students to inform not only her own pedagogical practices but also those of her colleagues, scholars, and the broader language teaching community.

Her principal line of research explores the role of technology-mediated communication in language learning, with a particular emphasis on text messaging platforms. For example, she investigates how tools like text messaging can be leveraged to support language learning and skill development, and shape overall language proficiency. She has published on the impact of WhatsApp on developing oral proficiency and overall language development, and the impact of text messaging on literacy.

Lillian is also excited about the role of automatic-speech recognition (ASR)-based computer-assisted pronunciation training (CAPT) tools in supporting L2 learners’ pronunciation and overall oral skill development. She has co-authored on the topic of comparing ASR tools compared to instructor-led pronunciation, and is currently working on a manuscript on the role of native speaker input and learner perceptions in an ASR environment.

She is also deeply interested in exploring artificial intelligence in language learning alongside her colleagues and students. For example, Lillian integrates AI-powered chatbots into her classes to support students in developing communicative professional and discipline-specific language skills in Spanish while also introducing them to key AI-related skills such as prompt engineering and AI-mediated communication– which may be valuable competencies for their future professional contexts. Additionally, she has coordinated campus events and publishes on AI support and training, and instructional methods, aiming to actively contribute to the broader conversation on AI in education and ensuring that shared knowledge keeps pace with this rapidly evolving technological landscape. She advocates for a thoughtful, research-driven approach to AI inquiry, including keeping the human at the forefront of AI exploration.

She is passionate about making education, especially language learning, more accessible by empowering students with technology skills and developing technological knowledge and digital literacy through practical use and education/training. This is evidenced in publishing campus-support resources such as Educational Technology: Planning Instruction & Learning activities, and co-designing a training with the Division of Teaching Excellence and Innovation (DTEI) online teaching and learning, with a specific focus on Spanish.

Key Research Areas

Second language acquisition (SLA), Spanish applied linguistics, L2 pedagogy, technology-enhanced language learning (TELL), mobile-assisted language learning (MALL), text messaging for language learning

Education

  • Ph.D., University of California, Davis
  • MA, Saint Louis University
  • BA, University of Washington