Hunter is a Ph.D. candidate studying Applied Spanish Linguistics in the School of International Letters and Cultures, on track to graduate in May 2027. With a focus on applied linguistics and second language acquisition and teaching (SLA/T), his research interests include embodied multimodality in SLA/T, Sociocognitive Theory, affect in human interaction, and curriculum development. He is a member of the Happy Cactus Group, a research group comprised of Drs. Dwight Atkinson, Jorge Andrés Mejía Laguna, Amable Daiane Custodio Ribeiro, and himself. Their research adopts a Sociocognitive perspective on SLA/T and examines the dynamic, relational, and multimodal nature of language learning as it unfolds moment by moment through cooperative action.
As a Graduate Teaching Associate (Instructor of Record), Hunter has taught a wide range of courses spanning all levels at ASU, both in-person and online, and for both second-language and Heritage learners. Notably, he taught an in-person Introduction to Spanish Linguistics course (SPA 400) for a year and a half, which included topics of phonology and phonetics, morphology, syntax, pragmatics, language variation, history of the Spanish language, and traditional theories of language acquisition. He truly enjoys being in the classroom and getting the wonderful opportunity of facilitating others' language learning journeys.
Active involvement in the academic community is a core value for Hunter. He has published two peer-reviewed academic articles, with two more in press (ORCID ID: 0009-0002-1989-5062). He has given ten academic conference presentations, including at the American Association for Applied Linguistics (AAAL), the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL), the Hispanic Linguistics Symposium (HLS), the Second Language Research Forum (SLRF), and the Modern Language Association (MLA). Throughout the 2023-2024 academic year, he served as the Spanish Linguistics Chair for SPAGrad, the graduate student organization comprised of Master's and Ph.D. students in Spanish Linguistics and Spanish Literature. Part of his duties included co-directing the 2024 Annual SPAGrad Literature & Linguistics Conference, an in-person, international conference organized and facilitated by a team of four graduate students. From Fall 2023 to Spring 2024, Hunter also served on the program's Textbook Evaluation Committee, a team of faculty and graduate students that critically evaluated the program's textbooks using a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analysis approach and ensured alignment with the program's mission statement. In 2022, Hunter served on the planning committee for the Hispanic Linguistics Symposium, which was hosted virtually by ASU.
Hunter has received various awards, grants, and scholarships during his time as a graduate student at ASU. In Spring 2023, Hunter and his mentor, Dr. Marta Tecedor, were recipients of ASU's Catalyst Award for their work redesigning the cultural curricula of ASU's lower-level Spanish classes to include and legitimize US Hispanic communities. He was awarded TA of the Year for the 2023-2024 academic year and was commended for his service and leadership to the department. Additionally, he has been awarded an Outstanding Mentorship Award in Fall 2024, an Outstanding Leadership in Service in Spanish Linguistics Scholarship in Spring 2024, Spanish Linguistics Research Grants in both Spring 2024 and Spring 2025, and several professional development and travel grants awarded by the Graduate Student Government and the Graduate College at ASU.