Sean McKinnon

Sean McKinnon joined Arizona State University in Fall 2021 as an instructor of Spanish. He has a B.S. in Psychology and Spanish from Ohio State University, a M.A. in Theoretical and Applied Linguistics from Universitat Pompeu Fabra (Barcelona, Spain), and a Ph.D. in Hispanic Linguistics from Indiana University Bloomington. Dr. McKinnon has lived, studied in and traveled throughout the Spanish speaking world, including studying abroad in Barcelona, Spain, living in San José, Costa Rica for a semester as a graduate student, teaching for a 6 week intensive immersion program for American high school students in Mérida, México, and conducting dissertation field research in Antigua, Guatemala. Before coming to ASU he taught for Indiana University for 7 years, teaching all levels of Spanish for second language learners, Spanish as a heritage language, and introductory and advanced undergraduate courses in Hispanic linguistics.

Since Fall 2022, he has been the Lower Division Coordinator for the L2 Spanish language program, supervising TAs teaching sections of SPA 101-202 taught at the Tempe campus, and in Fall 2023 he became an Assistant Teaching Professor. 

Dr. McKinnon teaches advanced courses in Spanish linguistics, as well as a GenEd course on Language in the US. His research agenda centers on language variation, change, and ideologies in bilingual speech communities, with an emphasis on Spanish in contact with Kaqchikel Maya (Guatemala) and English (the United States). As a teacher-scholar, he also investigates how students respond to instruction in critical language awareness.