Mika Hama

Mika oversees the planning and implementation of all SLTI testing programs. She has a PhD in Second Language Acquisition from Georgetown University and has over 20 years of experience in second language acquisition and educational assessment. She specializes in second language testing and assessment, instructed second language acquisition, and task-based language teaching and testing. She has publications in academic journals such as Studies in Second Language Acquisition, Language Learning, and International Journal of Artificial Intelligence in Education. Mika joined SLTI in 2013. She enjoys working with SLTI members for making continuous improvements on SLTI test offerings. 

If I weren't doing this job I'd be:

Building schools for girls and women in countries where education is not readily available for girls and women. 

One skill I would like to master:

I’d like to learn to be able to use programming languages. I took a few courses on Coursera but I couldn’t pass the first quiz both times. 

An activity that makes me lose track of time:

Singing. I have a degree in Italian opera. I rarely sing now but when I do I can keep going forever. 

I could give a half-hour presentation with no preparation on:

CEFR. I talk about it all the time so I can talk about it hours without preparation.