Cal Jordan Powers
WEAVER • WONDERER • WORDSMITH
Educator • Researcher • Leader • Advocate • Organizer
Education Research Portfolio
Cal has diverse experience in education research methodology, analysis, and publishing, having studied the topic extensively during graduate school and published in academic journals, teacher education textbooks, and professional conferences. Cal enjoys researching the fields of teacher education, the World Language Education profession, and the prevention of teacher burnout and attrition.
Cal’s Research Work
Through Professionall
2021–Present • Remote
Alongside Dr. Kathleen Bailey, Cal has been working on an independent mixed-methods research project designed to fill a research gap on leadership in world language education. The project surveyed over 300 educators across the U.S. using an online questionnaire and follow-up interviews with 60 of the respondents. As Research Manager, Cal strategized the survey tools and methods, organized and coded data using complex statistical analysis, developed bespoke analytical tools, and designed graphic models to visualize data. As Lead Author, Cal is continuing to spearhead the preparation of proposals and manuscripts, overseeing copy editing processes to meet detailed guidelines, and corresponding with authors and editors to meet deadlines and achieve successful dissemination of papers and presentations from the LWLE data.
Lead Author & Research Manager
The Leadership in World Language Education (LWLE) Project
LWLE Project Publications
“Ouroboros of Professional Challenges in WLE”
2025 • SLTE
Published in a special edition of the Second Language Teacher Education Journal, this report explores the professional challenges experienced by 60 teacher leaders in world language education. The interviewees provided rich accounts of these challenges, detailing how they were interlinked, complex, related, cumulative, and ouroboric in nature.
Within a textbook on language teacher leadership, this chapter defines a framework through which we can analyze the careers of leaders working in World Language Education (WLE), analyzing their experiences and beliefs throughout their careers. The framework introduced in this chapter presents a career as a pathway with six characteristics.
Presented at the University of New Mexico’s Mentoring Institute Conference, this report synthesizes our respondents’ remarks on mentorship, identifying seven shared sentiments on mentorship. The findings showed that almost 40% of our leaders reported a scarcity of and an urgent need for leadership mentoring opportunities.
“Leaders’ Unsolicited Sentiments on Mentorship”
2024 • Mentoring Institute
“Diverse Pathways into Leadership in WLE”
2023 • Springer International
Cal’s Research Work
Before Professionall
at Immerse, Virtual Reality Language Learning
Virtual Reality Teacher
English as a Second Language
While working at Immerse, Cal supported the Research Department in the collection of classroom data on student experiences, advocated for their preferences, identified ideal research participants, and contributed recordings of classroom interactions to aid in the company’s research efforts.
2023–2025 • Remote
Serving as advisor, Cal supported the refinement of each student’s project goals, tracked milestones, and shared progress reports with parents and case managers. Cal supported in the ideation and design of their research projects, choosing methods, and strategizing on maximizing the impact of the project.
at Crimson Education
Leadership Advisor
Youth Community Benefit Projects
2022–2023 • Remote
Researcher & Presenter
“Understanding Teacher Burnout During a Global Pandemic”
2022 • IGI Global
This presentation shows teachers how to create a geolocated game like a mobile phone scavenger hunt that asks French learners to explore their own cities to discover prominent French figures and their stories. It offers a platform for educators to generate creative and customizable geolocated activities that are personalized to students’ proficiency levels while exposing students to authentic materials written by and for French people, improving communicative competence.
Researcher & Author
This study analyzed the coping strategies of 165 WLE educators to reduce the symptoms of teacher burnout during the COVID-19 pandemic. Cal used survey methodologies to gain valuable input from 165 world language educators about their experience using burnout coping strategies during the COVID-19 pandemic to reduce the symptoms of teacher burnout. This is only one of many studies where Cal used survey research to advocate for the wellbeing of teachers and to study the education profession.
“Midnight in Monterey: A Geolocated Game For Adventurous French Learners”
2020 • ACTFL
Graduate School Work
Graduate Research Assistant
to the TFL/TESOL Department Chair
2019–2021 • MIIS, Remote
Teacher Education Management
Cal assisted Dr. Kathi Bailey with tasks related to departmental functions, faculty management, students interactions, and research responsibilities. In this role, Cal organized a series of Alumni Advice Panels, wrote and broadcast weekly bulletins of current events, and published the department’s annual report on recent news related to students, alumni, and faculty.
Program Management Assistance
Dr. Kathi Bailey also served as the Chairperson of TIRF, the International Research Foundation for English Language Education, which allowed Cal to collaborate with TIRF, generating and editing research reference lists, editing the monthly Chair Reports and newsletters, and assisting in the Doctoral Dissertation Grant process.
Editorial Assistant
& Project Manager
2020–2021 • MIIS, TIRF, Routledge, Bloomsbury
While working as Graduate Research Assistant at MIIS, Cal served as Editorial Assistant on two research volumes published with TIRF and Routledge explored critical and emerging research topics in WLE such as teaching in under-resourced contexts and working with internationally diverse students. Cal also worked on a teacher education textbook published with Bloomsbury that prepares educators for the planning and teaching of activities that promote the development of speaking and listening skills at all levels of target language proficiency, for teachers of any modern language. As Editorial Assistant, Cal performed tasks such as proofreading, indexing, key word compilation, fact-checking, and providing feedback throughout the publishing process to ensure that formatting met standards and content was understandable.
“Research on Teaching and Learning English in Under-Resourced Contexts”
2021 • Routledge
The eighth volume in the Global Research on Teaching and Learning English series, this book brings together the latest research on teaching English in under-resourced contexts across the world, offering a window into the complex challenges that these communities face. Recommendations from research and experience in well-resourced contexts are frequently not relevant or feasible in different circumstances. Cal served as Project Manager on this volume from conception through to publication.
“Chinese-Speaking Learners of English: Research, Theory, and Practice”
2019 • Routledge
A compendium of the latest developments in research regarding English language education for Chinese-speaking learners, this volume combines cutting-edge research from multiple internationally-known scholars. The chapters offer unique insights into some of the most salient issues related to this broad topic. Cal completed the indexing, key word compilation, and final proofreading for this volume of research.
“Teaching Listening and Speaking in Second and Foreign Language Contexts"
2020 • Bloomsbury
This book guides language teachers in planning and teaching activities that promote the development of speaking and listening skills at all levels of target language proficiency, for teachers of any modern language. Each chapter provides focusing questions. The systematic chapter structure scaffolds the readers' understanding of the concepts explored, which include communication strategies, interactive and non-interactive listening, speaking anxiety, accentedness and intelligibility, and much more. Through its companion website this book provides access to resources that enable readers to continue their own professional development as teachers of listening and speaking in second and foreign language contexts. Cal completed the indexing, key word compilation, and final proofreading for this volume of research. Cal also helped pilot the first graduate course taught at MIIS using this volume.
While studying at MIIS, Cal volunteered as Co-Chair for SOWLE 2020, the Symposium on World Language Education, a virtual student-led professional development conference for educators working in WLE.
Theme: Tackling Racial Inequities in WLE
After the George Floyd protests, Cal and the other Co-Chair, Grace, decided to change the theme of the symposium to Language Education in 2020: Tackling Racial Inequities in WLE. The SOWLE committee considered this to be the recognition that inclusive world language teachers must actively adapt their classrooms and communities to better serve the interests and needs of their students by addressing the racism still present in our disciplines and institutions.
Co-Chair of the Virtual Conference
2020 Symposium on World Language Education
2020 • Remote
Dr. Anya’s Keynote on Critical Race Theory
After a brief introduction by faculty advisor Dr. Netta Avineri, the opening day keynote was given by Dr. Uju Anya, a leading researcher in critical race pedagogy in language education. Her speech primed our attendants for sessions related to analyzing our systems of education and our own internal biases as educators to foster more welcoming classrooms. Dr. Anya’s keynote explained the critical role of WLE educators in reframing our students’ views.
Understanding Racism & Sexism
Many of the symposium sessions provided educators simple and clear frameworks for understanding complex issues like systemic racism and sexism, while approaching sensitive topics with grace to encourage engagement. These sessions allowed attendants to walk away with new perspectives on their roles within their classrooms and institutions.
Anti-Racist Curricula in WLE
As teaching global languages and cultures requires exploring unfamiliar traditions and ways of life, it is critical for WLE educators to not just avoid perpetuating racist stereotypes, but rather teach anti-racism through our coursework. Presenters, like Dr. Jason Martel, shared strategies and formats to alter our curricula to integrate and design around these anti-racist themes.
Graduate School Coursework
In graduate school, Cal took a course in Education Research Methods, mastering skills in research design and data analytics, then put those skills into practice in an elective course on Applied Linguistics Research. Cal adapted a collection of class projects into an Applied Linguistics Capstone, focusing on teacher burnout during the pandemic. While studying, Cal worked as the Graduate Research Assistant to the Program Chair, Dr. Kathi Bailey, a prolific researcher in leadership in WLE.
Undergraduate Experience
University of North Texas
2015–2018 • Denton, TX
Composition
Many of the courses Cal took had a focus on literature, composition, and the arts, such as Honors English Composition I & II, Advanced Poetry in French, Advanced French Composition, Advanced Spanish Composition, and Honors Art Appreciation. Cal learned the ins and outs of the composition planning, copyediting, and proofing processes as well as advanced studies in diverse writing styles and languages. This experience allowed Cal to turn passion into profession.
Honors Thesis
As a member of the Honors College at UNT and seeking to make the most of faculty expertise to prepare for graduate school, Cal volunteered to complete an honors thesis. While mentoring with Dr. Lawrence Williams, Cal researched the value of using language learning apps like Duolingo or Rosetta Stone as support to their in-class learning. This thesis project began Cal’s love for survey-driven research to voice the opinions of a community for their own benefit.
Cal’s Portfolios
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