Masrizal is one of the faculty members within the Department of English Education, Faculty of Education and Educational Sciences, University of Syiah Kuala.
I was born in Aceh Besar, Indonesia and went to schools in Banda Aceh, the capital of Aceh province. I completed my undergraduate degree in English Education at the State Institute for Islamic Studies (IAIN) Ar-Raniry Banda Aceh (now State Islamic University of Ar Raniry). Since the second year of my undergraduate study, I already started teaching English at a number of private institutions, including a few temporary teaching positions at the city’s state schools. Prior to graduation, I began employments at different international firms such as the Associated Press London, Globecast Asia Singapore, and the Embassy of Italy in Indonesia.
In 2007, I embarked on my postgraduate study to pursue a master’s degree in education at the University of Arkansas, USA, from which I was awarded a Master’s of Education degree in secondary education with special focus in English as a Second Language in 2009. Soon after graduation, I began my academic career at University of Syiah Kuala as a junior lecturer in the Department of English Education. In 2013, I enrolled on a PhD degree in the Department of Modern Languages, School of Humanities, University of Southampton, UK, under a supervision of Professor Roumyana Slabakova. My research topic is ‘the acquisition of English morpho-syntax by Indonesian child L2 English learners’. My research interest is anything within the area of English learning and acquisition, particularly early stage bilingualism and multilingualism.
Besides my permanent teaching position at the university, I am also involved in a number of different socially oriented organizations and educational institutions. I am also one of the founders of Liberty Language Center, Englishmate Foreign Language School, Yayasan Liwaul Mukhlisin, and Kamikaze Self-Defense School.
