Position Title
Lecturer
Çağrı Güzel is a Lecturer at the University of California, Davis. His teaching focuses on academic literacy, rhetorical agency, AI literacy, multimodal composition, and reflective practices that help multilingual learners become purposeful, confident communicators. Since 2018, he has taught and supported courses across the University Writing Program, Department of Linguistics, School of Education, Department of American Studies, and UC Davis Continuing and Professional Education.
His research examines how immersive, experiential, and technology-mediated learning environments can support learners’ communicative flexibility, agency, and autonomy. His work explores immersive virtual reality, improvisational pedagogy, and emerging technologies, with particular attention to how learners move from supported practice toward adaptive communication across contexts. His broader experience includes English-language teaching in Türkiye across K–12, college, and adult settings. He has also worked as a language specialist supporting Google Assistant projects and taught TESOL teacher education at California State University, San Bernardino. His work is shaped by his multilingual background, professional training in improvisation, and international language-teaching experience.
- Ph.D. in Education: Language, Literacy, and Culture, University of California, Davis
- M.A. in Education, TESOL Option, California State University, San Bernardino
- B.A. in English Language and Literature, Erciyes University, Türkiye
- Global Grad Grant, UC Davis Global Learning Hub, 2026
- Duolingo English Test Travel Award, 2024
- Research Funding, UC Davis School of Education, 2022–2024
- Graduate Program Fellowship, UC Davis Graduate Group in Education, 2019
- Globe Education Academy Graduate Research Fellowship, Shakespeare’s Globe, London, 2018
- UWP 1: Introduction to Academic Literacies
- UWP 7Y: Practices in College Reading and Writing
- UWP 7: College Reading and Writing for Multilingual Writers
- FRS 4: Immersive Improv
- Immersive and technology-mediated language learning
- Virtual reality and improvisational pedagogy
- Second language acquisition and multilingual communication
- Oral fluency, learner autonomy, and speaking self-efficacy
- AI literacy and human-AI communication
- Güzel, Ç. (2026). The Art of Improvisation: Creativity, Spontaneity, and Expression. Invited speaker, Casapanot, Barcelona, Spain.
- Güzel, Ç. (2025). Virtual Reality in Second Language Acquisition. Invited speaker, VirtualSpeech, London, United Kingdom.
- Güzel, Ç. (2024). iVR Empowers International TAs in Language Communication. TESOL International Convention & English Language Expo, Tampa, Florida.
- Güzel, Ç. (2023). Education across the Globe. Invited panelist, University of California, Davis.
- Güzel, Ç. (2022). Developing Second Language Oral Proficiency through Immersive Virtual Reality. Computer Assisted Language Learning Consortium Conference, Seattle, Washington.
- Güzel, Ç. (2022). Improvisational Drama Mediated Through Immersive Virtual Reality in Second Language Acquisition. TESOL International Convention & English Language Expo, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
- Güzel, Ç. (2021). Process Drama Mediated Through Immersive Virtual Reality in Second Language Acquisition. Graduate Student Association of Applied Linguistics, Northern Arizona University.
- Güzel, Ç. (2020). Drama and Virtual Reality in Second Language Learning. Invited speaker, Erciyes University, Kayseri, Türkiye.
- Sanchez, S. L., Athanases, S. Z., & Güzel, Ç. (2019). Social Justice Possibilities of Classroom Drama across Subjects and Grades: New Teachers’ Conceptions and Early Practices. American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting, Toronto, Canada.
- Güzel, Ç. (2018). Developing Oral Proficiency and Motivation through Script-Based and Improvisational Drama. 16th Annual Graduate Student Research & Scholarship Symposium, California State University, San Bernardino.
- Güzel, Ç. (2017). Developing Oral Proficiency and Motivation through Improv Practices. Young Leaders Summit, Turkish American Youth & Education Foundation, Washington, D.C.
- Güzel, Ç. (2016). Developing Oral Proficiency and Motivation through Improvisational Drama. TESOL International Convention & English Language Expo, Baltimore, Maryland.
- Güzel, Ç. (2015). Developing Oral Fluency through Dramatic Scripts in ESOL Programs. Word Up Conference, Lake Arrowhead, California.
- Member, TESOL International Association
- Member, American Educational Research Association
- Member, Linguistic Society of America
- Member, California Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages
- Graduate Mentor, Mentor–Mentee Program in Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences, UC Davis, 2025–2026
- Chair, Education Graduate Student Association, University of California, Davis, 2020–2024
- Representative, UC Davis Academic Senate Committee on Graduate Council, 2023–2024
- Reviewer, TESOL International Convention, Digital Learning and Technologies Strand, 2023–2024
- Reviewer, American Educational Research Association, Division C: Learning and Instruction, 2024
- Reviewer, TESOL Uzbekistan Regional Conference & TESOL China Assembly, 2022
- Conference Session Chair, American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting, 2022