Matthew T. Prior is an associate professor in the Department of English (linguistics, applied linguistics, TESOL), a Barrett Honors faculty member, and affiliated faculty with the Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College. He holds a doctorate in second language acquisition from the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa. He also has degrees in music, TESOL, and speech and hearing sciences. Courses he teaches include qualitative methods, discourse analysis, sociolinguistics, applied linguistics, TESOL, second language acquisition, and professional development.

Much of his recent research is concerned with the relationship between language and emotion and the interactional construction and management of mental health and well-being. He is also interested in the links between multilingualism and dementia. Informing his work is social interaction through the lens of conversation analysis, discursive psychology, membership categorization, and formulation analysis; narrative and discursive-constructionist approaches to identity; ethnographic approaches; socio-psychological dimensions of second language learning and use; and methodographic analysis and critique of interview and qualitative research practices. 

His publications on emotion, discourse, identity, narrative, transcultural belonging, mental health, multilingualism, represented talk and thought, discourse analysis, language teaching, qualitative methods, and other topics have appeared in international journals such as Applied Linguistics, Qualitative Inquiry, Applied Linguistics Review, TESOL Quarterly, TEXT & TALK, The Modern Language Journal, Journal of Pragmatics, Pragmatics and Society, and volumes for De Gruyter Mouton, Benjamins, and Routledge. He is author of "Emotion and Discourse in L2 Narrative Research" (Multilingual Matters, 2016), and co-editor of the volume "Emotion in Multilingual Interaction" (Benjamins, 2016).

He served as an editorial assistant for Applied Linguistics (2005-2008), managing editor for Language Learning & Technology (2008-2010), and chief editor of the Selected Proceedings of the 2008 Second Language Research Forum (Cascadilla Press).

Three primary objectives drive his approach to teaching: (a) to inspire and motivate students, (b) to encourage and engage with alternative ways of learning and knowing, and (c) to cultivate professional development and social action.