Language has played an important role in Nattaporn Luangpipat’s’ life. Throughout her educational journey, language, whether writing or speaking, has helped her form meaningful connections with her peers and students. Her fascination with how language unites people informed her research on the intergenerational literacies of Thai-Chinese families in Thailand, while receiving her PhD in composition and rhetoric through the English department.
“I believe language connects people, and this is more prominent in minority groups or international students in the U.S. When you hear someone speak your language, you want to talk with that person immediately, and you somehow feel connected to them through the shared language,” said Luangpipat.
Before coming to Madison, she started as a journalist after receiving her bachelor’s degree in journalism. Luangpipat was a journalist for two years, one year with an English newspaper and one year with a magazine after her undergraduate. Her work within the industry showed her how powerful language is in people’s lives.
“Because the work involved a lot of interviewing people, it made me more eager to learn about people’s experiences and perspectives,” she said.
After receiving her master’s degree, Luangpipat became an English teacher for an English Foundations course in Thailand. While teaching the course, she saw how powerful writing can be and its impact on people’s lives.
“When I was teaching English in Thailand, which was after I finished my master’s degree, I assigned journal writing as a part of my English Foundation Course. A student came to me after class one day and told me that the journal writing was actually saving his life,” Luangpipat said. “He was lonely and depressed with all the first-year adjustment, writing the weekly journal and the way I responded to his writing helped him get through his first year.”
Luangpipat continued her journey to discover the influence of writing in Madison as a Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistant (FLTA), while pursuing her PhD. While Luangpipat found moving to Madison an adjustment from her quiet, small hometown of Sukhothai, which lies between Chiang Mai and Bangkok, she fell in love with Madison summers and the kind and supportive people she has met.
“There is always activity that you can do on campus or in Madison, you can also find quiet space if you want to and enjoy the serenity,” said Luangpipat.
During her PhD program, Luangpipat was afforded more freedom in choosing the path of her academic work. She enjoyed the discussion and project based learning process here at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, in comparison to lecture focused education she received during her undergraduate years in Thailand. While working on her research project, she received similar hands-on experience as she did working within the community as a journalist back in Thailand.
“It [humanities research] gives you opportunities to play with the topic and the data more, especially the method that I used, which is narrative inquiry,” said Luangpipat. “My research follows the stories I hear from the participants, and my advisors encourage me to think about how I want to frame it and how I want to write or present my work.”
Luangpipat also fosters her passion for teaching and language as an Reach ambassador and outreach coordinator for the Writing Center. With Reach, Luangpipat teaches students about Thailand culture and language at different schools around Madison. She believes that the exchange of knowledge that comes with learning about other cultures allows people to understand one another more. At the Writing Center, Luangpipat has the opportunity to partner with other students and organizations on campus and see how writing is involved in various fields.
“Working with a diverse group of people is what I value; learning more about people and sharing what I know and learning from what other people know,” said Luangpipat.
As she completes her PhD journey, Luangpipat will start a new chapter as an assistant professor, continuing to share the power of writing.