About
SP Digital Labs is the name under which Joseph Suzuki-Parker publishes apps. Joe is an English teacher and applied linguist who builds software, based in Chiba, Japan.
From music to languages
Joe started out as a musician. He trained at the Military School of Music and served as a percussionist with the 3rd Infantry Division Band of the U.S. Army, including a deployment to Iraq. After the Army he studied Japanese at the University of Colorado Boulder, graduating with distinction in 2010, and soon after moved to Japan.
Teaching and research
He has taught English in Japan since 2011, from children's classes in Tsukuba to universities. He has taught at Rissho University since 2018, and before that at Dokkyo University, Tsukuba University of Technology and Nippon Institute of Technology. Along the way he worked as a translator and interpreter, and taught drums to children and adults.
In 2021 he completed an MA in Applied Linguistics at the University of Birmingham, with distinction. His research looks at how Japanese students learn vocabulary and how they use technology to study:
- Independent use of Quizlet among Japanese EFL students: adoption rates, usage, and predictors. CALL-EJ, 2024 (with A. Duarte).
- Multimedia communications: Active English for medical science through short research-introduction videos. Journal of Medical English Education, 2023 (with T. Mayers).
- Does method of administration influence word association test responses? Vocabulary Education Research Bulletin, 2019 (with G. Higginbotham).
Building tools
That classroom work led to Tevo, an AI speaking-practice platform that turns English textbooks into conversations students can practise out loud. Joe co-founded it in 2023 with his brother Micah Parker and fellow teacher Hiro Iwama.
The apps here come from the same habit of building the tool he wishes already existed: Daily Allowance for knowing what you can spend today, Strata for reading the Bible with its history, Understory for private journaling, and Surf Window for deciding when it's worth going surfing.