Esteban's interests include dialect and language contact, dialect variation, migration, Spanish as a heritage language, and Spanish intonation using Sp_ToBI. Having lived abroad, Esteban's experience as a young male Ecuadorian migrant sparked his interest in understanding the impact of migration on both speakers and the language. This led to his undergraduate research, where he analyzed the dialectal accommodation of Ecuadorian migrants who returned from Madrid to Quito, focusing on changes in intonational patterns measured with Sp_ToBI.

Following an internship in Padang, Indonesia, where he taught English at a local technical college, Esteban developed a strong interest in teaching, which motivated him to pursue an MA in Teaching Spanish. His MA project centered on how to teach B1 students the mood selection (indicative/subjunctive) and how meaning changes within relative clauses.

While working in aviation, Esteban never lost his linguistic spirit and remained deeply interested in dialects and language shift. On the airplane, he paid close attention to how people spoke all varieties of Spanish, and particularly the language use and dynamics of Ecuadorian migrants in the US and Spain. These experiences, combined with his academic background, inspired Esteban to make the bold decision to leave his job and pursue a PhD, where he wanted to keep working with dialects in contact through migration and Spanish as a heritage language in the US. Currently, Esteban is researching the use of Spanish and the linguistic, social and cultural practices of heritage speakers, particularly in discussions about Latin American food.