What can you do with a PhD in SLA?

Many people who are unfamiliar with the field of SLA often wonder what you are able to do with a doctorate in this area. Given the interdisciplinary nature of FLARE and the field of SLA itself, a variety of jobs are available to students who pursue the PhD in SLA. Although a student’s specialization area (e.g., linguistics, program direction, or technology) will oftentimes determine his/her career path, many students choose to work in their specific language department at the university level.

What follows is a brief description of what FLARE alumni are currently doing with their degrees in SLA. ______________________________________________________________________________

Stephanie Cheng

Degree: PhD in SLA with specialization in linguistics
Date of Graduation: Spring, 2005
Title of Dissertation: An exploratory cross-sectional study of interlanguage pragmatic development of expressions of gratitude by Chinese learners of English
Current Position: Assistant Professor in the TESOL program in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at National Chiao Tung University in Hsinchu, Taiwan.


_____________________________________________________________________________

Lisa Dykstra

Degree: PhD in SLA with specialization in linguistics
Date of Graduation: Spring, 2006
Title of Dissertation: On pragmatic perception: Do American learners of Russian perceive the sociocultural weight inherent in the address pronouns?
Current Position: Assistant Professor of Spanish in the Department of Languages at Clemson University in Clemson, South Carolina.


____________________________________________________________________________________

Idoia Elola

Degree: PhD in SLA with specialization in linguistics
Date of Graduation: Spring, 2005
Title of Dissertation: The complexity of revision in an intermediate-level Spanish language classroom and the creation of a foreign language revision model
Current Position: Assistant Professor of Spanish and Applied Linguistics in the Department of Classical and Modern Languages and Literatures at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas.


___________________________________________________________________________________

Kyosung Koo

Degree: PhD in SLA with specialization in technology
Date of Graduation: Spring, 2006
Title of Dissertation: Effects of using corpora and online reference tools on foreign language writing: A study of Korean learners of English as a second language
Current Position: Instructional Technologist in the Information Technology Services department at Davidson College in Davidson, North Carolina.


__________________________________________________________________________________

Lixia Ma

Degree: PhD in SLA with specialization in linguistics
Date of Graduation: Spring, 2006
Title of Dissertation: Acquisition of perfective aspect marker LE of Mandarin Chinese in discourse by American college learners
Current Position: Chinese Instructor at Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts.


_________________________________________________________________________

Zoliswa Mali

Degree: PhD in SLA with specialization in linguistics and technology
Date of Graduation: Spring, 2007
Title of Dissertation: Exploring communication strategy use by learners of Isizulu in synchronous computer-mediated communication (S-CMC)
Current Position: Clinical Assistant Professor in the Curriculum and Teaching Department of the School of Education, Lecturer in Southern African Languages in the African Studies Center, and Coordinator of Southern African Languages in the African Studies Center at Boston University in Boston, Massachusetts.


_________________________________________________________________________

Ariana Mikulski

Degree: PhD in SLA with specialization in linguistics
Date of Graduation: Spring, 2006
Title of Dissertation: Native intuitions, foreign struggles? Knowledge of the subjunctive in volitional constructions among heritage and traditional FL learners of Spanish
Current Position: Assistant Professor in the School of Family and Social Dynamics at Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona.


_________________________________________________________________________

Mary O’Donnell

Degree: PhD in SLA with specialization in language program direction
Date of Graduation: Spring, 2005
Title of Dissertation: Use of textual elaboration with literary texts in intermediate Spanish
Current Position: Visiting Assistant Professor at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana.


___________________________________________________________________________________

Tomoko Shibata

Degree: PhD in SLA with specialization in linguistics
Date of Graduation: Winter, 2005
Title of Dissertation: Prosody acquisition of Japanese as a second language: View from an integrative perspective
Current Position: Lecturer in the East Asian Studies department at Princeton University in Princeton, New Jersey.


___________________________________________________________________________________

Nobuaki Takahashi

Degree: PhD in SLA with specialization in program direction
Date of Graduation: Spring, 2007
Title of Dissertation: The differential effects of perceptual saliency on recasts in L2 Japanese: Learners' noticing, interpretation, detection, and subsequent oral production
Current Position: Teaching Assistant Professor of Japanese in the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures, East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina.

___________________________________________________________________________________

Amy VonCanon

Degree: PhD in SLA with specialization in linguistics
Date of Graduation: Spring, 2006
Title of Dissertation: Just saying ‘no’: Refusing requests in Spanish as a first and second language
Current Position: Assistant Professor in the Department of Modern Languages at The University of Colorado in Denver, Colorado.


___________________________________________________________________________________