You can also visit student’s personal page from the name in red.

Maram Albalawi

I’m a second-year PhD student at the Department of Linguistics and English Language. I work as a lecturer at Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University. I received my Master’s degree from Gonzaga University in the U.S.A. My PhD research is a narrative-based study in which I use a “small stories” approach to investigate the English-learning trajectories of Saudi female adolescent students. Its focus is on A) how identity construction and learner agency in learning English are impacted by other factors, specifically socioeconomic status, and B) how young women position themselves in their telling of small stories.

Maha Alzahrani

I am a first-year PhD student at the Linguistics and English department. In 2016, I received an MA in language and literacies education from the university of Toronto. My research interests include teacher professional development, writing in a second language, ESP, EAP, second language acquisition. In my PhD project I intend to explore the transformative learning of English teachers in Saudi Arabia.

Derek J. Brown

I am a third-year PhD (distance) student at the Department of Linguistics and English Language. I have been teaching English as a Foreign Language in Japan since 1995 and currently teach at two Senior High Schools. I am also a member of the Japan Association for Language Teaching (JALT). I obtained an MA in TESOL from Lancaster University. My research interests include multimodality, social semiotics and the use of technology in the classroom, specifically MAVR (mixed, augmented and virtual reality). My previous research indicated that transmediation can assist language learning. My PhD project builds on this and looks at how, and to what extent, the introduction of a meta-language for multimodal design can provide learners with the tools to use transmediation to deepen their understanding through the creation of Augmented Reality experiences.

Raffaella Bottini

I am a second-year PhD student at the ESRC Centre for Corpus Approaches to Social Science (CASS), in the Linguistics Department. I research the application of corpus methods to the analysis of vocabulary in L2 English speech to inform language testing. In particular, my PhD project investigates lexical complexity at different proficiency levels in the Trinity Lancaster Corpus, a 4.2-million-word learner corpus of L2 English spoken exams. It also considers the effect of task-related factors on learner’s lexical choices. A former Fulbright scholar at University of St. Thomas in Minnesota, I hold an MA in ELT and Applied Linguistics from King’s College London and an MA in Modern Languages and Literature from Università Degli Studi Milano. I have been working as a Cambridge speaking examiner and as a teacher of English as a second language for eleven years.

Niki Canham

I am a part-time distance PhD student in the Department of Linguistics and English Language at Lancaster University and a part-time Lecturer in the Department of English at Innsbruck University, Austria. I hold an MA in TESOL from Lancaster University, with my MA dissertation receiving a commendation for best potential for impact on English Language Teaching at the British Council ELT Awards in 2015. My research interests include the teaching-and-learning of curriculum subjects through English as a second or foreign language (EMI and CLIL) and the implementation and integration of technology in second language pedagogy. My PhD project examines mathematics education in two Austrian English-medium CLIL mathematics classrooms. I focus on how teachers and students simultaneously use and develop linguistic repertories, including L1 and L2 mathematics registers, how the participatory practices through which mathematical subject-specific discourses are realised in the classroom are shaped, and how opportunities for the development of the participants’ English language repertories are constructed or constricted, with a view to identifying implications for language sensitive pedagogy in the plurilingual content classroom.

Jing Chen

I’m a second year PhD student at the Department of Linguistics and English Language. I received my MA in Chinese Linguistics from Peking University in 2018. My current research mainly focuses on the topic of linguistic relativity. Specifically, I am aiming to investigate whether and how language knowledge shapes bilingual speakers’ spatial concepts. To answer this question, I am applying a range of experimental approaches in my research, from behavioral measures to neurophysiological ones including the Event-Related Potentials (ERPs).

Ornuma Chingchit

I am a fourth-year PhD student at the Department of Linguistics and English Language. My primary research interests are teachers’ feedback, individual differences, and second language acquisition processes (implicit and explicit learning). My current PhD research focuses on the effect of teachers’ written feedback and working memory on learners’ second language development. Before studying at Lancaster, I received one MA in Language Teaching Studies, from University of Oregon, USA (funded by Fulbright and UO), and another MA in TESOL from New York University, USA (funded by the Thai government).

Lorrae Fox

I am a second-year PhD student in the Department of Linguistics and English Language and a member of the ESRC Centre for Corpus Approaches to Social Science (CASS) at Lancaster University. I have a BA(Hons) in English Language and Linguistics from Lancaster University and an MA in TESL from University of Idaho. My research interests include phraseology in spoken English, corpus linguistics and language assessment. My PhD project focuses on the intersection of these three areas as I work with Trinity College London using corpus methods to help inform language testing.

Stavroulla Hadjiconstantinou

I am a part time PhD student at the Department of Linguistics and English Language. I hold a BA in Language Studies and an MA in Applied linguistics both from Essex University, UK.  I am currently a full time English language instructor at Cyprus University of Technology, where I have designed and taught English for Specific Purposes (ESP) courses for the last 10 years. My research interests include Second language acquisition, English for Specific Purposes (ESP) curriculum and material design and development, Critical thinking in Education, Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL), Technology Enhanced Language Learning (TELL), Multimodality and Digital media literacy. My thesis explores pedagogical applications of critical thinking as a linguistic practice in support of linguistic development in ESP tertiary education.

Shaun Hoggard

I am a fourth-year PhD by research only (distance) at the Department of Linguistics and English Language. I previously studied at Lancaster as an undergraduate and I also received an MA TESOL from there (again by distance learning). I am currently teaching at a university of education in Hokkaido, Japan. I also serve as the membership chair of the Japan Association of Language Teachers (JALT) in Hokkaido. My main research interests concern the initiation of communication behaviours among L2 learners. My PhD focuses on the attitudes and beliefs of language learners regarding L2 use on social media.

Ariel Jagusztyn

I am a first-year PhD student in the Department of Linguistics and Modern Languages. I have an MA in Teaching English as a Second Language from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and an M.Ed. in Curriculum and Instruction with an Emphasis in Educational Technology from the University of Florida. My research interests include sociolinguistics, spatial orientation of language, and integrational linguistics in relation to how speech communities are influenced by the parameters of the organizational structures where they are situated. My PhD research aims to look into 1) how institutional policy and language choice represent historical and current government policy and 2) how governmental and institutional policy and languages are reflected in the spatial repertoires and semiotic assemblages within a school campus.

Yejin Jung

I am a second-year PhD student in the Department of Linguistics and English Language. I received my MA in English Linguistics from Yonsei University, South Korea. I worked as a teacher training officer raising intercultural/multicultural awareness of pre-service teachers in an EFL setting. My research interests are second language teaching and learning, L2 pragmatics, corpus linguistics, and learner discourse. I am particularly interested in how L2 speakers express subjectivity. My current research focuses on the relationship between opinion-giving skills and their linguistic features.

Inochi Kakitani

I am a part-time PhD researcher in the Department of Linguistics and English Language. I am also currently working full-time at Utsunomiya University in Japan. I received an MA in TESOL from the University of Southern California. My research interests are in the area of distributed learning and instructed SLA, with a particular focus on L2 speech development. The aim of my PhD project is to examine how different spacing of speaking practice contributes to L2 learners’ L2 speech development. I also intend to investigate the role of motivational factors and how they moderate the effects of distributed speaking practice.

Tanjun Liu

I am a doctoral researcher in the ESRC Centre for Corpus Approaches to Social Science (CASS) in LAEL. I completed my MSc in TESOL at The University of Edinburgh. My research interests include second language acquisition, using corpora in language teaching and learning (data-driven Learning and learner corpora), formulaic sequences and EAP. My thesis is to explore the effect of corpus use on the second language academic collocations learning.

Doğuş Can Öksüz

I have just completed my PhD in the Dept of Linguistics and English Language. I am interested in how the human brain acquires and processes language(s). I study the role of chunking in language processing, and how language typology interacts with processing. I am also interested in implicit and statistical learning. I combine corpus analysis and psycholinguistic experiments to address these topics.

Michael Ratajczak

I am a specialist in multilevel modelling. I completed an MSc in Psychological Research Methods and a BSc in Psychology in Education at Lancaster University. Currently, I am a PhD student in the Department of Linguistics and English Language at Lancaster University, funded by the UK’s Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and by the UK’s National Health Service (NHS). I am interested in reading comprehension, second language acquisition, language testing, and behavioural science. In addition, I am passionate about the use of Bayesian and frequentist multilevel models for inference in psycholinguistics. My PhD project is about reading comprehension of health-related texts.

Giulia Sulis

I’m a fourth-year PhD student at the Department of Linguistics and English Language at Lancaster University. I’m currently undertaking an Erasmus placement at the University of Groningen, the Netherlands, where I completed an MA programme in Applied Linguistics. I previously worked at Lancaster University as Associate Lecturer for the Literacy and Education course and as English for Academic Purposes (EAP) tutor. My research interests include individual differences in Second Language Acquisition, including motivation and Willingness to Communicate (WTC), classroom engagement and interaction. My PhD project seeks to investigate temporal variations in motivation and engagement during intact L2 lessons and throughout the academic year, and to examine the interrelationship between the two constructs.

Bunya Suzuki

I’m a second-year part-time PhD student at the Department of Linguistics and English Language. I’m currently a full-time English teacher at a secondary school in Tokyo, Japan. I received my MA in Applied Linguistics and Language Teaching from Lancaster University, and my CELTA degree at the European Language Examination Center in České Budějovice. I also serve as a committee member of the Tokyo Private School Association. I am interested in how students and teachers develop English language classrooms over a longitudinal period, as although English language education in Japan continues to face a number of hurdles, the reasons for these difficulties are often oversimplified and overlook the diversity within the Japanese sociocultural context. To bridge this gap, I will conduct linguistic ethnography for a duration of seven months at a boys’ secondary school in Tokyo to provide a thick description of what is happening in language classrooms.

Shungo Suzuki

I’m a second-year PhD student at the Department of Linguistics and English Language. I received one MA in TESOL and Applied Linguistics from Lancaster University and another MA in English Education from Waseda University. I also currently serve as the student chair of Japan Second Language Acquisition Research Forum (J-SLARF), which organises annual colloquiums to boost collaborations among scholars in/from Japan. My research interests highlight L2 speech production and its underlying mechanisms and processing. My PhD project focuses on (a) what linguistic knowledge and processing skills (i.e., cognitive fluency) enable L2 learners to speak fluently in terms of observable temporal features (i.e., utterance fluency) and (b) what kinds of moderator variables, such as speaking task designs and listeners’ background, affect how listeners perceive the utterance features of L2 speech (i.e., perceived fluency).

Neil Walker

I am a part-time PhD student in the department of Linguistics and English Language. I am also a lecturer in TESOL at the University of Central Lancashire, teaching on BA and MA TESOL and Applied Linguistics modules. My research interests are in the field of instructed second language acquisition (implicit/explicit learning, cognitive individual differences, practice). My PhD project focuses on the optimal spacing of the practice and presentation of form-meaning mappings under intentional and incidental conditions.

Fangzhou Zhu (Noah)

I am a second-year PhD student in Applied Linguistics at the Department of Linguistics and English Language, Lancaster University. I received MA in TESOL from the University of York and BA in French and English Bilingualism from Soochow University. My research interest is the application of language corpora in foreign language teaching and learning. My PhD project focuses on three aspects: 1. How effective the data-driven learning will be in EFL writing error correction, compared to other typical consulting resources such as dictionaries; 2. How concordance lines extracted from authentic language corpora coordinate with teacher and student’s common practice on error correction; 3. How teachers and students perceive such learning material in their daily practice.