NEW Applied Linguistics PhD Projects

The Department of Applied Linguistics welcomes applications from strong students for the following projects, to be co-supervised within the department by a team including Professor Jim Milton; Professor Nuria Lorenzo-Dus; Professor Tess Fitzpatrick; Dr Vivienne Rogers.

i)      Project 1: Aptitude
This project is intended to investigate language learning aptitude and the testing of this quality. The interaction with working memory would also be investigated. Interested students could also apply eye-tracking and reaction time techniques as part of their refinement of the tests including their interface. The department has an Applied Linguistics lab with a portable eyetracker and reaction time software on dedicated laptops.

ii)     Project 2: Eyetracking: The Interace between Vocabulary and Syntax
This project will investigate the Minimalist Hypothesis; the idea that it is vocabulary knowledge which drives the acquisition of grammar and syntax. It would further develop some of the current vocabulary tests available on Prof Paul Meara’s lognostics website, developed at Swansea University.

iii)    Project 3: Tallman Lettering in Medical Brand Names
This project is intended to investigate the processing of Tallman lettering in medical brand names. This project will use eye-tracking software to examine the effect of Tallman lettering, font size and font form on the ability of clinicians to distinguish between visually similar drug names, and whether attention can really be drawn to salient and relevant parts of drug names.

Please  see the advert (under the topics for ‘Understanding the Past and Knowledge for the Future (SURESCOAH02)’, or check www.findaPhd.com to find out more!

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