Research

Research Interests

My research focuses on corpus linguistics, applied linguistics, and emerging AI technologies, with particular interests in how language data can be used to understand disciplinary discourse and support language learning and academic writing.

My research interests include:

• Corpus Linguistics & Language Data Analysis

• AI & Large Language Models (LLMs)

• Grammatical Complexity & Disciplinary Discourse

• Academic Writing

• Linguistic Annotation & Data Quality

• Data-Driven Learning (DDL) & Corpus-Informed Pedagogy

• Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL)

• AI-Supported Language Learning & Academic Writing

• Language Teacher Education & Professional Development

Dissertation Research

My doctoral research examined noun + noun sequences in discipline-specific published research articles, with the goal of connecting corpus-based descriptions of academic language with pedagogical applications.

As part of this research, I designed and developed the Applied Linguistics Corpus (ApLing), a specialized corpus of published applied linguistics research articles. Using the corpus, I developed a methodology for identifying pedagogically useful noun + noun sequences and created a list of 216 sequences for academic and disciplinary writing instruction.

The project also translated corpus findings into practice through the development of Data-Driven Learning (DDL) materials for teaching noun + noun sequences. The methodological framework can be adapted to investigate and develop pedagogical resources for other disciplinary and academic contexts.

Dissertation: Analysis of Noun + Noun Sequences in Discipline-Specific Published Research Articles

Advisor: Dr. Bethany Gray, Professor, Iowa State University

Explore the ApLing Corpus → ApLing Corpus

Awards & Recognition

Research Excellence Award
Iowa State University, 2023