Research staff
A listing of LALS research staff with links to their profiles and to their research interests.
Academic research staff who are generally available for supervision are listed alphabetically by first name below.
For a list of adjunct staff and emeritus professors who also do research, see our adjunct researchers page.
Click on the staff member's name below for more details, including contact information. Click on research area names for more information about research(ers) in the School in those areas.
| Staff member | Research areas | Current and potential supervision areas |
|---|---|---|
 Anna Siyanova | Cognitive linguistics and psycholinguistics; vocabulary and corpora; second language acquisition and bi/multilingualism | Formulaic language/multi-word expressions; vocabulary learning and teaching; language processing; learner corpus research; bi/multilingualism; dyslexia; quantitative research methods (corpora, eye movements, ERPs) |
 Averil Coxhead | Vocabulary and corpora; second language acquisition; language learning, teaching, and assessment | Researching vocabulary in language learning and teaching; development and use of word lists; technical vocabulary; EAP; ESP; multi-word units; quantitative and qualitative approaches. |
 Corinne Seals | Second language acquisition and bi/multilingualism; sociolinguistics & discourse analysis | Language and identity; translanguaging; forensic linguistics; heritage and community languages; linguistic landscapes (including protest movements); language policy and planning |
 Irina Elgort | Vocabulary acquisition; second language acquisition; psycholinguistics | Second language vocabulary acquisition; explicit and implicit vocabulary learning and processing; lexical and semantic representations and their development; experimental research (priming, eye movements) |
 Jean Parkinson | Discourse analysis; language learning, teaching, and assessment; academic writing | Genre analysis; discourse analysis, using corpus methods; English for Specific Purposes; academic writing, in particular acquisition of written academic genres; visual meaning in academic genres; digital genres |
 Jonathan Newton | Second language acquisition; language learning, teaching, and assessment | Task-based language teaching (TBLT); language teacher professional learning and development; intercultural language teaching and learning; listening and speaking in the language classroom. |
 Peter Gu | Second language acquisition; language learning, teaching, and assessment | Learner autonomy and learning strategies; language testing and assessment; vocabulary acquisition |
 Rachael Ruegg | Academic writing; language learning, teaching, and assessment | Instruction and assessment of writing; language testing and assessment; English for Academic Purposes (EAP); English medium instruction (EMI) |
 Rachel McKee | New Zealand Sign Language | Teaching and learning sign language; sociolinguistic variation in sign languages; Deaf Studies; language policy; interpreting; interpreter education |
 Robby Nadler | Academic writing; Discourse analysis | English for Academic Purposes (especially in post-graduate contexts); professional & technical writing; scientific writing & science communication; discourse analysis (especially with rhetoric); genre analysis. |
 Sara Pivac Alexander | New Zealand Sign Language | Teaching and learning sign language, Deaf Studies |
 Sasha Calhoun | Phonetics and phonology; psycholinguistics; New Zealand English; Languages of the Pacific; Sociolinguistics; Second Language Acquisition | Phonetics and phonology; prosody, intonation and rhythm, including relationship to gesture; psycholinguistics, especially speech processing; information structure, especially cross-linguistic variation; sociophonetics; sound symbolism. |
 Shelley Dawson | Sociolinguistics and discourse analysis | Sociolinguistics and discourse analysis; language and power; identity, ideologies, and representation; gender and sexuality; language and medical marginalisation; study abroad; critical approaches to language learning and teaching |
 Stephen Skalicky | Cognitive linguistics and psycholinguistics; corpus linguistics; second language acquisition and multilingualism | Computational, psycholinguistic, and corpus analytic approaches to study humorous and figurative language (esp. satirical discourse); crosslinguistic influence and multilingualism |
 Victoria Chen | Syntax; Austronesian languages | Syntax; historical linguistics; diachronic and comparative morphosyntax; typology; Austronesian languages; Tibeto-Burman languages; languages of Taiwan, the Philippines, Borneo, Indonesia, Sulawesi, and Palau |