| Name | Research Interests |
| Mdm Aileen Ng Cheng Cheng | Aileen Ng is interested in the area of Discourse Analysis and Computer Mediated Communication in English Language teaching and learning. She has researched on the use of Information and Communication Technology for teaching Communication Skills based on Socio-cultural Theory as well as analysed the discourse of pre-workplace texts such as job application letters and resumes. |
| Assoc Prof Alexander Robertson Coupe | Alexander Coupe's major contributions to linguistic research have focused upon aspects of the grammar of Ao; more recently he has turned his attention to other Tibeto-Burman languages of north-east India, including Chang, Khiamniungan, Lotha, Sangtam and Yimchungru, and he has investigated evidence of their contact and convergence with Indic languages. This fieldwork-based research is driven by a desire to record and analyse the grammars of these poorly understood Tibeto-Burman languages, to determine their genetic relationships, and to document them for posterity. The output of this work feeds another research goal: to seek functional and diachronic explanations for the structural diversity and commonalities found in Tibeto-Burman languages and in human language more generally, and to advance knowledge in the field of linguistic typology.
Specific areas of research interest include the analysis of tone systems, phonetics and phonology, the role of pragmatics in grammar, case-marking systems, morphosyntax, clause linkage, nominalization, grammaticalization and language contact. |
| Asst Prof Chan Hiu Dan Alice | Her research work mainly utilizes neuroimaging (fMRI) and behavioral measures to investigate how cultural experiences such as language and socialization may shape our brains and affect the way we see and hear the world. Her studies demonstrated that the auditory perception pattern is different between members from East Asian and Western cultures, which is in connection with previous findings on visual perception. She is interested in looking at the underlying cognitive and neuroanatomical mechanisms as well as the genetic bases of these culturally sensitive perceptual patterns and behaviors. Her current work also looks at possible neurophysiological realizations that would support the Whorfian hypothesis, with a specific interest in Cantonese and Mandarin Chinese, as well as bilingual and multilingual communities. |
| Assoc Prof Chen Shen-Hsing Annabel | Assoc Prof Chen has a diverse research background, including animal drug studies, human neuropsychological research and cognitive rehabilitation. She has applied Positron Emission Tomography (PET) to study individuals with post-concussion sequelae from mild traumatic brain injury and olfaction in Alzheimer’s Disease, and has been involved in functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) research examining language processing, executive functions, and affective memory in healthy and clinical populations (e.g. stroke, anxiety, schizophrenia, dementia), as well as, assessing neural systems used in motor timing/timing perception in patients with Parkinson's Disease. Her main research interests are to investigate underlying neural substrates involved in higher cognition in the cerebellum, as well as changes in cognitive processes in healthy aging and dementia through the application of neuroimaging techniques, such as fMRI, diffusion MRI,Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS), and most recently electroencephalography (EEG). The goal of her research is to apply these paradigms to study and to develop neuroimaging markers in the cerebro-cerebellar circuitry for clinical groups, and to further understand the processes of neurodevelopmental (e.g. schizophrenia, dyslexia, autism) and neurodegenerative (e.g. dementia, healthy aging) conditions that would be informative to evidence-based interventions.
A recent research development in her lab, the Clinical Brain lab, is focusing on the Neuroscience of Learning and Education. In particular, their lab is investigating the neurophysiological changes in aging neuroscience for learning in language, memory and executive control networks. This allows development of neuromodulation techniques to optimize and/or enhance brain functions for learning. They are also developing research in understanding the effects of emotion on cognition and self-regulation with the use of neuroimaging |
| Miss Cheng Ooi Lan | Catherine's areas of expertise are Emotional Intelligence and Multicultural Minds in Negotiation. Her current research works focus on Multicultural Minds in Inter- and Intracultural Negotiation
Multicultural minds describe bicultural individuals - people who have internalized two cultures to the extent that both cultures influence their thoughts, feelings and actions in turn. Essentially, the internalized cultures are independent and the original culture is not replaced by the new. However, given the right priming, these different cultures are surfaced in the bicultural individuals separately. Which culture is surfaced is dependent on the cues such as context and symbols that are psychologically associated with one culture or another that these individuals are primed with.
The process whereby bicultural individuals switch mindsets is termed frame switching. To understand frame switching, one must think of culture as not being internalized in the form of an integrated and highly general structure but as a loose network of domain-specific knowledge structure. Furthermore, individuals are seen as being able to acquire more than one cultural meaning system eventhough the system may contain contradictory or conflicting constructs.
How particular pieces of cultural knowledge become operative is dependent on the accessibility of the construct. It has been a long-standing hypothesis in cognitive and social pyschology that a construct is accessible to the extent that it has been activated by recent use. Thus, if an individual is primed with iconic cultural symbols, i.e., images created or selected for their power to evoke in observers a particular frame of mind, activation of a certain network of cultural constructs would be possible. For example, if a bicultural Singaporean exposed to Singaporean icons like the Merlion, it should activate interpretative constructs in their Singaporean cultural knowledge network; exposing the same individual to American icons like a picture of Abraham Lincoln instead should activate constructs in their American cultural knowledge network.
Thus, this leads us to the following research questions:
Firstly, is it possible for bicultural individuals through priming and frame switching surface scripts and schemas for negotiation appropriate to the culture of the other negotiating party?
Secondly, can culture priming activate culture specific behaviors?
Another related question would be: which context ? intracultrual or intercultural mindframes ? provides the highest joint gains if a bicultural individual activates the appropriate scripts and schemas in the negotiation process?
Finally, what mediators and moderators, if any, contribute towards the possible difference in results?
Substantial research has been done on negotiation by western scholars over the past decade. In the area of cross-cultural negotation, there is extensive work on negotiations in different cultural contexts by various scholars. There is also some research on negotiations between members of different cultures or intercultural negotiation. However, work on cultural influence within individuals who have been exposed extensively to two cultures (biculturals) in a negotiation context has not been studied. Therefore, it would be of interest to determine just how the bicultural influences in a bicultural individual would interfere with the negotiation of joint gains in an intracultural and intercultural negotiation context. |
| Dr Christopher John Hill | His present research interests focus on contemporary literature, and creative and blended learning strategies for the teaching of writing. |
| Mr Chua Chong Jin | Creative works (eg biographies, poetry, literary journalism, book and movie reviews)
Commissioned works (eg coffee table books for clients to mark special events or anniversaries)
In-depth features on issues in developing countries in Asia as well as profiles on movers & shakers in fields like politics, business, academia, IT, sports, entertainment and the arts.
Communication strategies - eg the communication styles of leading personalities in different fields
The increasing importance of communication skills in the new economy and its implications (eg the type of teachers needed; the nature of communications training in formal education etc)
Changing media landscape and its implications
Language patterns in speaking and writing |
| Mrs Cristina Gonzalez Ruiz | Language Learning Strategies
Developing Language Skills in the Classroom
Effects of Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL)
Curriculum and Course Design |
| Dr Cui Feng | Translation Studies,
20th Century Chinese Literature,
Comparative Literature,
The Literary Relations between China and Foreign Countries |
| Assoc Prof Danne Ojeda Hernandez | Her current research is devoted to the disciplinary redefinitions of Graphic Design and its implications in contemporary visual culture. It analyses antithetical aspects within the evolution of graphic design, like its communicative and allegoric nature, autonomy and social commitment, and expressivity and new media standards. The theoretical basis of this research includes binary concepts like natural/artificial, original/copy, public/private, and physical/virtual. The research is methodologically structured upon close readings of a variety of visual objects from the perspective of graphic design. These objects are discusses in connection with different sorts of conceptual platforms, like manifestos, (un)realized projects, curatorial proposals and critical reviews among others sources within today's dominant orientations in graphic design.
Moreover, her areas of interest can be summarized as follow: Issues in Visual Communication/Contemporary Design, Design Theory, Design and Science and Art and Design relations. Her areas of specializations regarding professional practice are mainly editorial and exhibition design.
At NTU, Prof. Ojeda is engaged (or has been engaged) with the following projects:
TIER1 [2013] D-SIGN-LAB. Research Experiments on Art, Design and Science with a focus on Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) Analysis.
TIER0 [2010] Asian-Pacific Mega-exhibitions: A Critical Perspective
RCC [2009] For the Sake of a Second Life: Approaches to Sustainable Design
—
Selection of Danne Ojeda’s works:
http://www.d-file.com
— |
| Mr David Yew Kai Sin | Asia-Pacific, communication, negotiation, information technology, information-communications, telecommunications, manufacturing, government, finance, strategy, consulting, strategic advice, research, business intelligence, competitor intelligence, customer intelligence, market opportunity analysis, market profiling, market sizing, forecasting, modelling, business expansion, market entry, partner evaluation and selection, partnering |
| Asst Prof Duffy Andrew Michael | Journalism in Singapore
Cross-cultural journalism education
Online journalism education |
| Asst Prof Edson C Tandoc Jr. | media gatekeeping, journalism studies, web analytics, social media, environmental journalism |
| Assoc Prof Francesco Paolo Cavallaro | Francesco Cavallaro is primarily a sociolinguist, but also conducts research in applied linguistics. His research interests are in sociolinguistics and the social aspects of bilingualism, especially of minority groups in multilingual contexts. He has published on language maintenance and shift, the demographics of the Italian community in Australia, language attitudes in Singapore and on the use of technology in the classroom. He is the author of the book 'Transgenerational language shift: From Sicilian and Italian to Australian English', published in 2010 by The Italian Australian Institute. La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia. His current research direction involves exploring language attitudes, identity and language shift in multilingual contexts. |
| Assoc Prof Francis Charles Bond | Francis Bond's areas of interest are: Machine Translation, Deep Parsing, Word Sense Disambiguation, Computational Lexicography and the linguistic phenomena of Definiteness, Number, Countability and Numeral classifiers. His current research work focuses on parsing English, Japanese and Korean with head-driven phrase structure grammars; word sense disambiguation with WordNet; constructing a Japanese WordNet and other lexicons. |
| Asst Prof Frantisek Kratochvil | Papuan and Austronesian linguistics, Linguistic typology, Morphology, Grammaticalization, Verbal semantics, Stance, Deixis and Space (including Toponymy), Historical Linguistics, Malay, Indonesian |
| Assoc Prof Goh Geok Yian | Associate Professor Goh Geok Yian's areas of expertise are: early history of Burma and Southeast Asia, modern Southeast Asian history, China-Southeast Asia relations, early Buddhist networks in mainland and island Southeast Asia, and Burmese historical chronicles and novels. Her current research focuses on the study of Buddhist architecture and mural paintings of Bagan, a medieval Burmese kingdom. Her other research work includes the study of early urbanization and cities in Burma, particularly on comparison made with other contemporary Southeast Asian polities and the applicability of theoretical models. She is also working on an English translation of a 20th-century Burmese novel by a well-known author, Ma Sandar. |
| Prof (Adj) Goh Nguen Wah | Dr. Goh's areas of interests include: government and politics of Singapore, government's media, education and language policies, language planning; the rise of China and the global Chinese language fever, the prospects of Chinese language in a globalized world, cross-cultural studies, journalism of the West and the East. |
| Dr Heah Lee Hah, Carmel | Dr Heah's areas of expertise are EL teaching and learning, ELT curriculum and course design, language for special purposes, language in science and technology, and discourse, text and genre analysis. Her current research interests are politeness in business communication, rhetoric in scientific and engineering discourse, metaphors in business commentary, figurative competence, and feedback in academic writing. |
| Dr Hsieh Yi-Chin | Learner interactions in collaborative learning
Second language learners’ digital literacy
Technology incorporation into language classroom
Current research focuses on knowledge construction among language learners in an Internet-supported collaborative learning environment. |
| Dr Hyejeong Ahn | My research, using a mixed-methods approach, specialises in the area of the educational and socio linguistics with a clear focus on teaching English as an International language (EIL) and World Englishes The basis of the argument in my publications rests on the evaluation of teachers’ awareness of and attitudes towards the inherently evolving pluricentric nature of English. I have argued for developing teacher training courses which inform the current socio and linguistic landscape of English and a reassessment of the notion of what types of English competency are valid in the era of globalization where English is a means of intercultural communication. My secondary area of research focuses on examination of English policy and major proficiency tests from World Englishes perspectives. I am also currently undertaking research on the sociolinguistic profile of South Korea. The focus of this project is the descriptive analysis of a variety of data, which seeks to identify sociolinguist profiles of English use amongst university students in South Korea. |
| Asst Prof Ivan Panovic | - linguistic anthropology
- sociolinguistics of writing
- ethnography of writing and literacy practices
- social and cultural construction of literacies
- language attitudes and ideologies
- Arabic sociolinguistics |
| Mr Jean Francois Noel Ghesquiere | Second language acquisition |
| Prof Joseph Bart Walther | Prof. Walther's research focuses on how people perceive one another via Internet applications and social media, how people manage their self-presentations, and how presentations and perceptions affect a variety of types of relationships. The work integrates dynamics from communication, psychology, and information science. Its foci include
(1) how Internet users' perceptions of their similarity to and relationship with others affect persuasion (for example, how social media comments from those who appear to be peers affect persuasion from otherwise authoritative sources, in online personal or medical advice);
(2) how individuals exploit the aspects of social media to improve their self-presentations (in online chats, Facebook, and dating sites), and how their self-presentations affect their self-perception and well-being;
(3) how online collaborations and international or intercultural virtual team members get to know one another, and the social, technical, temporal, and psychological factors that promote effective relationships, productivity, and the reduction of prejudice among group members with different backgrounds.
Prof. Walther's work attempts to develop, refine, and test novel theoretical ideas as well as to extend and adjust existing theoretical models from Communication and Social Psychology from as far back as the 1950s. Several of his publications have successfully employed pre-Internet theories to incorporate the characteristics of contemporary social media systems to predict and explain online behavior. At the same time, his work has produced several original theoretical models, including the social information processing theory of computer-mediated communication, the hyperpersonal model of communication, warranting theory, and the efficiency framework of media selection and effects. Prof. Walther employs experimental and survey research methods to test and evaluate these models. |
| Dr Kenneth Ong Keng Wee | Dr Ong's research interests centre around the sociolinguistic, psycholinguistic and pedagogical dimensions of codeswitching and computer-mediated discourse analysis. He is interested in functional-lexical processing of bilinguals and TESOL/EFL/ESL issues related to bilinguals. He is also interested in e-learning and digital technologies for education. |
| Asst Prof Kim Hye Kyung | Dr. Kim’s research draws theoretical concepts from literatures in narrative persuasion, attitude function, and self-affirmation and examines how these theories can help enhance health communication decisions. Much of her research has explored the interplay of individual factors relevant to self-defense (e.g., identity and social concerns and autobiographic history) and message features (e.g., framing and narrative effects) in shaping people’s judgment and beliefs on public health issues as well as their personal health decisions. She have mostly utilized quantitative research methods to investigate study predictions in a variety of health topics, including obesity, cancer prevention, the influenza pandemic, mental health issues, and food safety.
Major Research Areas:
• Risk and Health Communication
• Communication Theory
• Quantitative Research Methods
• Media Effects and Narrative Persuasion |
| Prof Kingsley Bolton | Professor Bolton's research interests include English in Asia, English in higher education, language and media, the sociolinguistics of globalization, world Englishes, and other related topics. His publications include fifteen books (edited and authored), five journal special issues, and seventy journal articles and book chapters. He is Co-editor of the influential SSCI-indexed journal World Englishes (Wiley-Blackwell), founding editor of the book series Asian Englishes Today (Hong Kong University Press), and The History and Development of World Englishes (Routledge). He is also a member of the editorial board of Applied Linguistics Review, Educational Studies, English Today, English World-Wide, and the international book series Multilingual Education (Springer). He has an active and continuing publication agenda, much of which focuses on English in the Asian region and worldwide.
A number of Professors Bolton's publications can be found here, http://www3.ntu.edu.sg/home/kbolton/ |
| Asst Prof Koo-Cheah Swit Ling, Diane | Assistant Professor Koo Swit Ling's research interest is in the acquisition of second language, with particular focus on interlanguage variability. She is currently also looking into the different approaches to classroom learning and how that can be enhanced, especially in the context of |
| Ms Kristina Marie Tom | The impact of media type (digital vs. non-digital) on cognitive construal levels, specifically in regards to teaching (evaluation) and learning (reading comprehension and critical thought) applications. |
| Prof Kuo Chen-Yu, Eddie | Communication policy and planning
New media and globalization
Cultural policy and national integration
Sociology of multilingualism.
Perspectives in Asian communication |
| Asst Prof Kuo Szu-Yu, Arista | Audiovisual translation, subtitling, translator training, translation quality assessment, and cross-cultural communication. |
| Assoc Prof Kwan Sze Pui Uganda | Translation Studies (Translation History; Gender issues in cross cultural translation; Literary translation)
Comparative Modern Sino-Japanese Literature
British Sinology in the 19th Century
Hong Kong Literature |
| Mrs Lam Tsui Eu Sandra | Lam Tsui Eu Sandra’s key research interest is in feedback on writing, specifically the use of teacher and peer feedback on writing with L2 learners. Her current research project is a qualitative study on the response to and use of peer and teacher feedback on writing of L2 Chinese learners. The study also focuses on the use of a web-based platform for peer feedback.
Her other research interests include corrective feedback, teaching methodology and language attitudes towards and use of Singlish in Singapore. |
| Ms Lee Cheng Choong Peng Jean | I am interested in the following research topics:
1. Multimodality in communication
2. Discourse analysis
3. Intertextuality and interdiscursivity in communicative events
5. Engineering oral presentations
6. Collaborative learning using computer-aided tools
Currently I am working on my PhD dissertation that examines the achievement of discursive competence in engineering oral presentations. I intend to use the approach of multimodality and genre analysis to investigate the study on how various multimodal resources such as speech, gaze, gesture, visual aids work together to fulfil the contextual needs of purpose, audience and setting, as well as to meet the larger social and cultural expectations of the community. |
| Mdm Li Shu Yun | Ms Li's research interests are Language Teaching and Learning, Communication and Culture, Discourse, Text and Genre Analysis, Language for Specific Purposes. |
| Asst Prof Lim Ai Ching | Emotions
Information Processing
Language Effects in Advertising
Cross-Cultural Consumer Differences |
| Asst Prof Lim Ni Eng | My on-going research focuses on the interactional, socio-cultural and cognitive operations at work in normal everyday Mandarin Chinese talk-in-interaction, using quantitative statistical methodologies on large Mandarin corpora and qualitative conversation analysis of real-time video and audio recordings. Through investigating commonplace social action/expression and their discourse-pragmatic functions, cognitive phenomenon such as theory of mind and intersubjectivity can be empirically and discursively explicated. As insights into the language-specific resources available for interactional accomplishments is gained, pedagogical methodologies for teaching spoken Mandarin Chinese can be further refined. |
| Dr Lin Tzer Liang Benedict Christopher | Dr Lin research is in applied linguistics and stylistics, the application of the methods of linguistics to the analysis of literary texts. He works from the theoretical perspective of Systemic Functional Grammar, applying it to text/discourse analysis, as well as stylistics. Specifically, one area of his current research interests is the language & discourse of science, engineering & engineering education, with a focus areas on metadiscourse in journal articles and students' developmental writing. Another area is stylistics and its implications for literature education and pedagogy, especially in post-colonial contexts. His research also covers English & English Language Teaching in Southeast Asia, and he also has an interest in New Englishes and their implications for language teaching. |
| Prof Luke Kang Kwong Kapathy | Interaction between tone and intonation; Prosody in Conversational Interaction; Conversation Analysis; English and Chinese grammar; Chinese Linguistics; History and structure of Cantonese; Language and Cognitive Neuroscience; Corpus Linguistics; Natural Language Processing |
| Dr Nemeth-Chay Cheng Choo, Constance | Constance's research interests include, but are not limited to the following areas: strategic communication management, crisis management, health communication, nonverbal communication, especially in the science of body language. |
| Assoc Prof Ng Bee Chin | Ng Bee Chin works in the area of child language acquisition and semantics. Her primary area of research is in psycholinguistics and sociolinguistics aspects of language acquisition in multilingual contexts. Topics which she has worked on include bilingual acquisition, language identity and attitudes, semantic and conceptual acquisition, interpretation and translation, language and gender, speech pathology in multilingual settings. Given the multilingual context she works in, she is interested in any aspect of language enquiry which explores the interaction between the speaker and the enviroment. |
| Miss Pang Su Woon | Language Learning Strategies & Motivation
Innovative Use of Technology in Enhancing Learning Effectiveness
Presentation Anxiety of Engineering Students in NTU |
| Ms Patricia Lorenz | Computer based testing (CBT) or eAssessment can be highly useful in language learning, yet the nature of the assessment determines the successfulness and validity. It is argued that in language learning only the testing of grammatical content is suitable for full computerisation, as grammar questions can be designed to have either true or false answers, and in consequence can utilise fully automated instant feedback and grading. Thus, the eAssessments are designed to align teaching, learning and assessment, constituting an intricate part of the students’ continuous learning process. Therefore, the shift to eAssessments was incorporated in a larger move away from a “testing culture”, which in this case relied on end-semester exams contributing 50% towards the final grade, to an “assessment culture”, based on 100% continuous assessment
With one of the main concerns for academics running graded eAssessments is the potential danger of plagiarism, the successful implementation of graded eAssessments in language learning is determined by its design and settings. In order to achieve higher security, randomised tests drawing from various pools were created in Blackboard, the university’s learning management system. In the creation of tests and pools it is essential to assure that each student receives a test of equal difficulty, while providing enough depth to create different tests for all students. Additionally, restricting access to a specific time assists facilitation and increases security, while displaying the questions individually and restricting the overall time given to complete the test has a direct impact on the test result and has to correlate with complexity of questions the participant has to answer. With 25 questions to be answered in each test, ranges between one and two minutes per question have been established. Thus, to assure fair grading of open book eAssessments the design, timing, and settings are decisive.
Overall, eAssessments freed more classroom time for active student engagement, group activites and interactive learning, rather than administering paper tests. Consequently, a more learner centric teaching approach has been established in all classes. |
| Assoc Prof Qiu Lin | Social Psychology, Cultural Psychology, Cyberpsychology, Computer-mediated Communication, Engineering Psychology, Human-computer Interaction, Computational Social Science |
| Asst Prof Qu Li | development of executive function, theory of mind, emotion regulation, and bilingualism;
the impacts of emotion, language, social interaction, and culture on cognitive development;
inhibitory control;
task switching;
brain development;
circadian rhythm on cognition and emotion regulation. |
| Prof Randy John La Polla | Sino-Tibetan Linguistics
Linguistic Typology
Historical linguistics (including Grammaticalization and Sino-Tibetan reconstruction)
Functional Syntax (esp. Role & Reference Grammar and Systemic Functional Grammar)
Pragmatics (particularly Relevance Theory)
Anthropological Linguistics (Asian languages on which I have done fieldwork: Cambodian, Chinese dialects [Southern Fujian, Beijing subdialects, Shanghai, Guangzhou dialects], Dulong [1st Township, 3rd Township, 4th Township, Nujiang dialects], Qiang [Ronghong, Qugu dialects], Rawang [Mvtwang, Dvru dialects], Tagalog, Vietnamese.) |
| Mr Roger Vivek Placidus Winder | Roger Winder has a keen interest in the field of critical linguistics and critical discourse analyses, but has more recently started exploring doing research in Language Teaching and Learning, Technology in Language Teaching and Learning, Communication and Culture, Discourse, Text and Genre Analysis, Language for Specific Purposes, Language and Culture, and Language Attitudes and Identity. |
| Ms Ryoo Hye Jin | Ms. Ryoo's research interests are Second Language Acquisition, Computer Aided Language Learning, Task-Based Language Learning, Korean Linguistics and Teaching Korean as a Foreign Language, |
| Mr See Eng Kiat | Academic Writing
Discourse Analysis |
| Dr Sujata Surinder Kathpalia | Dr Sujata Kathpalia's research interest is in the areas of discourse analysis, composition theory, second language teaching/learning and information technology in education. Her MA thesis is on textual coherence mediated through the theory of frames and her PhD thesis is on the genre analysis of promotional texts that include book blurbs, sales promotional letters and print advertisements. The majority of her publications are a blend of theory and practice in English language teaching, technical communicatin and academic writing from the point of view of discourse. |
| Dr Sureenate Jaratjarungkiat | Syntax, Semantics, Thai grammar, and Teaching Thai as a foreign language. |
| Asst Prof Suzy Styles | I investigate how the mind handles that most human of processes: Language. As a psycholinguist, I use methods from cognitive science, experimental psychology and neuroscience to explore the way that language develops in infancy, the way it functions in the mind of the individual, and the way it changes over the life-course.
In one branch of my research, I investigate how we develop systems of meaning that help us to coordinate linguistically-labeled concepts in the developing lexicon. For example, I have been investigating when words like "cat" and "dog" become functionally connected in the mind of infants and toddlers (in a way that "cat" and "bicycle" are not), and what outcome this has on moment-by-moment language comprehension. I am fundamentally interested in 'lexicons' as systems of organizing information about words. I investigate how features of each individual's vocabulary contribute to their comprehension of spoken language. I also investigate the interface between the sounds of words and their meanings, looking at how viewing a picture can trigger in the mind the idea of its name, and whether some pictures 'look more like' what they are called than others.
In another branch of my research, I am interested in how different types of written language influence the way that we encode the sound system of our spoken languages. Some languages have just one way of representing the sounds of their language, while others have multiple alphabets, syllabries, ideographs, or mixed script systems. The human mind is capable of handling all of these systems - but we understand little about how they differ in terms of processing, and underlying cognitive representations.
Furthermore, I am interested in our inter-sensory experience of the world, and how certain sounds correspond more ‘naturally’ to certain aspects of visual perception – for example, sounds differing in pitch are described as ‘high’ or ‘low’. I investigate when these intersensory mappings develop, and how they may differ between speakers of different languages. |
| Assoc Prof Tan Joo Seng | Prof Tan's research interests are in global leadership, cross-cultural communication, cross-cultural negotiation, international human resource management, and organizational safety |
| Miss Tan Mia Huan | Her research interests include CALL (Computer Assisted Language Learning) and Language Learning strategies in L2 learners. |
| Assoc Prof Tan Ying Ying | Tan Ying Ying is trained as a phonetician. Her research in phonetics has focused largely on the prosody (stress, intonation, rhythm) of Singapore English and other languages in Singapore, with particular attention to social-indexical variation, ethnic differentiation and substrate influence. Her current research inquiry concerns the constitution of the Singaporean accent. Besides Singapore English, she is also interested in the tonology of Southern Min languages such as Teochew and Hokkien. A firm believer in interdisciplinarity, she is engaged in understanding and analyzing language policy and planning through the lenses of cultural theory and contemporary thought. She has published in areas as phonetics, pragmatics, sociolinguistics and cultural theory. |
| Mdm Ulrike Marianne Murfett | Agent-customer interactions in call centres
Social media and their use in organisations
Communication strategies of extremist groups |
| Asst Prof Victoria Leong Vik Ee | - Neuro-social processes that support learning
- Language acquisition during infancy
- Developmental language difficulties |
| Dr Wee Wei Ling, Constance | Systemic Functional Linguistics provides a theoretically principled framework for Constance Wee's research into the texts produced within business contexts.
Her research interests include:
interpersonal meaning-making resources;
impression management and communicating to the public;
the management of expectations by stakeholders |
| Asst Prof Werner Botha | Dr. Botha's research interests include the use of English in Asian higher education, educational linguistics, multilingualism, and language variation, with particular reference to the Asian region. Recent publications include articles on English in higher education and sociolinguistic variation. |
| Ms Yang Mei Ling | Yang Mei Ling's research interests are mainly in the areas of consumer communications, particularly in written communication with customers and customer complaint behaviour. |
| Ms Yong Oi Hing Audrey | Ms Audrey O.H Yong research interests include child language development, and sociolinguistics issues. In partial fulfilment of the Bachelor of Arts (Honours) and Master degree in English Language, she researched on 'Factors affecting the choice of language use in hawker centres' and 'The characteristics of language development of four children age between 3 and 6 coming from different socioeconomic background', respectively. |
