ChatGPT and generative AI technologies have infiltrated our learning spaces, and, as a result, schools may be changed forever. While some educators may seek to ban the use of chatbots, motivated by a fear of the rampant plagiarism the technology might invite, I, however, write this dissertation with the intent of finding uses for AI as a…

Second language learners constitute a significant and expanding portion of the global population and there is a growing demand for tools that facilitate language learning and instruction across various levels and in different countries. The development of large language models (LLMs) has brought about a significant impact on the domains of natural…

During the last 60 years, the United States (US) has experienced a rapid growth of MLLs (multilingual learners), also known as ELLs (English Language Learners) or English as a Second Language (ESL) learners. These students represent a large segment of the public education population, and there is an academic achievement gap between MLLs and…

This experimental study, and partial replication of Sun and Hu (2020), examined how and to what extent direct (i.e., hands-on corpus use) or indirect (i.e., hands-off corpus use) online data-driven learning (DDL) modules were able to assist Chinese writers from an English as a foreign language (EFL) context in using more appropriate hedging (i.e.,…

This dissertation explores the relationship between language production processes and recorded typing behaviors among native speakers of English writing in their native language. Typing is quite prevalent in modern societies, as its use is becoming increasingly required in professional and personal settings but it remains largely understudied in…

With authentic English input and multimedia features, English storybook apps have the potential to be used as an effective learning tool for parent-child shared reading practice in families in English as a second or foreign language settings. This cost-effective educational technology may be particularly beneficial for those children from low…

In phonetics research, language alternation--including code switching (speaker-initiated) and cued switching (researcher-prompted)--can be used as a tool to investigate various aspects of speech production and perception in bilingual or multilingual speakers (Bullock & Toribio, 2009a). Studies on the production of voice onset time (VOT) during…

Since the release of advanced Large Language Models (LLMs) like ChatGPT in the winter of 2022, educators have been challenged to integrate AI in educational contexts without adequate preparation. This multimethod study aims to provide valuable insights into how students and teachers can make effective, responsible use of AI tools for writing.…

In the United States the number of English Language Learner students is steadily increasing. Many ELLs speak and understand limited English, resulting in achievement that lags far behind that of their classmates (Thomas, 2015). Recruiting the support of educators who come in contact with ELL students on a daily basis promoted a solution to this…

The COVID-19 pandemic interrupted education around the world. During that time, teachers often turned to online communities to compensate for an inability to connect with in-person professional communities. This study aims to highlight a single, successful online community of AP Literature teachers who use the app Voxer to communicate. The purpose…

When we read, errors in oculomotor programming can cause the eyes to land and fixate on different words from what the mind intended. Previous work suggests that these "mislocated fixations" form 10-30% of first-pass fixations in reading eye movement data, which presents theoretical and analytic issues for eyetracking-while-reading…

Reading on grade level by the close of third grade has been shown to impact a student's chance to graduate on time and therefore impacting future success. English learners (ELs), however, have struggled to read on grade level by the close of third grade as compared to their English-speaking peers. This quasi-experimental study determined if an…

The objective of this research is to build automated models that emulate VerbNet, a semantic resource for English verbs. VerbNet has been built and expanded by linguists, forming a hierarchical clustering of verbs with common semantic and syntactic expressions, and is useful in semantic tasks. A major drawback is the difficulty of extending a…

The digital transformation in educational assessment has led to the proliferation of large-scale data, offering unprecedented opportunities to enhance language learning, and testing through machine learning (ML) techniques. Drawing on the extensive data generated by online English language assessments, this dissertation investigates the efficacy…

This dissertation investigates how bilinguals use their two grammars to comprehend written intra-sentential codeswitches. I focus on adjective/noun constructions in Spanish and English where I manipulate the congruence of grammatical word order in the two languages across the codeswitch boundary. This allows me to test three codeswitching…