Grant

  • Year: 01/2024 – 07/2025
  • Role: PI
  • Sponsor: Spencer Foundation
  • Title: Validating measures of listener attitude and stereotyping in educational contexts
  • Amount: $49,986 (pending)
  • Year: 03/2023 – 05/2024
  • Role: PI  (Co-PIs: Dr. Maria Gutierrez Nelly Arvizu and Dr. Mohammadreza Dalman)
  • Sponsor: the TOEFL Young Students Series Research Grants, ETS
  • Title: Young Learners’ Score Gains in the TOEFL Primary Tests and their English Language Progressions in Various Contexts.
  • Amount: $ 49,482
  • Year: 10/2022 – 07/2023
  • Role: PI
  • Sponsor: the British Council
  • Title: Equality, diversity, and inclusion: Different varieties of accents in Aptis English listening tests
  • Amount: $ 28,385
  • Year: 01/2022 – 3/2023
  • Role: PI
  • Sponsor: the IELTS Joint Funded Research Program, IELTS
  • Title: Speaking and writing features: Distinguishing  IELTS proficiency levels and progression over time
  • Amount: $19, 841
  • Year: 08/2021-01/2023
  • Role: PI  (Dr. Johh Hansen at UT-Dallas, Co-PI; Dr. Stephen Looney at PSU, Co-PI)
  • Sponsor: National Science Foundation (NSF),   RETTL-EAGER Funding
  • Title: Collaborative research: Second Language Speech Production: Formulation  of Objective Speech Intelligibility Measures and Learner-Specific Feedback
  • Amount: $300,000
  • Year:01/2021-01/2022
  • Role: PI
  • Sponsor: the Duolingo Competitive Research Grants program, Duolingo
  • Title: Fairness of using different accents in Duolingo listening tasks
  • Amount: $94,348
  • Year:01/2021-01/2022
  • Role: PI
  • Sponsor: the IELTS Joint Funded Research Program, IELTS
  • Title: Test takers’ attitudes and perceptions towards IELTS and the use of  technologies in IELTS preparation and tests
  • Amount: $29,844
  • Year:  04/2021-04/2022
  • Role: PI
  • Sponsor: The Barbara Dobson Latin America Research Grant, the Michigan English Language Assessment
  • Title: Relationship among young learner background, language growth, and score gain on MET Go! over time
  • Amount: $5,000
  • Year: 07/2021-06/2022
  • Role: PI
  • Sponsor: NAU, SCA Award
  • Title: Development of second language speech corpus
  • Amount: $6,000
  • Year: 07/2019 – 06/2021
  • Role: Co-PI
  • Sponsor: Alianza Inter-Universitaria Sonora-Arizona, Fondo de Apoyo para el Fomento de la Investigación sobre la Región Sonora-Arizona
  • Title: Relationship between Young English Language Learners’ Backgrounds and their Proficiency in English
  • Amount: $5,000
  • Year: 05/2019 – 06/2020
  • Role: PI
  • Sponsor: Research Bridge or Seeds Awards, NAU
  • Title: Developing an Affective Interactive Oral Communication Tutor
  • Amount: $15,000
  • Year: 11/2019 – 6/2019
  • Role: PI
  • Sponsor: College of Arts and Letters Research Grants
  • Amount: $15,000
  • Year: 2019 – 2020
  • Role: PI
  • Sponsor: the IELTS Research Grants and Awards, IELTS
  • Title: Investigation of Relationship among Learner Background, Linguistic Progression, and Score Gain on IELTS
  • Amount: $50,972
  • Year: 2018 – 2019
  • Role: PI
  • Sponsor: Language Learning
  • Title: The Language Learning Roundtable conference program, Language Learning
  • Amount: $9,700
  • Year: 7/2018-6/2019
  • Role: PI
  • Sponsor: Scholarly Creativity Award, NAU
  • Title: Linguistic analysis of spoken discourse
  • Amount:$6000
  • Year: 11/2017-11/2018
  • Role: PI
  • Sponsor: The Global and Interdisciplinary Research Fund Program, CIE, NAU
  • Title: Application development for prosody-based automated scoring systems
  • Amount: $6000
  • Year: 3/2017-3/2018
  • Role: PI
  • Sponsor:  the British Council Research Grants
  • Title: Linguistic analysis of speaking performance and automated extraction
  • Amount: $15,040
  • Year: 6/2013-3/2017
  • Role: PI
  • Sponsor: iBT TOEFL Committee of Examiners (COE) Research Grants, ETS
  • Title: Intelligibility of Different Varieties of English in the TOEFL iBT Listening Test
  • Amount: $106,849
  • Year: 1/2014-1/2017
  • Role: PI
  • Sponsor: Technology  Research Investment Fund (TRIF), Arizona Board of Regents
  • Title: Development of communicative features in automated speech systems
  • Amount: $200,000
  • Year: 7/2013-5/2014
  • Role: PI
  • Sponsor: The 2014 NAU Scholarly and Creative Arts award
  • Title: Communication enhancement among high school students from diverse ethnic and linguistic backgrounds
  • Amount: $6,000
  • Year: 1/2013-6/2014
  • Role: PI
  • Sponsor: the Cambridge English Language Assessment
  • Title: Impact of Different Task Types on Candidates’ Speaking Performances and Interactive Features that Distinguish between CEFR Levels
  • Amount: $21,314
  • Year: 4/2012 -5/2013
  • Role: PI
  • Sponsor: TOEFL Board Grants, ETS
  • Title: Enhancing communication between U.S. undergraduates and international students through structured contact activities
  • Amount: $ 14,997
  • Year: 2/2012 – 6/2013
  • Role: PI
  • Sponsor: NAU Faculty Grant Program
  • Title: Enhancing communication between U.S. undergraduates and international students
  • Amount: $6,200.
  • Year: 9/2011- 9/2012
  • Role: PI
  • Title: Cultural immersion in study abroad programs
  • Amount: $15,000
  • Year: 9/2011 – 10/2012
  • Role: Co-PI
  • Sponsor: University of Virginia
  • Title: Impact of collaborative project-based intercultural interaction. Institutional assessment and studies
  • Amount: $2,000.
  • Year: 8/2011-8/2012
  • Role: PI
  • Sponsor: PIE Research Grant
  • Title: Demonstrating PIE students’ linguistic gains in pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary
  • Amount: $8, 851
  • Year: 7/2011-6/2012
  • Role: PI
  • Sponsor: Faculty Grant Program, NAU
  • Title: Thresholds of second language study for overseas immersion
  • Amount: $11,200
  • Year: 06/2011-06/2012
  • Role: PI
  • Sponsor: the Cambridge English Language Assessment
  • Title: Linguistic Analysis of Speaking Features Distinguishing General English Exams at CEFR levels B1 to C2 and Examinee L1 Backgrounds
  • Amount: $19, 404
  • Year: 5/2011-5/2012
  • Role: PI
  • Sponsor: TOEFL Board Grants, ETS
  • Title: Thresholds of second language study for overseas immersion
  • Amount: $14,965
  • Year: 5/2010-5/2011
  • Role: PI
  • Sponsor: the TOEFL Board Grants, ETS
  • Title: Students’ Individual Characteristics that Predict Success in Studying Languages Abroad
  • Amount: $14,999
  • Year: 7/2010-6/2011
  • Role: PI
  • Sponsor: Faculty Grant Program, NAU
  • Title: Undergraduate Students’ Individual Characteristics that Predict Success in Studying Languages Abroad
  • Amount: $5,000
  • Year: 07/2009 – 6/2010
  • Role: PI
  • Sponsor: College of Arts and Letters (CAL) summer research grant, NAU
  • Title: Validation of oral proficiency test
  • Amount: $6,000
  • Year: 07/2008 -10/2008
  • Role: Consultant and Linguistic analyst
  • Sponsor: College of Arts and Letters (CAL) summer research grant, NAU
  • Title: Acoustic analysis as part of  the project, TOEFL COE Research Grant
  • Amount: $74,998
  • Year: 2008
  • Role: Consultant and Linguistic analyst
  • Sponsor: Center for the Advancement and Study of International Education (CASIE) Fund
  • Amount: $8.000
  • Year: 07/2008 -10/2008
  • Role: research assistant
  • Sponsor: the iBT TOEFL COE Research Grants, ETS
  • Title: Impact of rater background and acoustic analysis of speech
  • Amount: $89,000
  • Year: 01/2006 – 06/2007
  • Role: PI
  • Sponsor: the Spaan Fellowship Fund
  • Title: Impact of rater background and acoustic analysis of speech in international teaching assistant’s oral performance
  • Amount: $5,000

Awards & Honors

04/2021         Recipient, President’s Award for Faculty and Academic Professionals, 2021-2022

03/2020         Recipient, Research and Creative Activity NAU 2020 Award for Graduate Research Mentorship

09/2018         500 Women Scientists

06/2016        Recipient, Scholar selected for Language Learning Scholar-in-Residence

05/2013        Recipient, TOEFL Outstanding Young Scholar Award by the TOEFL Grants and Awards based on the numerous professional activities and contributions to the field of language assessment.

09/2012         Recipient, “Most Promising New Scholar at NAU” award. For the demonstration of outstanding achievement in the areas of research, innovation, international scope, collaboration, productivity, external funding, etc.

06/2010         Recipient, Winner of Christopher Brumfit PhD/Ed.D. Thesis 2009 Award by Cambridge University Press and Journal of Language Teaching: Highly competitive both nationally and internationally. The dissertation was recognized for its significant and original contribution to the field of SLA and/or FL teaching and learning.

01/2010         Finalist,  Jacqueline Ross TOEFL® Dissertation 2009 Award Finalist by Educational Testing Service: The dissertation was recognized for its contribution to knowledge about second or foreign language tests and testing and/or the use and development of such tests and testing.

03/2008         University of Georgia Dissertation Award

12/2005         Virginia Macagone QUIG Scholarship: 2006 Interdisciplinary Qualitative Studies Conference.

02/2005          Louise McBee Scholarship, Georgia Association for Women in Education

03/2003          M.A. First Class Honors, the University of Auckland

09/2002          Auckland University Partnership Awards, the University of Auckland.