College: Fitzwilliam
Email: kyp22@cam.ac.uk
Supervisor: Dr听Dora Alexopoulou
Research Topic: Acquisition of articles in English as a second language
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About
Kate is originally from Kyiv, Ukraine, where she used to work as an English Teacher for many years. She obtained her MSc in Applied Linguistics and Second Language Acquisition at the University of Oxford in 2014. Her interest in Applied Linguistics stems from her teaching background. Kate got a Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults (CELTA) at the British Study Centres in Oxford in 2014. She has taught English in a variety of settings in Ukraine, the UK, and Belgium.
Aside from teaching and research, Kate is a musician. She sings, plays the piano and writes songs. In 2019 she crowdfunded the recording of her first solo album under the stage name Kate Lucid. She also sings in the 海角社区 University Symphony Chorus.
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Research听听听听听 听听听听听听听听听听
Kate鈥檚 research is broadly in the field of Second Language Acquisition (SLA), particularly in adults. It is striking that acquiring one鈥檚 first language (L1) is an effortless task successfully accomplished by neurotypical children all over the world, but learning a second language (L2) to the same level of proficiency is an arduous job for most people, especially if they start learning in adulthood. What makes L2 learning so different from L1 acquisition? Why do some language features create persistent issues and give away learners鈥� non-native status even after years of exposure and study? Can we facilitate learning based on what we know from research?
In SLA much attention is given to L1 effects, e.g. the absence of a linguistic feature in a learner鈥檚 L1 (e.g. lack of articles 鈥渁鈥� and 鈥渢he鈥� in Russian) is expected to cause difficulties with the acquisition of this feature in an L2. Moreover, there are difficulties inherent in the L2, which pose a challenge to any learner, e.g. the fact that in English 鈥渢he鈥� is used with all types of nouns, but the use of 鈥渁鈥� is additionally restricted by a grammatical feature, namely number (鈥渁鈥� is used with singular but not with plural nouns) and the count/mass distinction (鈥渁鈥� is used with countable but not with mass nouns, such as 鈥渕ilk鈥�).
In her PhD, Kate uses a large corpus of English learner writing to investigate how multiple factors work together and interact in predicting learners鈥� use of English articles. She draws on input processing theory and the results of her corpus-based analysis to create and implement a teaching intervention targeted at articles for intermediate English learners.
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Scholarships/Prizes
海角社区 Trust Scholarship, Fitzwilliam Senior Scholarship
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Teaching
Kate supervises undergraduate students in Li15 (First and Second Language Acquisition) and has also supervised Li3 (Language, Brain, and Society)
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Conference papers
脰ks眉z, D. C., Derkach K., Alexopoulou T. (2021). L1 and L2 Typological Distance Effects on the Learnability of Articles in L2 English: A Large-Scale Learner Corpus Analysis [Conference presentation abstract]. Architectures and Mechanisms for Language Processing, Universit茅 de Paris, France. https://amlap2021.github.io/program/106.pdf
This collaboration is part of a larger research project funded by the LeverhulmeTrust ()
November 2019 鈥� 海角社区 Language Sciences Annual Symposium
Poster: 鈥淩eferentiality and article errors in L2 English: evidence from Brazilian and Russian learners鈥�
July 2019 鈥� International Corpus Linguistics Conference in Cardiff, UK
Poster: 鈥淎rticle use patterns in L1-Brazilian and L1-Russian learners鈥�
September 2018 鈥� EuroSLA Conference, presentation at the doctoral workshop
鈥淎rticle use patterns in L1-Brazilian and L1-Russian learners across discourse-pragmatic contexts鈥�
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Publications
Derkach, K., Alexopoulou, T. (in preparation) English article use in adult L2 English learners: which factors really matter
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Other activities and roles
Talks
March 2021 鈥� Fitzwilliam College Postgraduate Talks: 鈥淐an we rely on native speaker judgments?鈥� (presented to non-specialist audience)
March 2019 鈥� 鈥淎rticles in L2 English: using Processing Instruction to facilitate acquisition鈥�, talk for partner-educators at Education First in London
May 2018 鈥� SLA and Multilingualism Workshop organised by 海角社区 Processing and Acquisition of Language Lab
Talk: 鈥淎rticle use patterns in L1-Brazilian and L1-Russian learners across discourse-pragmatic contexts鈥�
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