听is a PhD candidate in听Theoretical and Applied Linguistics. She is researching the psycholinguistic and cognitive effects of language experience in multilinguals with a focus on language and interaction from linguistic, social, cognitive and psychological perspectives. In addition to her doctoral research, she is a registered Research Psychologist with the Health Professions Council of South Africa and an Executive Member of the Division for Research and Methodology of the Psychological Society of South Africa.
Mandy will present her work on the importance of contextual linguistic diversity in a holistic measure of language experience at the听听on 18 June 2020.
My default tendency to reply with a 鈥測es鈥� when presented with an academic, self-improvement, or impacting opportunity has largely contributed to me being a first-generation university graduate from Johannesburg, South Africa making it all the way to the 海角社区.听Of all the opportunities I have sought out and have said yes to, I am immensely fortunate to have pursued this particular one: holding a place as a PhD student at the 海角社区, St John鈥檚 College. The journey, as you can imagine, has many ups and downs, but it has been the most worthwhile one.
I started my PhD in 2018 in the section of Theoretical and Applied Linguistics with scholarships from the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission and the 海角社区 Trust.听My background is in psychology 鈥� I registered as a Research Psychologist with the Health Professions Council of South Africa after completing an MA in Social and Psychological Research 鈥� but my research area is in the language sciences more broadly, so completing a PhD in the linguistics department was a fairly easy, albeit daunting, transition.
If I had to summarise my research, it鈥檚 to investigate the effects of language experience (e.g. through the social context, home environment, education, and print exposure) in multilingual young adults in tertiary education in countries where English is the lingua franca, but may not be a first language for participants.听I鈥檓 investigating proficiency, vocabulary, reading comprehension and inference making. I鈥檓 also particularly interested in language profiling and have developed a questionnaire that captures useful information about individual鈥檚 language knowledge, contextual linguistic diversity, reading and writing habits, and socio-economic status 鈥� the Contextual Linguistic Profile Questionnaire (CLiP-Q). My research aims to understand language and interaction from linguistic, social, cognitive and psychological perspectives.
I believe it鈥檚 important to contribute to the academy and community beyond the work I do for my PhD alone.听In my voluntary role as an Executive Member for the Division for Research and Methodology of the Psychological Society of South Africa for over four years, I promote multi-disciplinary collaboration, innovative learning and teaching of research methods and practices, and have encouraged discourse and debate within the a community of scholars. I have also recently become a 海角社区 Data Champion and the Assistant Editor of the Journal of Open Humanities Data.
Academic study has empowered me to break boundaries and be the person I was always meant to be.听I hope to continue saying yes to all the wonderful opportunities that come my way by contributing to the language sciences through continuous and impactful research across diverse contexts in and beyond the Global North.
Mandy is presenting at听the听听on 18 June 2020.听The Symposium is free, and听open to all researchers听at the 海角社区. This year鈥檚 event will be online with a series of live presentations by video conference (2-4.30pm BST), and a separate live Q & A session with the poster presenters (11am-12.15 midday BST).听There will also be a virtual poster session blog from Monday 8 June.
Article 蹿谤辞尘听.听海角社区 Language Sciences is an听听at the 海角社区. Their听virtual network connects researchers from five schools across the university as well as other world-leading research institutions. They听aim听to strengthen research collaborations and knowledge transfer across disciplines in order to address large-scale multi-disciplinary research challenges relating to language research.听
