buckeye language network
The BLN community is full of amazing people…. Let’s shine a light on:
Hannah Shatzer
PhD Student
Psychology
Organizer of the new BLN Student Association
What do you do?
I have two overlapping areas of research: I study audiovisual speech perception in addition to speech perception in cochlear implant users. I am also interested in the neural mechanisms associated with audiovisual speech integration in cochlear implant users and individuals with normal hearing.
What is the most exciting thing you’re working on now?
I am about to start data collection for my dissertation! I’m interested in the relationship between cortical plasticity in the brain and speech perception ability before and after deaf adults receive a cochlear implant. There is evidence to suggest that during deafness, visual cortical processing resources ‘take over’ the underused processing resources in auditory cortex. I hope to correlate EEG measures of visual take-over of auditory cortex during deafness to speech perception outcomes for adults who are receiving cochlear implants, with the goal of predicting the development of auditory and audiovisual speech perception abilities post-implantation by patterns of EEG activity pre-implantation. If I do find this relationship, it will not only tell us more about the nature of cortical plasticity during and after long-term sensory deprivation, but may also allow us to better predict how much someone will benefit from receiving a cochlear implant based on neural measures collected during deafness.
What is the most interesting thing about studying language the way you do?
I love the intersection between neuroimaging, cognitive science, and language that my research involves. I think that incorporating multiple perspectives in addressing research questions (psychology, audiology, neuroscience, etc.) allows for a unique and comprehensive approach to studying language in both normal-hearing and hearing-impaired populations.
What’s your favorite thing about language?
Communication! Spoken language is often not only verbal, but also visual, and involves multiple modalities working together to help the perceiver understand what is being said. We are not communicating just with the words that we say, but also with the visual movements of our facial features and gestures, and our brain is able to integrate all of that information together to help us best understand what is being communicated.
Who is your favorite language-oriented researcher (living or dead)?
I think that Greg Hickok and David Poeppel’s work on the dual-stream neural model of speech and language processing is phenomenal!
If you could make every student at OSU know one thing about language, what would it be?
That there are so many individual differences in the ways that each person perceives and understands language. We might have overarching theories for the way that language works, but it’s also important to study how each individual might operate slightly differently from those theories!
Why are you a member of the BLN?
I really enjoy getting to hear more about the awesome and diverse language research that is being conducted across campus! Since there isn’t a lot of language-specific research happening in my own department, I love having the opportunity to be connected with what others are doing in their departments, cross-discipline collaborations, etc.
Anything else you want to tell us?
If you are a graduate student conducting language research (or an undergraduate student who is also interested in language research), I invite you to join our new graduate student organization that we are forming in Autumn 2018, the Buckeye Language Network Student Association (BLNSA), to connect with like-minded students across multiple departments at the university who are also studying language! Check us out and subscribe to our e-mail list here: https://lists.osu.edu/mailman/listinfo/blnsa
Leslie C. Moore
Associate Professor
Teaching & Learning
Linguistics (by courtesy)
What do you do?
My research examines the social and cultural patterning of learning and language development in communities whose members use multiple languages and participate in multiple learning traditions. I seek to (1) increase our understanding of diverse community practices of language use, teaching, and learning and how they vary across time and space and (2) contribute to the empirical and theoretical bases on which education may be made more effective for children learning in additional languages.
What is the most exciting thing you’re working on now?
The Expanding Repertoires project http://u.osu.edu/expandingrepertoiresinformalscience/ is my primary research focus at this time. We are in our 3rd year of the grant, focusing on analysis of data from the Exploratory Study of of COSI’s programs and practices related to the support of access, participation, and learning for preschool dual language learners and their families. That data set includes video of naturalistic interactions at COSI and of COSI outreach at preschools, as well as interviews with parents, early childhood educators, and COSI team members about their science learning and teaching experiences with young dual language learners. I particularly enjoy working with the video, seeing how children and caregivers engage in hands-on science learning using multiple languages and other semiotic resources. I am also very excited about a new project with Dr. Monique Mills (Speech & Hearing) on teachers’ and parents’ evaluations of black children’s narratives.
Leslie (right) at the AISL Convening in Oct 2016, with colleagues from Houston and Washington D.C. They are trying out Dramatic Inquiry as a pedagogical tool for working in multilingual preschool classrooms.What is the most interesting thing about studying language the way you do?
Language socialization is the my home paradigm, and this lens helps us understand how linguistic environments are shaped by beliefs and values, how these environments shape us, and how we, in turn, re-shape our environments. Applying this perspective in science museums and preschools can help educators engage with linguistically diverse communities more effectively because it helps educators understand how they are organizing the linguistic environment, why they organize it the way they do, how that organization affects children and families for whom English is an additional language, and how and why the environment can be changed to improve science learning for these children and families.
What’s your favorite thing about language?
Diversity. Multilingualism has fascinated me since I was a Peace Corps Volunteer in the densely multilingual Mandara Mountains in northern Cameroon.
Who is your favorite language-oriented researcher (living or dead)?
My doctoral advisers Elinor Ochs and Russell Schuh, brilliant and generous scholars.
If you could make every student at OSU know one thing about language, what would it be?
That we all have language ideologies that affect how we view and engage with other people, and that becoming aware of and questioning our ideologies may help us engage with others more productively and more justly.
Why are you a member of the BLN?
Because I love being connected to other language-focused researchers at OSU. My BLN connections have led to wonderful things, including my work in the Language Pod at COSI, the enriching presence of students from other departments in my courses, and friendships that provide so much support and inspiration.
Anything else you want to tell us?
I am honored to be in the new BLN website spotlight.