Research

My research interests center around how learners of Spanish continue to acquire new vocabulary beyond explicit instruction. In particular, my research examines how the recognition of word parts can more easily facilitate vocabulary learning, particularly through contexts such as reading. In other words, if they see a new word with parts they might already know, does that make the learning of that word easier? Additionally, I am interested in the development of word families within the mental lexicon, as well as the connections between morphologically complex words in English and Spanish.

My dissertation work has focused on the processing of novel Spanish verbs as a starting point for accessing full verbal paradigms (i.e., verb conjugations). I use self-paced reading  to study reading times of verbs embedded in sentences. It synthesizes research in morphological priming,  implicit and explicit vocabulary learning, and the development and processing of verbal paradigms and word families by both first- and second-language readers. 

I study whether second language learners of Spanish can "see" morphemes in newly-encountered verbs while reading in real time, and whether this recognition of individual morphemes influences learners' access to the remaining verbal paradigm. 

The findings from my research can help linguists and language instructors understand how new information gets connected to established verb knowledge. Results of this work can also inform how we teach morphology as a comprehension strategy in the classroom.

Click on Ongoing Projects below to learn about my research beyond my dissertation.

Research Keywords

second language acquisition, vocabulary learning, morphological processing, lexical development, second language reading, L2 vowel production

Ongoing Projects

L1 and L2 English and Spanish Vowel Duration | North Carolina State University

Completed Projects

Metathesis Resolution in Spanish Speech Production | Appalachian State University

Conference Presentations

Chandler, L. (March 2023). Novel morphological processing in L1 and L2 Spanish reading. Poster presentation at the 36th Annual Conference on Human Sentence Processing, Pittsburgh, PA.

Chandler, L. (March 2022). Novel Verb Reading in First- and Second-Language Spanish. Virtual presentation at the Graduate Exhibition, University Park, PA.

Chandler, L. (2021). Novel morphological processing during L2 Spanish reading. Virtual presentation at the Graduate Exhibition, University Park, PA.

Chandler, L. (2020). Vocabulary in Action: Exposure Modulates Online Processing of Content Words in the L2. Poster presented at the Young Scholar Speaker Series, hosted by the Center for Language Science (CLS), University Park, PA. 

Chandler, L., & Cruz Martínez, J. (2018). Word Order in Puerto Rico Spanish: Different from Other Varieties of Spanish? Presented at the Hispanic Linguistics Symposium, Austin, TX. 

Chandler, L. (2018). Vowel duration in bilingual English-Spanish speech. Presented at Current Approaches to Spanish and Portuguese Second Language Phonology (CASPSLaP), Bloomington, IN.

Chandler, L. (2017). Vowel duration in bilingual English-Spanish speech. Poster session presented at the Hispanic Linguistics Symposium, Lubbock, TX.

Chandler, L. (2015). Autocorrect as a processing tool: Metathesis resolution in Spanish speech production. Presented at Spanish Linguistics in North Carolina (SLINKI), Greenville, NC. 

Invited Talks & Presentations

Chandler, L. (February 2022). Processing novel Spanish verb inflection while reading. Center for Language Science Speaker Series, University Park, PA. 

Chandler, L. (May 2021). Virtual Data Collection Using Gorilla. Virtual demonstration at the Technische Universität, Braunschweig, Germany.

Chandler, L. (January 2021). L2 Vocabulary Learning: What the intersection of word families, incidental learning, and psycholinguistics can tell us. Virtual presentation at the Center for Language Acquisition Roundtable Speaker Series, University Park, PA. 

Chandler, L. (October 2020). Writing a Doctoral Dissertation. Virtual presentation at 6th Annual Penn State Undergraduate Exhibition in Hispanic and General Linguistics (PSUxLing6), University Park, PA. 

Chandler, L., & Pahis, A. (October 2018). The First-Year Graduate Experience. Presentation at 5th Annual Penn State Undergraduate Exhibition in Hispanic and General Linguistics (PSUxLing5), University Park, PA.

Selected Funding & Awards

The Pennsylvania State University

Appalachian State University