Dissertations

Corpus-based dissertations since 2000 by year of graduation

2023

Lama Alhusain: Investigating interactivity and its relationship to language use and task variables in L2 peer interaction

Chair: William J Crawford; Members: Jesse A Egbert, Luke Plonsky, Mohammed Alquraishi

Amanda Black: The linguistic features of bias in the news

Marianna Gracheva: Linguistic variation across texts: The role of register, intra-register communicative distinctions, social group, and individual differences

Co-chairs: Doug Biber, Jesse Egbert; Members: Naoko Taguchi, Michaela Mahlberg

Margaret Wood: Communicative function and linguistic variation in state statutory law

Co-chairs: Doug Biber, Jesse Egbert; Members: Randi Reppen, Hon. Thomas R. Lee

2022

Daniel Dixon: The language in digital games: Register variation in virtual and real-world contexts

Chair: Jesse Egbert; Members: Doug Biber, Bill Crawford, Jonathon Reinhardt, Randi Reppen

Tülay Dixon: Rules of academic writing: A synchronic and diachronic corpus analysis across the disciplines

Co-chairs:  Doug Biber, Bill Crawford; Members: Jesse Egbert, Jay Jordan, Randi Reppen

Larissa Goulart: Communicative text types in university writing

Co-chairs: Randi Reppen, Doug Biber; Members: Jesse Egbert, Bethany Gray

2021

Daniel Keller: Register and register processing

Co-chairs: Jesse Egbert, Vedran Dronjic, Members: Doug Biber, and Nick Ellis

Ethan Lynn: The linguistic nature of ESL/EFL reading textbooks

Co-chairs: Randi Reppen, Jesse Egbert; Members: Doug Biber, Vedran Dronjic, and Yuly Asencion Delaney (Global Languages)

2020

Mohammed Alquraishi: Studying linguistic variation in interactive spoken assessment tasks and its relation to task characteristics

Chair: William Crawford; Members: Douglas Biber, Jesse Egbert, Shelley Staples

Garrett Larson: Paired speaking tasks: Planning conditions and task performance

Co-chairs: William Crawford, Okim Kang; Members: Jesse Egbert and Yuly Asencion Delaney

Scott Stockton: A corpus-based analysis of junior and high school English textbooks in Japan

Co-chairs: Randi Reppen, Jesse Egbert; Members: Doug Biber, Yuly Asencion Delaney (Global Languages)

2019

David Gasbarro Tasker: Situational and linguistic variation in undergraduate English department student writing 

Co-Chairs: Randi Reppen, Doug Biber; Members: Jesse Egbert, Vedran Dronjic, Bethany Gray Iowa State University.

2018

Nicole Brun Mercer: Nations united through discourse: A corpus analysis of UN General Assembly addresses.

Co- Chairs: Doug Biber, Randi Reppen; Members:  Bill Crawford, Steve Wright (Political Science) 

Meishan Chen: A comparison of the situational and linguistic features of high-profile criminal trials and TV series courtroom trials

Co-Chairs: Doug Biber, Randi Reppen; Members: Bill Crawford, Edward Finegan (University of Southern California) 

Jersus José Colmenares López: Data driven learning: Evidence from Spanish as a foreign language (Ph.D. Curriculum and Instruction).

Co-Chairs: Louise Lockard and Randi Reppen; Members: Norbert Francis, Richard Brown, John McClure. 

Elnaz Kia: Directive use in university classroom discourse: Variation across disciplines, academic levels and interactivity

Co-Chairs: Doug Biber and Randi Reppen; Members: Jesse Egbert, Yuly Asención-Delaney (Spanish)

Meixiu Zhang: Investigating Native and Target Language Use in Collaborative L2 Writing.

Chair: Bill Crawford; Members: Doug Biber, Randi Reppen, Lisa Persinger (Educational Psychology)

2017

Anna Gates-Tapia: Definitions in university-level business management textbooks

Co-chairs: Douglas Biber, Randi Reppen; Members: Fredricka Stoller, Yuly Asención-Delaney (Spanish) 

Romy Ghanem: Non-native speakers' alignment of linguistic features with different interlocutors.

Chair: Okim Kang; Members: Doug Biber, Randi Reppen, Lucy Pickering (Texas A&M University- Commerce) 

Erin Schnur: Structural and functional characteristics of English for Academic Purposes (EAP) and authentic lectures

Co-chairs: Douglas Biber, Randi Reppen; Members: Bill Crawford, Jesse Egbert, Shelley Staples (University of Arizona)

2016

Heidi Wright: Linguistic and Structural Analyses of Stand-Alone Literature Reviews: Seventy-Five Years of Change.

Co-Chairs: Doug Biber, Fredricka Stoller; Members: Randi Reppen, Yuly Asencion (Global Languages and Cultures)

2015

Adnan Ajšić: Language ideologies, public discourses and ethnonationalism in the Balkans: A Corpus-based study.

Co-Chairs: Doug Biber, Mary McGroarty; Members: Randi Reppen, Jim Wilce (Anthropology)

Seonmin Park: Methodology for a reliable academic vocabulary list 

Chair: Doug Biber; Members: William Grabe, Luke Plonsky, Randi Reppen; Brent Burch (Statistics)

2014

Jesse Egbert: Reader perceptions of linguistic variation in published academic writing

Chair: Douglas Biber; Members: Randi Reppen, William Grabe, and Mark Davies (Brigham Young University)

Shelley Staples: Linguistics characteristics of international and U.S. nurse discourse

Co-chairs: Douglas Biber, Randi Reppen; Members: Okim Kang, Jay Shen (University of Nevada, Las Vegas)

2013

Dongmei Cheng: Student-instructor apologies: How are they produced and perceived? 

Co-chairs: Mary McGroarty, Randi Reppen; Members: Okim Kang, Jim Wilce (Anthropology).

Elena Poltavtchenko: Engineering design reports in upper-division undergraduate engineering courses and in the workplace

Co-Chairs: Douglas Biber, Fredricka Stoller; Members: William Grabe, Mary McGroarty, Debra Larson (California Polytechnic State University)

2012

Mansoor Al-Surmi: Authentic ESL spoken materials: Soap opera and sitcom versus natural conversation   

Chair: Randi Reppen; Members: Douglas Biber, Bill Crawford, Karina Collentine (Modern Languages)

Donald Miller: Lexical variability in required undergraduate reading

Co-Chairs: Douglas Biber, Randi Reppen; Members: Bill Grabe, Fredricka Stoller, Yuly Asención Delaney (Modern Languages)

Jonathan Smart: Innovative approaches to ESL grammar instruction

Co-Chairs:  Bill Crawford, Randi Reppen; Members: Doug Biber, Joe Collentine (Modern Languages)

2011

Stephen Doolan: A comparison of Generation 1.5, L1 and L2 tertiary student writing

Chair: Bill Grabe; Members: Doug Biber, Fredricka Stoller, Greg Glau, Yuly Asención Delaney (Modern Languages)

Shannon Fitzsimmons-Doolan: Identifying and describing language ideologies related to Arizona educational language policy.

Co-chairs: Doug Biber, Mary McGroarty; Members: Fredricka Stoller, Rich Fernandez (Sociology)

Bethany Gray: Exploring academic writing through corpus linguistics: When discipline tells only part of the story

Chair: Douglas Biber; Members: Bill Grabe, Randi Reppen, Viviana Cortes (Georgia State University), Susan Conrad (Portland State University)

Tatiana Nekrasova: EFL learners’ production of questions over time: Linguistic, usage-based, and developmental features

Co-chairs: Joan Jamieson and Kim McDonough; Members: Douglas Biber, Robert Horn (Educational Psychology)

2009

Federica Barbieri: Involvement in university classroom discourse.

Chair: Doug Biber; Members: Mary McGroarty, Randi Reppen; James Wilce (Anthropology)

Jack Grieve: A Corpus-Based Regional Dialect Survey of Grammatical Variation in Standard Written American English

Chair: Doug Biber; Members: Bill Crawford, Randi Reppen, Ruihong Huang (Geography)

Bradley Horn: Developing a computer-assisted writing assessment tool for discipline-specific writing

Chairs: Bill Grabe, Doug Biber; Members: Fredricka Stoller, Marin Robinson (Chemistry)

Erkan Karabacak: Unplanned terminology development: A synchronic and diachronic study on economic terms in Turkish newspapers

Co-Chairs: Doug Biber, Randi Reppen; Members: Mary McGroarty, Dan Li (Computer Science)

Gina Iberri-Shea: University student public speech: Language variation in classroom contexts.

Chair: Doug Biber; Members: Mary McGroarty; Randi Reppen, Laura Umphrey (Communication).

Angkana Tongpoon: The effects of concordancing on second language vocabulary learning

Chair: Randi Reppen; Members: Douglas Biber, Bill Grabe, Linda Shadiow (Educational leadership).

2008

Federica Barbieri: Involvement in university classroom discourse.

Chair: Doug Biber; Members: Mary McGroarty, Randi Reppen; James Wilce (Anthropology).

Ericson Friginal: The language of outsourced call centers: A corpus-based study of cross-cultural communication.  

Co-chairs: Doug Biber, Randi Reppen; Members: Mary McGroarty, James Pinto (Business).

Nicole Tracy-Ventura: Development readiness and tense/aspect: An instructional study of L2 preterit and imperfect acquisition in Spanish.

Chair: Mary McGroarty; Members: Doug Biber, Kim McDonough, Randi Reppen; Joe Collentine (Modern Languages).

Heidi Vellenga: Instructional effectiveness and interlanguage pragmatics.

Chair: Randi Reppen; Members: Susan Fitzmaurice (Sheffield University, Sheffield, UK), Mary McGroarty, Lourdes Ortega (University of Hawai’i at Mānoa).

2007

Casey Keck: The use of paraphrase in summary writing: A comparison of L1 and L2 writers.

Co-chairs: Doug Biber, Mary McGroarty; Members: Bill Grabe, Lourdes Ortega, Linda Shadiow (Education)

2005

Mohammed Al Bakry: Style in American Newspaper Language: Use and Usage.

Chair: Doug Biber; Members: Susan Fitzmaurice, Mary McGroarty, William Crawford, Joel Olson (Communication) 

Nancy Drescher:A Corpus-Based Investigation of Sex-Linked Pragmatic and Linguistic Features.

Chair: Susan Fitzmaurice. Members: Doug Biber, Mary McGroarty, Kristen Precht (Kent State)

2004 

Paula Garcia: Meaning in academic contexts: A corpus-based study of pragmatic utterances.

Chair: Susan Fitzmaurice. Members: Douglas Biber, Mary McGroarty, Roberto Carrasco (Education)

Paulo Marques Quaglio: The language of NBC’s Friends: A comparison with face-to-face conversation.

Co-chairs: Douglas Biber, Randi Reppen. Members: Susan Fitzmaurice, Alfredo Urzúa (Old Dominion University)

2003

Chandrika Rogers: Register variation in Indian English. 

Co-chairs: Douglas Biber, Susan Fitzmaurice. Members: Mary McGroarty, James Wilce (Anthropology)

2002

Viviana Cortés: Lexical bundles in academic writing in history and biology.

Chair: Douglas Biber. Members: Mary McGroarty, Randi Reppen, English; Linda Shadiow, (College of Education)

Eniko Csomay: Episodes in university classroom discourse.

Chair: Douglas Biber. Members: William Grabe, Mary McGroarty, English: Henry Clark, Education.

2001

Susan Carkin: Pedagogic discourse in introductory classes: A multi-dimensional analysis of textbooks and lectures in biology and macroeconomics.

Co-chairs: Douglas Biber, William Grabe; Members: Mary McGroarty; John Lackstrom (Utah State University)

Alfredo Urzúa: Perceptual and linguistic approaches to the study of reflectiveness in journal writing.

Chair: Susan Fitzmaurice. Members: Doug Biber; Dean Mellow (Simon Fraser University), Joseph Collentine (Modern Languages)

2000

Erika Konrad: Directives in socialization.

Chair: William Grabe, English. Members: Douglas Biber, Mary McGroarty, Susan Foster-Cohen (University of London/Paris Institute), James Wilce (Anthropology)

Kristen Precht: Patterns of stance in English.

Co-chairs: Douglas Biber, William Grabe. Members: Mary McGroarty, James Wilce (Anthropology)