Bulletin Board
Work as a Research Assistant @ Reed!
During her sabbatical next year, Kara will be working on a new project, entitled “Linguistic Diversity and Discrimination in Higher Education,” and has received funding to hire a post-bac (a person with an undergraduate degree) for a part-time position (approximately $18,000 for a full year of part-time work, including benefits) as well as one to two part-time research assistants (approximately 8 hours/week). Work on the project will begin in June and continue throughout the year. If you are interested, please send a short email of interest to Kara (kbecker@reed.edu), and include 1) a statement about why you’re interested in the position, and 2) a list of qualifications that you feel are relevant to the position. A short description of the project:
As the student population in higher education diversifies, so too do ways of speaking that differ from Standard American English, both for speakers of English as a second language and for native speakers who use varieties linked to region (e.g. Southern English), social group (e.g. African American English), or socioeconomic status (e.g. working-class). This project explores the role that language variation plays in issues of student access, experience, and success in higher education. The central research questions are:
1) How is linguistic variation evaluated by community members at an elite liberal arts college (faculty, staff and students)? Does non-standard language correlate with negative evaluations in the college context?
2) Do students report experiencing discrimination based on the way they talk? Where and in what forms?
The Bulletin Board is for informational purposes only. The Linguistics Department does not explicitly endorse any of the particular events or opportunities listed here.