Why no second language? (YNSL)

• Collaborators: Dr. Melanie D'Amico and Grad/Undergrad research team at ISU

• Aim: An investigation into why students opt to not study a second language at the college level

• Presentations:

  • The Purdue Linguistics, Literature, and Second Language Studies Conference (2019)

  • Central States Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (2019)

  • Second Language Research Forum (2019)

QRPs in applied linguistics

• Collaborators: Tove Larsson,Luke Plonsky, & Merja Kytö

• Aim: a multi-year collaboration to better understand questionable research practices in applied linguistics

• Projects include:

  • Creation of QRP taxonomy

  • Survey of QRPs within the quantitative humanities

  • Creation of teaching resources about QRPs

• Presentations:

  • American Association of Applied Linguistics (2022)

  • Association for Practical and Professional Ethics (2022)

Research ethics (research tasks)

• Collaborators: Peter De Costa, Jongbong Lee, Wendy Li, and Hima Rawal

• Publication

  • De Costa, P. I., Sterling, S., Lee, J., Li, W., & Rawal, H. (2020). Research tasks on ethics in applied linguistics. Language Teaching, 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0261444820000257

Creativity and language play in ESL textbooks

• Collaborator: Kayleigh Fisher (graduate student, ISU)

• Aim: To better understand the type of humorous language used in ESL textbooks

• Presentations:

  • Poster at AAAL 2020 (cancelled due to Covid)

  • Poster at SLRF 2020

Language Plans in various contexts

• Collaborators: Louisa Laroque

• Aim: To help students be more autonomous language learners and to measure the effects of providing autonomy support on language proficiency

• Presentations

  • The Purdue Linguistics, Literature, and Second Language Studies Conference (2019)

  • Central States Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (2019)

Complexity in ESL consent forms

• Solo author

• Aim: An investigation into the complexity of consent forms written for ESL participants

• Publication:

  • Sterling, S. (2018). Investigating the complexity of consent forms in ESL research. Journal of Research Design and Statistics in Linguistics and Communication Science. 4(2), 154-173.

Ethical grey areas in applied linguistic research

• Collaborator: Dr. Susan Gass

• Aim: To better understand the current landscape of research ethics in applied linguistics

• Publications:

  • Sterling, S., & Gass, S. (2017). Exploring the boundaries of research ethics: Perceptions of Ethics and Ethical Behaviors in Classroom-Based Applied Linguistics Research. System, 70, 50-62.

  • Gass, S., & Sterling, S. (2017). Ethics in ISLA. In Loewen, S., & Sato, M. (Eds). The Routlege Handbook of Instructed Second Language Acquisition. New York: Routledge.

Language Play in a Spanish classroom

• Collaborator: Dr. Shawn Loewen

• Aim: Investigating the intersection of language play and form-focused events

• Publication:

  • Sterling, S., & Loewen, S. (2015). The occurrence of teacher-initiated playful LREs in a Spanish L2 classroom. System, 53, 73–83. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2015.07.002

Statistical literacy in second language research

• Collaborator: Drs. Shawn Loewen, Betsy Lavolette, Le Ann Spino, Mostafa Papi, Jens Schmidtke, Dominik Wolff

• Aim: Investigating the intersection of language play and form-focused events

• Publication:

  • Loewen, S., Lavolette, E., Spino, L., Papi, M., Schmidtke, J., Sterling, S., Wolff, D., (2014). Statistical Literacy Among Applied Linguists and Second Language Acquisition Researchers. TESOL Quarterly, 48(2), 360–388.