Tag Archives: phd

Practical Corpus Linguistics by Martin Weisser

Practical Corpus Linguistics: An Introduction to Corpus-Based Language Analysis

Practical Corpus Linguistics: An Introduction to Corpus-Based Language Analysis by Martin Weisser

Practical Corpus Linguistics is a great introduction to analyzing language data with hands-on exercises using free software and websites. For anyone interested in textual analysis, corpus linguistics, and digital humanities, this book will get you started on the basics. There are other introduction to corpus linguistics books available, but this appears to be the only one that is designed as more of a how-to guide rather than a theoretical overview.

Chapters include collecting and cleaning data, concordancing, querying mega corpora online, frequency analysis, keywords in context, and part-of-speech tagging. There are even chapters on regular expressions and XML. Each chapter features several exercises for you to try out, as well as solutions to and comments on the exercises. There is also a companion website for the book with more exercises as well as updates.

The BYU website was changed shortly after the book was published, so you will need to check the companion website for instructions on using the new interface for accessing the Corpus of Contemporary American English. However, the old website is still available. You will also need to download the free software, AntConc, and create a free account at the BNCweb site to follow along with the exercises.

If you prefer to analyze languages other than English, check out a simple analysis of telenovela Spanish phrases I carried out using DownThemAll to collect transcripts, Python to clean the text files, and AntConc to find the most common phrases.

More Corpus Linguistics

The 8-week Corpus Linguistics MOOC at Futurelearn is another great introduction to the methodology. Both Lancaster and Birmingham run Corpus Linguistics summer schools in the UK every year if you’re able to travel to them.

If you’re interested in learning more programming for humanities research (usually in Python), try the lessons at Programming Historian and check out my list of Digital Humanities tools. Martin Weisser also wrote Essential Programming for Linguists (using Perl) that you might be interested in.

Dr Jennifer Wagner

Introducing Dr Jennifer Wagner

It’s official. I am Dr Jennifer Wagner.

As of December 10, 2015, my degree was conferred by the university council and I have the right to call myself a doctor. My PhD took more than four years, even though nine months at the end was mostly doing paperwork and waiting. The actual research and thesis writing portion was around 3.5 years, which is normal for a PhD in the Commonwealth where there is no coursework. I wrote almost 80,000 words on language and culture in French textbooks. I like to joke that my thesis is a 300 page complaint of the way textbooks teach French – but honestly, I’m only half-joking.

So what led me to do an entire PhD on French textbooks? Anger, mostly. And the frustration at learning things in class that I never heard or used in real life and being utterly confused at the French I heard and read everywhere in France. I learned French in the days before Youtube, or FluentU, or Yabla, and I couldn’t afford expensive cassettes or CDs to listen to French – but that is exactly what I needed. I’m still surprised at how many of my students today think that reading a textbook means they will be able to understand spoken language and have conversations with their peers. Sorry, but it’s not going to happen. Technology is your friend.

I have returned to the US since my Australian visa was expiring but I am looking for jobs in North America, Europe, or Australia/New Zealand. Please let me know if you hear of opportunities in Applied Linguistics, French, or English as a Second Language. If it involves languages, then I’m interested.

 

Back to North America Soon… But Probably Not Forever

It doesn’t seem like it’s been nearly 4 years since I left France for Australia, but it has. And now it’s time to say goodbye to Australia, unfortunately. My student visa expires soon and I haven’t been able to find a permanent job (most likely because I do not yet have my PhD “in hand” as almost every job listing specifies). Even though Australia now has a Post-Study Work Visa for recent graduates, I am not eligible since I started my program before November 2011 and there is no alternative option for me. I am slightly bitter about how unfair immigration laws really are and being forced to leave a place I love, but I will continue to apply for jobs in Australia with the hope of returning someday. I am also looking for jobs in North America and Europe, so if you hear of any French or applied linguistics lecturer positions, please let me know.

I’ll be back in Michigan and Virginia for a short time in June to see family, and then I’m off to Europe for a few weeks for the New Zealand Studies Association conference and my annual trip with Michelle. We’ll be exploring Eastern Europe and Iceland, and then I’ll be heading to France and Benelux to visit friends and family. When I return to the US in August, I’ll be able to work full-time on the website since I won’t have a job so expect more authentic language videos and realia to be uploaded then.

If anyone in the Adelaide area needs furniture or household items, I’m selling almost everything I own on Gumtree and Ebay. (I’ll be adding my desktop computer and car soon.) I’ll also be donating some things, such as books and kitchen items, to Salvos if you like free stuff.

I leave Australia June 14, but don’t worry, Charlie is definitely coming to the US with me. He actually arrives before I do! Jetpets will be taking care of him along the way, and he even gets to spend the night in both Sydney and Los Angeles on his way to Detroit.

My handsome little man

My handsome little man, and soon to be world traveler!

The end of my PhD is near, so what’s next?

I have just finished writing the last chapter of data analysis for my thesis. Now I need to write the conclusion and abstract, update my literature review, and do some final revisions then the printing and binding of four copies. Technically I have until March 2015 to submit, so if I haven’t managed to find a job this (Australian) summer, I’ll at least still have student status for a while longer. You’re probably thinking that I could finish in no time since I don’t have much left to do, but I have about seven jobs right now – more than half are actually volunteer positions – so I can’t exactly work on my thesis every single day. Plus turning my chapters into manuscripts to submit to journals takes a while, but needs to be done sooner rather than later since finding an academic job without having research publications is very difficult.

This may or may not be the same size as my stack of data and thesis copies...

This may or may not be the same size as my stack of data sets and thesis copies… [Photo Credit: gadl via Compfight cc]

I love all of my jobs though and wouldn’t give any of them up without a fight. The most time-consuming right now is teaching three classes this semester: first year French, second year French, and a tutorial on intercultural communication. I am a tiny bit obsessed with finding and creating fun speaking and vocabulary activities for my French students (see exhibit A: my Teaching French at Uni board on Pinterest).

I’m in Brisbane this week for the 1,600 delegate-strong AILA World Congress (the most important applied linguistics conference in the world!) and then I’m off to Sydney in October for the Easter Island exhibition that I’m co-curating as well as Taiwan in December to present at the Pacific History Association conference.

I’m also an assistant editor of the Journal of New Zealand & Pacific Studies which publishes two issues a year and has an annual conference in Europe, for which I’m an organiser, as part of the New Zealand Studies Association. (We’ll be in Vienna in July 2015, btw.) Add to those being the student representative for PhD students in my School (I get to complain on behalf of all of the students! I love complaining!), a research assistant, and webmaster of five websites, and hopefully you will understand why I have very little free time these days.

My current student visa expires in October 2015 and I’m still a little unclear as to whether the Department of Immigration changes the expiration date if your degree is conferred before your candidature is up. (It seems that international undergrads who finish their degrees early only have 28 days before they must leave the country.) I’m crossing my fingers that a visa-sponsoring academic job in Australia or New Zealand is available for next year but I’m also trying to prepare for the worst, i.e. packing up everything and moving across the ocean at my own expense for the third time in my life.

Plan B is submitting an expression of interest to obtain a resident visa for New Zealand since university lecturer is currently on the Long Term Skill Shortage List. Plan C is putting my stuff in storage, having friends look after Charlie and basically hanging out in Honolulu or LA until I can find a permanent way back to this part of the world. Just as one language will never be enough for me, one nationality and one passport will never be enough either.

I’ll post a summary of my time at AILA next week, but in the meantime I’m tweeting about the presentations and plenaries I’m attending and you can also check out the hashtag #AILA2014.

Doing a PhD in Australia

Doing a PhD in Australia and Being a Higher Degree by Research (HDR) Student

Doing a PhD in Australia as a Higher Degree by Research (HDR) student

Let me tell you a little about doing a PhD in Australia as a Higher Degree by Research (HDR) student. As the name implies, it is a research only degree that is supposed to take 3-3.5 years before you submit your thesis – meaning you don’t have any courses to take and your “full-time job” is to do research. You can teach/tutor if you want to, but it is not a required part of the degree. So unlike North American PhDs, there is no coursework, no qualifying exams, and no oral defense with your thesis supervisors. You simply submit the examination copy of your thesis, one examiner from Australia and one international examiner tell you what corrections to make, you make those changes, and submit the final thesis. (This submission process can take anywhere from 3 months to a year though.)

Most universities offer Masters Degrees and PhDs as well as Professional Doctorates by Research, while the regular postgraduate degrees that require coursework include Graduate Certificates, Diplomas, and Masters Degrees. However, since Australia has the Honours system for their Bachelor’s degrees, which adds another year during which students undertake a research project and write a thesis, many students go from an Honours Bachelors degree into a PhD without getting a Master’s degree. Obtaining a PhD can be done in seven consecutive years (3 years for Bachelors + 1 year for Honours + 3 years for PhD), though it is more common to start a PhD later in life than directly after a Bachelor’s degree. The average age of beginning PhD students in Australia is 28 for science degrees and 38 for humanities degrees.

I was lucky enough to receive a full scholarship and living stipend so that my tuition and health insurance are both already paid for and I receive a “salary” of almost $2000 AUD every month to cover rent and living costs. This scholarship is guaranteed for 3 years, with the possibility of a 6 month extension. It is not a high salary by American or Australian standards, but it is much more than I ever made working full-time in France. Don’t be fooled though – the cost of living in Australia is very high, and $2000 a month is actually less than minimum wage, so it doesn’t go very far!

Scholarships are quite competitive for international students though, and you must be full-time and doing research on campus (internal, not external, student) in order to receive them. The application itself for admission/scholarships was quite long (a lot of writing on your proposed research, obviously), but did not require the GRE or any other standardized test scores. My program provides a research fund that includes reimbursement for books or equipment that I might need to buy (which includes home internet costs!) and travel funds to pay for plane tickets and accommodation when presenting at conferences. Since I am also attached to a Research Centre within my School and Division, there are other grants I can apply for if I need more funding.

On campus, I have my own desk and shared office with other PhD students, but since I am a student and not staff, I still get the many, many perks of having a student ID (discounts galore! MS Office for $99, for example, and half price bus tickets). I don’t have any office hours, nor do I actually have to use my workspace if I don’t want to. I am free to work at home or in the library if I wish to do so. It is essentially a Results Only Work Environment (or perhaps Learning Environment) which I love, as it allows me to work when I am the most motivated. I have monthly meetings with my supervisors to make sure I am on the right track and actually doing something, but other than that, I am free to do what I want. So Research Degrees are not for everyone – if you have motivation problems, I wouldn’t suggest them – but they are great for those of us who work best independently and on our own schedule.

And don’t mind being buried under massive amounts of books and articles…

 

The UN’s Education Index ranks Australia’s education system as tied for first place with Denmark, Finland, and New Zealand. Canada is next, but the US is down at number 20. The average length of Australian PhDs is 4.5 years, while Americans PhDs average 8 years because of the extra coursework (and perhaps teaching). About 50% of people with PhDs in Australia do not continue in academia, and students are not required to publish or teach as much as in the US (especially in the Humanities), so the push to remain in academia is not as great. Since I am still not sure what I would like to do after I finish my PhD (become a professor or researcher or leave academia altogether?), I like the flexibility of my program and not feeling as though I am already being forced towards a career in academia, which is the impression I get when reading about American Humanities PhDs.

I do have a plan!

 

I’ve only been a student for about a month, and these are simply my own experiences and observations at my particular university for a humanities degree. I’d love to hear from other HDR students and PhD students in the US to know more about different programs.

For more information on the various Australian universities, check out Universities Australia and the Group of Eight (the Ivy League of Australia) as well as the Australian Technology Network, which is the best bet for international students – though don’t let the name fool you; my university belongs to the ATN and my PhD is in Languages & Linguistics rather than science or technology. There is also a forum at Study Connect if you want to talk to other students and find out about life in the major cities.

Feel free to ask me questions if you plan to apply. The main deadline for the International Postgraduate Research Scholarship is August 31 for commencement early the following year. There are other scholarships at the Australian Postgraduate Awards rate available for international students starting mid-year as well (July), which is what I received.

UPDATE: I have now finished my PhD and left Australia. Since I started my program before November 2011, I was not eligible for the new post-study visa which allows you to stay in Australia for 1.5-4 years after graduation. I only had 3 months to find a job and with all the cuts to university funding because of changes in government, there were very few jobs to apply to. The cost of living and being so far away from family in the US were also major factors in why I left. (Check out 5 things I do not miss about Australia.)

A few things have changed over the years, which unfortunately made my experience worse. My school cut the funds for books and equipment after a year which was extremely disappointing. We had a few problems with PhD students’ offices being forgotten with regards to workplace safety regulations. It is much harder for international students to get scholarships now, and nearly impossible to get the 6 month extension. Although the stipend does increase slightly every year, the cost of living in Australia continues to spiral out of control. There was a also a lot of staff turnover in my school, which made things confusing for students who didn’t know who to talk to when they had questions.

Note that some Australian universities have one or two required courses for PhD students, and a few are starting to implement the oral defense in place of the traditional thesis examination.

Make sure to check with your division and school for funding opportunities, but beware that they can be cut at any moment.