My expertise within applied linguistics lies in two main areas. Within the first area, second language acquisition (SLA), I am especially interested in instructed language learning. However, my work has addressed a wide range of topics related to second-language development such as individual differences (e.g., anxiety, strategies, beliefs, grit), computer-assisted and app-based language learning, vocabulary development, learner corpora, task-based language teaching, interaction, pragmatics, pronunciation, and assessment.
The methodologically oriented research I conduct, which comprises the primary focus of my agenda, addresses topics ranging from sampling, replication, and experimental design to statistical analyses, reporting practices, instrumentation, bibliometrics, and data ethics. My efforts in these areas have been central to the methodological reform movement taking place in applied linguistics. In addition, I have been active in promoting and applying synthetic / meta-analytic techniques as well as, more generally, reproducible research and open science. Toward these ends, I often employ such techniques to describe and evaluate research and reporting practices. By doing so, I hope to improve applied linguists’ efforts to produce research that can contribute more effectively and efficiently to theory and practice.
I currently serve as Editor of Studies in Second Language Acquisition and Managing Editor of Foreign Language Annals, and I am Co-Director of the IRIS database. I am also Co-Editor of de Gruyter Mouton’s Series on Language Acquisition (SOLA).
I am an Associate Professor of Applied Linguistics at Northern Arizona University. I have held previous positions at Georgetown University and University College London; I have also taught short- and longer-term classes in China, Japan, The Netherlands, Poland, Puerto Rico, and Spain.
I received my PhD in Second Language Studies from Michigan State University.
Contact: lukeplonsky@gmail.com
Luke Plonsky 