I am an applied linguist with an interest in second language acquisition, particularly vocabulary acquisition. I joined the faculty here at Idaho State University in 2005, where one of my main responsibilities is to collaborate on the establishment and implementation of the English department’s Graduate Certificate in TESL. The program is designed to serve both teachers in local communities, as well as teachers of English in foreign language environments.

Before coming to ISU, I taught English in Japan for more than a decade. Through this experience, I became interested in the field of applied linguistics partly due to my desire to improve myself as a teacher, and partly due to my curiosity about the social, psychological, and cognitive processes that lead to the successful acquisition of second languages. My research in the field especially reflects my concern with understanding how vocabulary acquisition and vocabulary use function at a psycholinguistic level.

Now that I’m back in American after my long hiatus, I enjoy teaching both at the graduate and undergraduate levels. As a teacher, I particularly look forward to that moment where students realize that linguistics is actually a lively, engaging, and relevant area of study, even though it often has the false image of being the tedious process of cataloguing the intricacies of language.

Selected Publications

2006 “Lexical network structures and L2 vocabulary acquisition: The role of L1 lexical/conceptual knowledge” in Applied Linguistics 27(4), 741-747.

2005 (with Wilks. C. and Meara, P.) “A further note on simulating word association behaviour in a second language” in Second Language Research 21(4), 359-372.

2004 (with Meara, P.). “V_Links: beyond vocabulary depth” in Angles on the English-speaking world, 4, 85-96.

2002 “Assessing proficiency through word associations: Is there still hope?” in System, 30(3), 315-329.

2001 “Comparing the L1 and L2 mental lexicon: A depth of individual word knowledge model” in Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 23(1), 41-69.

2000 “A participant-centered approach to INSET course design” in ELT Journal, 54 (4), 311-318.

Courses Taught

• English Composition and Critical Reading and Writing (101 & 102)
• Introduction to Language Studies (281)
• Rotating Topics in Linguistics (484/584)
• Linguistic Analysis (485/585)
• Theory of Second Language Acquisition (681)
• Methods of Teaching English as a Second Language (682)

Office: LA 225
Office Phone: 282-2119
woltbren@isu.edu