PhD Studentship: Reading with Deaf Eyes

Fri Jan 13 09:48:53 UTC 2012

ESRC STUDENTSHIP

ESRC Studentship for MSc+PhD (1yr MSc plus 3 yrs PhD) at University College London, ESRC Deafness, Cognition and Language Research Centre: READING WITH DEAF EYES

DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS: Friday 3rd February 2012

The UCL Deafness Cognition and Language Research Centre (DCAL) is pleased to advertise an ESRC studentship for the academic year commencing September 2012.

ESRC studentships provide up to four years full-time funding for postgraduate training. They cover tuition fees and include a maintenance grant. Successful candidates will be expected to learn BSL to a Level 2 standard.  Training will be provided if necessary.

DCAL will consider applicants to initially undertake one of the ESRC approved masters programmes (e.g., MSc in Cognitive Neuroscience, MSc in Research Methods, MSc in Neuroscience, Language and Communication, MRes in Speech, Language and Cognition) followed by a 3-year PhD studentship. We will also consider applicants who have completed relevant masters-level training to undertake a 3-year PhD studentship.

DCAL is an ESRC funded research centre which brings together leading Deaf and hearing researchers in the fields of sign linguistics, psychology, and neuroscience (see: http://www.dcal.ucl.ac.uk<http://www.dcal.ucl.ac.uk/> ).

More details about the research project offered are attached. Informal enquiries should be made to Professor Vigliocco:  (g.vigliocco at ucl.ac.uk<mailto:g.vigliocco at ucl.ac.uk>).

The application process will be in two stages. In the first instance, applicants should send a CV, cover letter and the names and email addresses of two referees to Antonietta Esposito at a.esposito at ucl.ac.uk<mailto:a.esposito at ucl.ac.uk> by Friday 3rd February 2012.

The cover letter should highlight the qualities that make you suitable for the studentship and include a brief statement outlining which project you are most interested in and why you wish to conduct research in this area. Shortlisted candidates will be invited to an interview in mid-February and, if successful, will then be required to submit a formal post-graduate application to UCL.

All applications are subject to the ESRC nationality and residency restrictions. Applicants are asked to indicate in their submission that they meet these requirements. These requirements and other information are available on the ESRC's website. Applicants are strongly advised to consult this guide - ESRC Funding Guide<http://www.esrc.ac.uk/funding-and-guidance/guidance/postgraduates/PFG.aspx> - when completing their application.

Please note that you will also need to submit an application to the UCL registry, to apply for a place on the PhD Programme in Cognitive, Perceptual and Brain Sciences.  More information can be found at:

http://www.ucl.ac.uk/lifesciences-faculty/degree-programmes/psychology-language-sciences/phd

STUDENTSHIP Description: Reading with Deaf eyes

The use of eye-tracking to investigate language processing, especially reading of hearing individuals has provided evidence of (a) the characteristics of eye movements, (b) perceptual span, (c) integration of information across saccades, (d) eye movement control, and (e) individual differences (including dyslexia). Eye movement data from eye-tracking are critical because they reflect moment-to-moment cognitive processes allowing a much greater understanding of the process.

Nonetheless, to date, there are no known eye-tracking studies exploring the nature of reading for Deaf individuals and more generally, very little is known about the nature of reading for Deaf adults. For example, we know that, for hearing individuals, mapping the phonology of a spoken language onto the orthography of the written language are a critical stage in learning how to read (see Rayner, 1998 for review).  However, the reading task is likely approached in a different way by deaf individuals. Specifically, knowledge of spoken language phonology is necessarily different for deaf individuals who have little or no access to the sounds of a spoken language and there is some evidence that oral training or phonological training is not a good predictor of reading success (Golden-Meadow & Mayberry, 2001). Further, orally trained deaf children do not always make use of phonological information during reading (Waters & Doehring, 1990; Nemeth, 1992). What little data there is, in fact, suggests that reading ability may be more closely linked to sign language skills - despite the fact that a sign language offers no information about spoken language phonology (Padden & Ramsey, 2000).

The holder of the proposed PhD studentship will investigate language processing (in British Sign Language), and reading, in deaf readers of English and relate these results to British Sign Language and English proficiency. The overarching goal will be to achieve a better overall understanding of how language skills in BSL relate to reading achievements and the possible predictors that contribute to these skills. This research will make use of eye-tracking although this will be coupled with other methodologies available in the Cognitive, Perceptual and Brain Sciences Research Department  http://www.ucl.ac.uk/psychlangsci/research/CPB.

The primary supervisor of this project will be Prof. Gabriella Vigliocco. Second supervisor will be Dr. Robin Thompson

For more details or informal enquires please contact Prof. Vigliocco:  g.vigliocco at ucl.ac.uk<mailto:g.vigliocco at ucl.ac.uk>

Bencie Woll BA, MA, PhD
Director, Deafness Cognition and Language Research Centre UCL
49 Gordon Square
London WC1H 0PD
www.dcal.ucl.ac.uk
+44 20 7679 8670 (voice)
+44 20 7679 8691 (fax)
+44 20 7679 8693 (Minicom/TDD)
+44 792 024 7640 (Mobile)

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