KRISTEN KENNEDY TERRY, Ph.D.
I am an applied linguist and my research lies at the intersection of second language acquisition (SLA) and sociolinguistics, specifically the acquisition of variation in a second language. I am especially interested in how language learners come to understand the difference between, and ultimately learn to use, alternate ways of saying the same thing (i.e., variables) in the target language. A frequently cited example of this is the alternation between “I am going to” and “I’m gonna” in English, where both convey the same referential meaning, but each carries a different social weight and is alternately used by the same speaker in different speech contexts. More specifically, my published research explores the critical role of social networks with target-language speakers in the acquisition of informal French by language learners during study abroad.
I received my Ph.D. in French and SLA from the University of California, Davis in 2012. Prior to that, I earned my M.B.A. in Finance from Saint Mary’s College of California and my B.A. in Economics, International Area Studies from the University of California, Los Angeles. I worked as a Senior Financial Analyst for a software company for nine years, in both California and Sydney, Australia, before returning to graduate school to pursue my Ph.D. in French. Prior to joining the faculty at SHSU, I taught French at Santa Clara University, Saint Mary’s College of California, and the University of California, Davis.
Books
Kennedy Terry, K., & Bayley, R. (in press, 2024). Social Network Analysis in Second Language Research: Theory and Methods. Second Language Acquisition Research Series. New York: Routledge.
https://www.routledge.com/Social-Network-Analysis-in-Second-Language-Research-Theory-and-Methods/Terry-Bayley/p/book/9781032005027
Peer-reviewed Publications
Regan, V., & Kennedy Terry, K. (Eds.) (forthcoming, 2024). The Development of Sociolinguistic Competence. Special journal issue of Languages. https://www.mdpi.com/journal/languages/special_issues/NC5124VCIX
Kennedy Terry, K. (2023). Learning from Locals: The Impact of Social Networks with Target-Language Speakers during Study Abroad. L2 Journal, 15(2), 92-109. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/5427b39g
Kennedy Terry, K. (2022). At the Intersection of SLA and Sociolinguistics: The Predictive Power of Social Networks during Study Abroad. The Modern Language Journal, 106(1), 245-266. [Winner of Best of Modern Language Journal 2022] https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/15404781?tabActivePane=undefined
Kennedy Terry, K. (2022). Social Networks. In K. Geeslin (Ed.), The Routledge handbook of sociolinguistics and second language acquisition (pp. 113-125). New York: Routledge.
Kennedy Terry, K. (2022). Sociolinguistic variation in L2 French: what schwa deletion patterns reveal about language acquisition during study abroad. In R. Bayley, D. R. Preston, & X. Li (Eds.), Variation in second and heritage languages: Crosslinguistic perspectives (pp. 279-310). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Kennedy Terry, K. (2017). Contact, Context, and Collocation: The Emergence of Sociostylistic Variation in L2 French Learners during Study Abroad. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 39(3), 553-578.
Kennedy Terry, K., & Russell, E. (2013). Modeling the emergence of a typological anomaly: vowel nasalization in French. Proceedings of the 37th Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society, 155-169.
Selected Conference Presentations
Kennedy Terry, K. (2022, October). Sociolinguistic variation in L2 French: what schwa deletion patterns reveal about language acquisition during study abroad. Panel: Acquiring Sociolinguistic Competence: Variationist Studies of Second and Heritage Languages. Conference on New Ways of Analyzing Variation (NWAV50), Stanford University.
Kennedy Terry, K. (2021, March). Social networks and the acquisition of sociolinguistic and grammatical competence during study abroad. Colloquium on Variationist Approaches to Second Language Acquisition. Annual meeting of the American Association for Applied Linguistics (AAAL).
Kennedy Terry, K. (2019, October). The acquisition of sociolinguistic variation during study abroad: consonant clusters, social networks, and L2 French learners. Special session on Variation in Second and Heritage Languages: Crosslinguistic Perspectives. Conference on New Ways of Analyzing Variation (NWAV48), University of Oregon.
Kennedy Terry, K. (2014, October). Social networks and study abroad: the emergence of sociostylistic variation in L2 French learners. Conference on New Ways of Analyzing Variation (NWAV43), Chicago.
Kennedy Terry, K. (2010, April). Explicit instruction, metalinguistic awareness, and the acquisition of variable tense/aspect marking in L2 French. The 5th biannual Conference of the University of California Consortium on Language Learning & Teaching (UCCLLT), University of California, San Diego.
Kennedy Terry, K. (2010, March). The acquisition of relative clauses in L2 French. Annual meeting of the American Association for Applied Linguistics (AAAL), Atlanta.
List of Courses Regularly Taught at SHSU
WOLC 4363: Language Learning: Concepts & Methods
FREN 1411: Elementary French
FREN 1412: Elementary French
FREN 4075: Individual French Readings