Research Interest
Her primary areas of interest and research are multilingualism and language contact phenomena, sign language linguistics and the sociolinguistics of Deaf communities, the teaching and learning of second languages and the professional development of language teachers, the use of English as a medium of instruction at the tertiary level, the pragmatics of inter-cultural communication and expressions of identity through language, and discourse analysis using ethnographic methodologies.
Marilyn Plumlee majored in the teaching of French and German as foreign languages for her undergraduate degree at the University of Kansas (USA). She later obtained an M.A. in Linguistics from the University of North Dakota (USA) and a Ph.D. in Linguistics from the University of Hawai`i (USA). She has taught a wide variety of language and linguistics courses at both the undergraduate and graduate levels at universities in the U.S., South Korea and Egypt. From 2000-2012 she was a faculty member in the College of English, Dept. of Linguistics at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies in Seoul (South Korea) and from 2012-2018 she was Associate Professor and Director of the MA TESOL program in the Department of Applied Linguistics at the American University in Cairo (Egypt).
Serving terms as the national president of the professional association of English language teachers in both Korea and Egypt, she has given invited conference keynote talks and workshops on language learning, foreign language teaching methods and developing inter-cultural communication skills in Korea, Russia, Mongolia, Thailand, and Egypt. In the course of her studies, work and travel in several countries, she has acquired, in addition to her native American English, varying levels of competence in five spoken languages and three sign languages. She is currently studying Russian and Russian Sign Language.
She brings this background of her own experience at language learning and in teaching foreign languages and various sub-fields of linguistics along with her experience as writing mentor and thesis supervisor to non-native English-speaking graduate student writers to her role as an instructor in the Writing Center at NU.
- 2021 “Sites of Silence: Deaf Online Communication in the Time of Corona”, in J. Michael Ryan, ed. COVID-19, Vol. 2: Social Consequences and Cultural Adaptations. Routledge, 165-178.
- 2017 “The Linguistic Landscape of Cairo: From the Rosetta Stone to the Ring Road Billboards–Signs of Their Times”, in A. Gebril, ed. Applied Linguistics in the Middle East. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. 115-160
- 2009 “International Sign: Its Use as an International Conference Lingua Franca”. The Journal of Translation Studies. Korean Association of Translation Studies, vol. 10, no. 4, pp. 301-341.
- 2007 “Interdisciplinary Applications of Sociolinguistic Methods and Models”. Journal of the Institute of British and North American Studies (IBAS). No. 16, pp. 81-136.
- 2006 “How Do the Dynamic Factors of Korean Society Translate into Language Learning Practices? ” Korea Policy Review, Sept. vol. 2, no. 9:82 (invited column) www.korea.net/kois/eng_bal_list.asp?magazine_no=4
- 2004 “Lingua Franca or Language of Domination? Implications of the Two Faces of English” Language Research Journal, pp. 72-85. Hankuk University of Foreign Studies. Seoul.
- 2002 “Linguistic Contributions to the Shaping of the American Mosaic” Journal of American Studies, vol. 34, No. 2. Winter 2002. American Studies Association of Korea, pp. 257-285.
- 2000 “Adult language learners as artisans of interaction: the contribution of prosody to narrative coherence and cohesion”. Proceedings of First Seoul International Conference on Discourse and Cognitive Linguistics (June 9-10, 2001). Seoul, Korea, pp. 751-767.
WCS 150 Rhetoric and Composition
WCS 230 Say What you Mean: Clarity, Precision, and Style in Academic Writing
WCS 205 Intercultural Communication