Kara Morgan-Short, PhD
Professor & Director of Cognition of the Second Language Acquisition Lab
Hispanic and Italian Studies; Psychology
Pronouns: She/Her/Ella
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1706 UH
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601 S. Morgan St.
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About
Kara Morgan-Short (Ph.D., Georgetown University) is Professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), with a joint appointment in the Department of Hispanic and Italian Studies and the Department of Psychology where she directs the Cognition of Second Language Acquisition Laboratory. Kara is also affiliated with the Laboratory of Integrative Neuroscience at UIC, is currently an Associate Editor for Language Learning, and serves on editorial boards. Informed by the fields of linguistics, cognitive psychology and neuroscience, Kara Morgan-Short’s research aims to elucidate the linguistic and cognitive processes underlying late-learned second language acquisition and use. Further, her research explores how these processes may be moderated by the effects or interactions of factors external to the learner, such as the context under which a second language is learned, and factors internal to the learner, such as learners’ level of proficiency or learners’ individual cognitive abilities (e.g., working memory, declarative/procedural memory, attention). These issues are examined using a set of complementary behavioral (e.g., accuracy on spoken language tasks) and electrophysiological (event-related potentials, ERPs) approaches. Results of her work have been published in such journals as Language Learning, Studies in Second Language Acquisition, Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, and Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience.
Selected Grants
National Science Foundation, Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant (BCS #1941189, 2020-2022), PI; co-PI David Abugaber
National Science Foundation, Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant (BCS #1823898, 2018-2020), PI; co-PI Alicia Luque
Language Learning, The Language Learning Small Grants Research Program (2014-2016), PI; co-PI Emma Marsden
National Science Foundation, Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant (BCS #1348964, 2018-2020), PI; co-PI Bernard Issa
Selected Publications
Buffington, J., Demos, A., & Morgan-Short, K. (2021). The reliability and validity of procedural memory assessments used in second language acquisition research. Studies in Second Language Acquisition. 1-28. doi.org/10.1017/S0272263121000127
Morgan-Short, K. (2021). Considering the updated Input Hypothesis from a neurolinguistic perspective: A response to Lichtman and VanPatten. Foreign Language Annals, 1-7. doi.org/10.1111/flan.12551
Luque, A., & Morgan-Short, K. (2021). The relationship between cognitive control and second language proficiency. Journal of Neurolinguistics, 57, 100956. doi.org/10.1016/j.jneuroling.2020.100956
Morgan-Short, K. (2020). Insights into the neural mechanisms of becoming bilingual: A brief synthesis of second language research with artificial linguistic systems. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 23(1), 87-91. doi.org/10.1017/S1366728919000701
Pili-Moss, D., Brill-Schuetz, K. A., Faretta-Stutenberg, M., & Morgan-Short, K. (2020). Contributions of declarative and procedural memory to accuracy and automatization during L2 practice. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 23(3), 639-651. doi.org/10.1017/S1366728919000543
Issa, B., & Morgan-Short, K. (2019). Effects of external and internal attentional allocation on second language grammar development: An eye-tracking study. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 41(2), 389-417. doi.org/10.1017/S027226311800013X
Marsden, E., Morgan-Short, K., Thompson, S., & Abugaber, D. (2018). Self-labelled replication in second language research: Narrative and systematic reviews, and recommendations for the field. Language Learning, 68(2), 321-391. doi.org/10.1111/lang.12286
Faretta-Stutenberg, M., & Morgan-Short, K. (2018). The interplay of individual differences and context of learning in behavioral and neurocognitive second language development. Second Language Research, 34(1), 67-101. doi.org/10.1177/0267658316684903
Morgan-Short, K. (2014). Electrophysiological approaches to understanding second language acquisition: A field reaching its potential. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 34, 15-36. doi.org/10.1017/S026719051400004X
Morgan-Short, K., Faretta-Stutenberg, M., Brill, K. A., Carpenter, H., & Wong, P. C. M. (2014). Declarative and procedural memory as individual differences in second language acquisition. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition. 17(1), 56-72. doi.org/10.1017/S1366728912000715
Publication Aggregators
Service to Community
Founding member, Bilingualism Matters Chicago
Professional Leadership
Associate Editor, Language Learning
Editorial Board, Studies in Second Language Acquisition
Editorial Board, Bilingual Processing and Acquisition Book Series
Editorial Board, Research Methods in Applied Linguistics
Notable Honors
2018, Award for Excellence in Teaching, Office of the Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, University of Illinois at Chicago
2017, Honors College Capstone Advisor of the Year, Honors College, University of Illinois at Chicago
2013, Graduate Mentoring Award, Graduate College, University of Illinois at Chicago
2009, Harold N. Glassman Dissertation Award for Social Sciences, Georgetown University
Education
2007, PhD, Spanish Linguistics, Georgetown University
1998, MATL, Spanish, University of Southern Mississippi at Hattiesburg
1991, BA, Humanities, The University of Texas at Austin
Selected Presentations
Media Mentions