Marjolijn Verspoor (born 1952) is a

Dutch Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands ** Dutch people as an ethnic group () ** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship () ** Dutch language () * In specific terms, i ...

linguist Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), Morphology (linguistics), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds ...

. She is a professor of

English language English is a West Germanic language that developed in early medieval England and has since become a English as a lingua franca, global lingua franca. The namesake of the language is the Angles (tribe), Angles, one of the Germanic peoples th ...

and

English as a second language English as a second or foreign language refers to the use of English by individuals whose native language is different, commonly among students learning to speak and write English. Variably known as English as a foreign language (EFL), Engli ...

at the

University of Groningen The University of Groningen (abbreviated as UG; , abbreviated as RUG) is a Public university#Continental Europe, public research university of more than 30,000 students in the city of Groningen (city), Groningen, Netherlands. Founded in 1614, th ...

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. She is known for her work on Complex Dynamic Systems Theory and the application of

dynamical systems theory Dynamical systems theory is an area of mathematics used to describe the behavior of complex systems, complex dynamical systems, usually by employing differential equations by nature of the ergodic theory, ergodicity of dynamic systems. When differ ...

to study second language development. Her interest is also in

second language writing Second language writing is the study of writing performed by non-native speakers/writers of a language as a second or foreign language. According to Oxford University, second language writing is the expression of one's actions and what one wants to ...

. She is one of the members of the "Dutch School of Dynamic Systems" who proposed to apply

time-series data In mathematics, a time series is a series of data points indexed (or listed or graphed) in time order. Most commonly, a time series is a sequence taken at successive equally spaced points in time. Thus it is a sequence of discrete-time data. Ex ...

to study second language development along with de Bot, van Geert, and

Lowie Lowie is a surname and a given name. Notable people with the name include: Surname * Jules Lowie (1913–1960), Belgian racing cyclist *Robert Lowie (1883–1957), Austrian-born American anthropologist *Wander Lowie (born 1959), Dutch linguist Giv ...

Career

Verspoor obtained her

PhD Thesis A thesis (: theses), or dissertation (abbreviated diss.), is a document submitted in support of candidature for an academic degree or professional qualification presenting the author's research and findings.International Standard ISO 7144: D ...

at the

University of Leiden Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; ) is a public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. Established in 1575 by William, Prince of Orange as a Protestant institution, it holds the distinction of being the oldest university in the Neth ...

in 1990. The title of her thesis was ''Semantic Criteria in Complement Selection''. Verspoor has published journal articles and edited several books on different areas of linguistics, including second language development, effects of

bilingual education In bilingual education, students are taught in two (or more) languages. It is distinct from learning a second language as a subject because both languages are used for instruction in different content areas like math, science, and history. The t ...

, effects of cognitive insights into second language development, cognitive linguistic approach to English complementation. Verspoor was appointed as a

research assistant A research assistant (RA) is a researcher employed, often on a temporary contract, by a university, research institute, or privately held organization to provide assistance in academic or private research endeavors. Research assistants work under ...

and

teaching assistant A teaching assistant (TA) or education assistant (EA) is an individual who assists a professor or teacher with instructional responsibilities. TAs include ''graduate teaching assistants'' (GTAs), who are graduate students; ''undergraduate teach ...

in German at the German department of the

Louisiana State University Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as Louisiana State University (LSU), is an American Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louis ...

The United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

in 1973. In 1976 she was appointed as an instructor of German, French and English as a second language in the foreign language department at the

Northeast Louisiana University The University of Louisiana at Monroe (ULM) is a public university in Monroe, Louisiana, United States. It is part of the University of Louisiana System. History ULM opened in 1931 as Ouachita Parish Junior College. Three years later it becam ...

. In 1989 she became an assistant professor at the English department of the

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou or MU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri, United States. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus Univers ...

, The United States where she was also the coordinator of 'Academic English for International students' program. Between 1991 and 1994 she was an instructor at the English department of the

Rijksuniversiteit Groningen The University of Groningen (abbreviated as UG; , abbreviated as RUG) is a public research university of more than 30,000 students in the city of Groningen, Netherlands. Founded in 1614, the university is the second oldest in the country (after ...

. Between 1995 and 2005 she was appointed as the Chair National Exam Board (CEVO: VWO-HAVO) for English. She was responsible for content of national English exam. Since 1994 she has been a

university lecturer Lecturer is an academic rank within many universities, though the meaning of the term varies somewhat from country to country. It generally denotes an academic expert who is hired to teach on a full- or part-time basis. They may also conduct re ...

at the English department of the

. Between 2005 and 2009 she was appointed as the study advisor and coordinator MA program Applied Linguistics-Teaching English as a foreign language. In 2009 she was nominated for the University of Groningen Best Lecturer Award 2009. She is one of the members of the Solidarity Award Committee of the

International Association of Applied Linguistics The International Association of Applied Linguistics (), or AILA, was formed in 1964 as an association of various national organizations for applied linguistics. AILA has more than 8,000 members in more than 35 different applied linguistics associat ...

along with

Kees de Bot Cornelis Kees de Bot (born 1951) is a Dutch linguist. He is currently the chair of applied linguistics at the University of Groningen, Netherlands, and at the University of Pannonia. He is known for his work on second language development and t ...

and

Rosa Manchón Rosa María Manchón Ruiz (born 1957) is a Spanish linguist. She is currently a professor of applied linguistics at the University of Murcia, Spain. Her research focuses on second language acquisition and second language writing. She was the edit ...

. In 2016 she was one of the keynote speakers at the EUROSLA26 at the

University of Jyväskylä A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". U ...

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

. In July 2020, a book, entitled Usage-based Dynamics in Second Language Acquisition, was published to honour her work in the field of applied linguistics. The book was edited by her colleagues at the University of Groningen, including

Wander Lowie Wander Marius Lowie (born 14 October 1959) is a Dutch linguist. He is currently a professor of applied linguistics at the Department of Applied Linguistics at the University of Groningen, Netherlands. He is known for his work on Complex Dynamic ...

. Among the contributors there are

Ronald Langacker Ronald Wayne Langacker (born December 27, 1942) is an American linguist and professor emeritus at the University of California, San Diego. He is best known as one of the founders of the cognitive linguistics movement and the creator of cognitive ...

Diane Larsen-Freeman Diane Larsen-Freeman (born 1946) is an American linguist. She is currently a Professor Emerita in Education and in Linguistics at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan. An applied linguist, known for her work in second language acqu ...

Luke Harding Luke Daniel Harding (born 21 April 1968) is a British journalist who is a foreign correspondent for ''The Guardian''. He is known for his coverage of Russia under Vladimir Putin, WikiLeaks and Edward Snowden. He was based in Russia for ''Th ...

and

. The book was planned to be presented to her at the AILA conference in

Groningen Groningen ( , ; ; or ) is the capital city and main municipality of Groningen (province), Groningen province in the Netherlands. Dubbed the "capital of the north", Groningen is the largest place as well as the economic and cultural centre of ...

. However, the conference was postponed due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

Works

Verspoor has published articles in journals such as

Applied Linguistics Applied linguistics is an interdisciplinary field which identifies, investigates, and offers solutions to language-related real-life problems. Some of the academic fields related to applied linguistics are education, psychology, Communication stu ...

, ''

Journal of Second Language Writing The ''Journal of Second Language Writing'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal in the fields of linguistics and language education. Its scope encompasses all aspects of second and foreign language writing, including writing instruction and assessme ...

'',

The Modern Language Journal ''The Modern Language Journal'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal published by Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of the National Federation of Modern Language Teachers Associations. It covers research and discussion about the learning and teaching of for ...

Language Teaching Research ''Language Teaching Research'' is a peer-reviewed journal that publishes research within the area of second or foreign language teaching. Although articles are written in English, the journal welcomes studies dealing with the teaching of languages ...

, and

Language Learning Language acquisition is the process by which humans acquire the capacity to perceive and comprehend language. In other words, it is how human beings gain the ability to be aware of language, to understand it, and to produce and use words and ...

. In 2004 she wrote a seminal article along with de Bot and

on second language development, in which she applied the

dynamic systems theory Dynamical systems theory is an area of mathematics used to describe the behavior of complex dynamical systems, usually by employing differential equations by nature of the ergodicity of dynamic systems. When differential equations are employed, t ...

to study

development. This was the first research paper in which

were used to explicate changes in the development of second language writing. In 2015 Verspoor presented ''A dynamic perspective on developmental patterns in Finnish as an L2'' at the ELC 4. Fourth International Postgraduate Conference on Language and Cognition at the

University of Vigo The University of Vigo () is a public university located in the city of Vigo in the Province of Pontevedra, Galicia, Spain. There are three campuses: * Campus of Vigo in Lagoas-Marcosende, 15 kilometres away from the city centre. Also known a ...

. In 2017 Verspoor's first article was published in which she and her colleagues applied the

Hidden Markov Model A hidden Markov model (HMM) is a Markov model in which the observations are dependent on a latent (or ''hidden'') Markov process (referred to as X). An HMM requires that there be an observable process Y whose outcomes depend on the outcomes of X ...

to simulate language development. She is also noted for her work on

language complexity Language complexity is a topic in linguistics which can be divided into several sub-topics such as phonological, morphological, syntactic, and semantic complexity. The subject also carries importance for language evolution. Language complexity ...

. She proposed the finite verb ratio index to measure general syntactic complexity and the average word length of content words to gauge lexical complexity in

development.

Bibliography

Books

*''Lexical and Syntactical Constructions and the Construction of Meaning'' (1997) *''Cognitive Exploration of Language and Linguistics'' (1998) *''Explorations in Linguistic Relativity'' (2000) *''Second Language Acquisition: An Advanced Resource Book'' (2005) *''A Dynamic Approach to Second Language Development. Methods and Techniques'' (2011)

Articles

Top 5 articles based on Google scholar.: * * * * *

References

External links

* Professor Verspoor on the University of Groningen's website: https://www.rug.nl/staff/m.h.verspoor/ * Professor Verspoor on the website of the Országos Doktori Tanács: https://doktori.hu/index.php?menuid=192&lang=HU&sz_ID=11909 {{DEFAULTSORT:Verspoor, Marjolijn 1952 births Living people Applied linguists Women linguists Linguists from the Netherlands Second language writing Verspoor, Marjolijn People from Leiden