Liberato Silva dos Santos was awarded a Doctoral Dissertation Grant from The International Research Foundation for English Language Education (TIRF).
Liberato is a doctoral candidate in applied linguistics and technology. His dissertation investigates the scoring decision processes of raters judging the pronunciation of L2 English speakers in a paired discussion task. His work has been presented in conferences such as LTRC, LARC, TSLL, CALICO, TESOL International, BRAZ-TESOL, New Directions, and SEMAPLE.
His dissertation project is titled “Pronunciation in a Paired-Discussion Task: A Mixed-Methods Study of Rater Judgements and Rater and
Test Taker Perceptions.”
This year marks the 23rdconsecutive year TIRF has offered its Doctoral Dissertation Grants (DDGs) to doctoral candidates around the world. Since 2002, TIRF has supported students completing their doctoral research on topics related to the foundation’s priorities. This year’s awards were given to 12 grantees, who are from China, Colombia, Ecuador, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Puerto Rico, South Korea, Turkey, and the USA. Please see its website for more information on TIRF and the awards.
Fatimah Aseeri, graduate student in Applied Linguistics and Technology, was announced as an honorable mention candidate. They selected 13 winners and 3 honorable mention awards out of a large applicant pool.