PhD Studentship (3 years): Utilising ChatGPT as a strategy for self-regulation among L2 English speakers

Applications are invited for a three-year PhD studentship, supported by the College of Business and Social Sciences to be undertaken within the Department of English, Languages and Applied Linguistics at Aston University.

The position is available to start in January 2025.

Financial Support

This studentship includes a fee bursary to cover the home or overseas fees rate, plus a maintenance allowance of £19,237 per year for the full 3 year programme. 

Background to the Project

This full-time funded PhD studentship research project is situated in the field of TESOL and corpus linguistics. This study will explore how ChatGPT can be utilised as a self-regulating tool to enhance academic writing among second language (L2) English speakers in higher education. Working with Dr Joyce Lim and Dr Stephen Pihlaja, the successful candidate will gather data to conduct both quantitative and qualitative analysis to investigate the different strategies L2 English students implement while using ChatGPT in academic writing and create a corpus of sample academic writing to explore various syntactic and lexical differences in L2 students’ writing before and after utilising ChatGPT.

This studentship offers a unique opportunity to make a significant contribution to the newly growing field of artificial intelligence (AI), specifically in the realm of language education. It also offers an exciting opportunity to explore some of the challenges and setbacks of AI tools in academic writing and suggest ways in which these tools can be used confidently and effectively among language learners.

Person Specification

The successful candidate should hold a Masters degree in the social sciences (or related disciplines) with a Merit overall (or equivalent) with a dissertation/research element, PLUS a First or Upper Second Class Honours degree (or an equivalent qualification from an overseas institution).

Contact information

For informal enquiries about this project please contact Dr Joyce Lim [email protected].

Submitting an application

Your application must include:

• English language copies of the transcripts and certificates for all your higher education degrees, including any Bachelor degrees.
• A Research Proposal Statement detailing your understanding of the research area, how you would approach the project, and a brief review of relevant literature. Be sure to use the title of the research project you are applying for. There is no set format or word count.
• A personal statement which outlines any further information which you think is relevant to your application, such as your personal suitability for research, career aspirations, possible future research interests, and further description of relevant employment experience. 
• Two academic referees who can discuss your suitability for independent research. References must be on headed paper, signed and dated no more than 2 years old. At least one reference should be from your most recent University. You can submit your references at a later date if necessary.
• Evidence that you meet the English Language requirements. If you do not currently meet the language requirements, you can submit this at a later stage.
• A copy of your passport. Where relevant, include evidence of settled or pre-settled status.

Apply for this position here