Sandra C. Deshors

Sandra C. Deshors

Office: B-260 Wells Hall
Phone: (517)884-6320
Email: deshorss@msu.edu

Ph.D., University of Sussex, UK

Sandra C. Deshors is an associate professor in the Department of Linguistics, Languages, and Cultures at Michigan State University (MSU) where she is a member of the core faculty in the Second Language Studies Ph.D. Program and the Master of Arts in TESOL Program. Dr. Deshors specializes in quantitative corpus-based approaches to learner language. In her research she contrasts English as a Foreign Language (EFL), English as a Second Language (ESL) and World Englishes at large. In that regard, she has primarily focused on investigating linguistic co-occurrence patterns that set non-native Englishes apart as well as identifying the cognitive factors that cause those patterns to emerge. In addition, in the last few years, Dr. Deshors has become interested in issues relating to linguistic innovations in learner English and the theoretical modeling of World Englishes. Theoretically, Dr. Deshors’ research is anchored in the usage-based theoretical framework and recognizes a correlation between speakers’ mental knowledge of linguistic items and their uses in grammatical contexts. Methodologically, she has applied and (co-)developed multifactorial statistical approaches to grammatical patterns characteristic of learner English(es). At MSU, she teaches courses in corpus linguistics as well as general introductions to the field of Second Language Acquisition.