Office of Undergraduate Research

Truth-value judgment tasks with second language learners: research methods validation and refinement Margo Katherine Wilke Undergraduate Research Internship Program Spring 2026 Accepted Linguistics, psycholinguistics, second language acquisition This project aims to validate and refine an experimental method known as the truth-value judgment task (TVJT). In this method, participants read a short story presented in written or pictorial form and are asked to judge whether a given sentence accurately matches the context. Although TVJTs are widely used in language research, their implementation varies considerably in practice, and these methodological differences can have important theoretical implications. In this project, we will conduct a series of human experiments with second-language learners, primarily Chinese-speaking learners of English, to examine how different design features of the task influence language interpretation performance. The project is led by Dr. Shaohua Fang, in collaboration with Prof. Elaine Francis. Shaohua Fang The undergraduate research assistants (RAs) will assist with the development of experimental materials and participate in regular meetings with the principal investigator and Prof. Elaine Francis.
A primary responsibility of the position is crafting short story contexts in English (approximately 150–200 words) for use in language experiments. RAs will use ChatGPT or other readily available AI tools to generate initial drafts and then revise and adapt these materials to meet specific research requirements. In addition, RAs will help create pictorial versions of story contexts, also using AI-based tools, for experiments that employ visual stimuli. Some background in linguistics (for example, having completed an introductory linguistics course) is preferred but not required. Native or near-native proficiency in English is not required for this position. 2 6 (estimated)