"Language is a city to the building of which every human being brought a stone"


— Ralph Waldo Emerson

Specimen known as Kimberly Young

Allo! Bonjour! Dia dhuit! 你好!

Language is so cool right? Think about it, you are right now reading (or having it read to you) words that were written in the past. The fascinating thing about the invent of written language is that not only does it allow for communication between people right here, right now, but it allows for the communication of knowledge across time and space. Written language, our own little time machines.


But before I geek out more about language and writing systems, you should probably know my story.


My story is a tale as old as time. Girl goes to art school. Girl graduates with an art degree. Girl then proceeds to become a web developer and online content manager. Girl realizes her true love was always language. Girl quits job and goes back to school to pursue the study of language.


And now I'm a PhD candidate at Tufts university.


Wnat to know more about what I actually research? Check out my Researchpage


Interested in my resumé? Download it here.


Current Research

I am currently working on answering the questions of "how we learn to read?" and "what factors affect our ability to learn to read?".


I'm interesting in looking at specific aspects of writing systems such as regularities, unpredictability, and frequency of elements at different linguistic levels affect learning. I'm also interested in second language learning aspects such as how a person's first language affects their ability to learn to read in a second language. What facilitates learning and what inhibits learning?


One way that I investigate these types of question in a lab setting is by utilizing artificial orthography learning tasks which allows for a more controlled environment in which to investigate specific aspects of learning.


Other resarch interests include the social, economic, political, gender, and historical factors that intersect language and learning. Language is uniquely human and therefor affected by all the same human factors that affect everything else.


Want to know more about my past and present research? Check out my Contact page!

Get in Touch!


young.kimberlychar@gmail.com


Also find me on:


LinkedIn Page for Kimberly Young