RESEARCH
I am interested in cognitive aspects of second language acquisition and processing (with a focus on English and Russian morphosyntax), TESOL, development of advanced second language (L2) proficiency (or advanced linguistic literacy), L2 writing, and effects of instructional interventions on learning outcomes.
In one line of research I investigate L2 processing of morphosyntax and attentional mechanisms involved. I investigated the role of planning in the noticing and uptake of recasts of verbal morphology and showed that learners benefited from planning time provided during a task more than from planning time provided before the task or when no planning time was provided (2010). I further explored the temporal aspects of morphosyntactic activation in L2 processing of grammatical agreement (2012) and found that, while native participants invoked both automatic and strategic attentional mechanisms, nonnative participants exhibited delayed activation of morphosyntactic information and relied on strategic mechanisms operating after lexical access. My most recent paper, co-authored with Kira Gor (2016) compared the processing of gender and number in noun-adjective agreement dependencies in native and L2 Russian and revealed subtle differences in priming profiles between native and advanced nonnative participants. I am now investigating the mechanisms underlying the processing of grammatical agreement within and across syntactic boundaries in Chinese English learners at advanced and intermediate levels of proficiency (forthcoming) and plan to explore the effects of various types of online error correction on the L2 acquisition of English grammatical forms.
In a different line of research I identified the contribution of literacy to establishing stable representations of morphological structures in heritage speakers of Russian (2008) and argued for the importance of developing advanced literacy in English learners (2009). Furthermore, as I investigated the development of writing skills in advanced adult Chinese users of English in a study abroad (SA) context, I found that participants with higher initial proficiency (linguistic literacy) in English showed more improvement on measures of fluency and complexity than those with lower proficiency (linguistic literacy) (2015). The computational tools I used included newly developed open-source L2 Syntactical and Lexical Complexity Analyzers (Ai & Lu, 2010; Lu, 2010) that produced a comprehensive set of syntactic and lexical complexity and fluency measures. I am planning to continue the analysis to determine whether these participants showed any improvement in their morphosyntactic accuracy as a result of SA experience.
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Being a language teacher has given me an opportunity to experiment with various instructional interventions to enhance my students' learning and to develop as a scholarly teacher. As I engage in systematic analysis of their effects on student learning outcomes in my EAP classes, I realize that I am stepping outside of the field of SLA research into a broader field of scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL). My recent explorations in flipping an EAP classroom suggest that, besides positive effects on student engagement and motivation, exposure to content prior to class and focused practice of complex skills in non-threatening contexts supports L2 learners' academic language development. The effectiveness of the flipped approach in a language classroom may be linked to the “priming” effect: students who are initially exposed to (“primed” for) particular stimuli prior to class (e.g., a set of facts or language forms or rhetorical features) may recall these stimuli faster, thus proceduralizing their newly acquired knowledge and skills (Bodie et al., 2006; DeKeyser, 2007; Trofimovich & McDonough, 2013). The preliminary results of the study support research on the benefits of flipped instruction in other disciplines and call for a more rigorous study of the effect of the various elements of the approach on L2 learners.
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REFEREED PAPERS
Romanova, N. & Gor, K. (2016). Processing of gender and number agreement in Russian as a second language: The devil is in the details. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 1-32. First View Article. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0272263116000012. (pdf)
Romanova, N. (2010). Planning, recasts, and learning L2 morphology. Canadian Modern Language Review, 66(6), 843–875. (pdf)
Romanova, N. (2008). The mechanisms of verbal morphology processing in heritage speakers of Russian. Heritage Language Journal, 6(1), 105-126. (pdf)
Romanova, N. (2004). Heritage language processing: Native or non-native? Working Papers in Slavic Linguistics, OSU, 4, 121-152.
OTHER PUBLICATIONS
Romanova, N. (to appear in 2017). Flipping an EAP classroom: Benefits, challenges, and solutions. In L. T. Wong & W. L. Wong (Eds.), Teaching and Learning English for Academic Purposes: Current Research and Practices. Nova Science Publishers.
Rasmussen, M., Romanova, N., Woodson, K., Ballantyne, K., & Wilde, J. (2012, April). The identification of Native American and Alaska Native English learners. Short turnaround report, prepared for the Office of English Language Acquisition of the USDE. Washington, DC: National Clearinghouse for English Language Acquisition.
Rasmussen, M. & Romanova, N. (2011). From Cradleboard to Career: P-16 Initiatives for Native American Education. Accelerate!4(1), 17-18. NCELA, The George Washington University. (pdf)
Ballantyne, K. & Romanova, N. (2011, January). Key demographics and practice recommendations for young English learners. Short turnaround report, prepared for the Office of English Language Acquisition of the USDE. Washington, DC: National Clearinghouse for English Language Acquisition.
Rasmussen, M. & Romanova, N. (2011, February). English language acquisition by Native American learners. Short turnaround report, prepared for the Office of English Language Acquisition of the USDE. Washington, DC: National Clearinghouse for English Language Acquisition.
Romanova, N. (2009). Literacy and English language learners. Accelerate! 1(4), 2-4. NCELA, The George Washington University. (pdf)
Romanova, N. (2004). Path to native-like proficiency: Personalized experience in English. In B. Leaver & B. Shekhtman (Eds.), Teaching and Learning to Near-Native Levels of Language Proficiency: Proceedings of the Spring and Fall 2003 Conferences of the Coalition of Distinguished Language Centers, MSI Press, Salinas, CA, pp. 43-47.
DOCTORAL DISSERTATION
Romanova, N. (2012). Mechanisms Underlying Lexical Access in Native and Second Language Processing of Gender and Number Agreement. PhD Dissertation, University of Maryland, College Park. (pdf)
REFEREED CONFERENCE PAPER PRESENTATIONS
Benefits and Challenges of Flipping the Course of English for Academic Purposes, Lilly International Conference: Evidence-Based Teaching & Learning, Bethesda, MD, USA, 2016.
Second Language Writing Development in a Study-Abroad Context. AAAL, Toronto, Canada, 2015.
EAP to ESP: Using linguistic needs analysis to improve academic preparation for international graduate students in Statistics (with Jacobson, N.). AAAL, Toronto, Canada, 2015.
Gender and number agreement in L1 and L2 processing of Russian (with Gor, K.). Second Language Research Forum. Brigham Young University, USA, 2015.
Mechanisms underlying lexical access in native and second language processing of gender and number agreement (with Gor, K.). Cross-linguistic priming in bilinguals: Perspectives and constraints. Radboud University Nijmegen, Netherlands, 2013.
The role of salience in acquisition of Russian cases revisited. AAAL, Chicago, USA, 2011.
Planning, recasts, and L2 learning. Task-based Language Teaching, Lancaster University, Lancaster, UK, 2011.
Why Heritage Language Acquisition? Poster presented at the Language Science Day (with Lee-Ellis, S., Gor, K., Lukyanchenko, A., Cook, S., Ahn, S., and Moon, J.). University of Maryland, USA, 2010.
The role of salience in acquisition of Russian cases. AAAL, Washington, DC, USA, 2008.
Interaction of recasts and task planning. AATSEEL, Washington, DC, USA, 2005.
Acquisition of morphological awareness by heritage speakers: “Beware the Jabberwock.” SLRF, Teacher’s College, USA 2005.
Verbal morphology processing by Russian heritage speakers: the Peter Pan syndrome. SLRF, Pennsylvania State University, USA, 2004.
What do we know about heritage language acquisition? NCOLCTL, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA, 2004.
Russian verbal morphology and heritage speakers of Russian. Slavic Studies Symposium, Ohio State University, USA, 2003.
Comparison of verbal morphology processing of Russian heritage speakers with native and L2 processing. Graduate Forum, UMD, College Park, USA, 2003.