Home Departments: Linguistics, Psychology, and Cognitive Science
Affiliate Faculty: Cognitive Science GIDP, Applied Intercultural Arts Research GIDP, Neurogenic Communication Disorders
SLAT Areas of Specialization: Cognitive Dimensions of L2 Learning, Instructional Dimensions of L2 Learning, Linguistic Dimensions of L2 Learning
Dr. Nicol has degrees in Linguistics, Speech Pathology, and Brain and Cognitive Sciences. Her appointment at the University of Arizona is split 3 ways, and she is also an active member of the Graduate Interdisciplinary Program in Second Language Acquisition and Teaching.
Her research is multi-disciplinary, and her interests broaden with each passing year. At the core of her research is language: how people produce and comprehend it, how people learn new languages and become able to reach some level of proficiency, what happens when language breaks down. But she is also interested in the interplay between language and more general skills and abilities, the use of language in remembering, language ambiguity in "word problems" in math, the use of technology in second language learning, and so on. Dr. Nicol's current projects include Variables Affecting Second Language Vocabulary and Grammar Learning, Subliminal Language Processing, and others.