Shelley Staple

Biographic Data

ID107730
NAMEShelley Staple
GIVEN NAMESShelley
FAMILY NAMEStaple
SIGNATURESTAPLE S
AFFILIATIONSUniversity of Arizona
ORCID0000-0002-5927-4431
VERIFIEDYes
TOTAL WORKS14
TOTAL CITATIONS8
AUTHOR COUNT14
EDITOR COUNT0
FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR2016
LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR2025
H-INDEX2

  • Disfluency doesn’t happen in isolation

    Open AccessXun Yan, Ping-Lin Chuang et al.ARTICLEStudies in Second Language…2025

    The construct of second language (L2) utterance fluency is typically operationalized through various individual temporal features. However, in natural speech, fluency (or disfluency) is often characterized by the clustering of multiple temporal features, collectively revealing the speaker’s effort in speech production or disfluency recovery. In this study, we explore the co-occurrence patterns of disfluency features in L2 speech and their associa…

  • Grammatical Analysis Is Required to Describe Grammatical (and “Syntactic”) Complexity

    Open AccessDouglas Biber, BETHANY GRAY et al.ARTICLELanguage Learning2025

    Our response is focused on the analysis of grammatical complexity1 in learner language. We fully support the distinction between complexity and difficulty advocated by Bulté et al., and we agree with their characterization of “complexity” (as opposed to “difficulty”) as referring “to the structural characteristics of linguistic items/structures and texts.” We are surprised, though, by Bulté et al.’s recommendation that this construct of grammatic…

  • A multi-dimensional analysis of thesis abstracts

    Open AccessAhmad Ansarifar, Hesamodin Shahriari et al.ARTICLEJournal of English for Academic…2025Cited by: 1References: 28

  • Transdisciplinary Intersections in Second Language Pronunciation Learning and Teaching

    Open AccessOkim Kang, Shelley Staple et al.ARTICLELanguage Learning2025References: 99

    As we work to advance the field of second language (L2) pronunciation teaching and learning, we look to other fields that have guided advancements in the teaching of other aspects of language learning. Fields such as corpus linguistics, pragmatics, instructed second language acquisition (SLA), psycholinguistics, technology, and assessment have served to inform and shape major changes in applied linguistics, and their impacts have been eminent in …

  • Learner Corpora in Corpus‐Informed Instruction

    Open AccessShelley Staple, Shelley Staples et al.ARTICLETESOL Quarterly2024Cited by: 2References: 8

    Learner corpora have been used extensively in corpus research to identify gaps and errors within learner writing but have rarely been directly used in corpus‐informed instruction (CII). Importantly, scholars in CII have pointed out that “it is as important to see what learners can do as well as what they can't” when using learner corpora (Boulton & Thomas, 2012; p. 13). Learner corpora can also offer greater alignment with the genres students are…

  • Writing Trajectories of Grammatical Complexity at the University

    Open AccessShelley Staple, BETHANY GRAY et al.ARTICLEApplied Linguistics2023

    Grammatical complexity has been established as a key indicator of language and writing development (Ortega 2003; Bulté and Housen, 2014; Crossley and McNamara 2014). The present study uses the Register-Functional approach to complexity (Biber et al. 2022) to compare the development of L1 English and L2 English writers across year of study and discipline in the British Academic Written English corpus. It also introduces a novel method of examining…

  • Investigating grammatical complexity in L2 English writing research

    Open AccessDouglas Biber, BETHANY GRAY et al.ARTICLEJournal of English for Academic…2020

  • Fitting MD analysis in an argument-based validity framework for writing assessment

    Open AccessXun Yan, Shelley Staple et al.ARTICLELanguage Testing2020

    The argument-based approach to validity (Kane, 2013) focuses on two steps: (1) making claims about the proposed interpretation and use of test scores as a coherent, interpretive argument; and (2) evaluating those claims based on theoretical and empirical evidence related to test performances and scores. This paper discusses the role of multidimensional (MD) analysis (Biber, 1988), a corpus analytic approach to examining linguistic and discourse c…

  • Linguistic Perspectives on Register

    Larissa Goulart, BETHANY GRAY et al.ARTICLEAnnual Review of Linguistics2019Cited by: 4References: 13

    Language users change their written and spoken language according to the situational characteristics and communicative purpose of production—that is, according to the register being produced. Research on registers has focused on register description or patterns of register variation, on detailed analysis of individual linguistic features or an account for the use of a broad range of linguistic features, and on the distinction between written and …

  • Using corpus linguistics to examine the extrapolation inference in the validity argument for a high-stakes speaking assessment

    Open AccessGeoffrey T Laflair, Shelley Staple et al.ARTICLELanguage Testing2017

    Investigations of the validity of a number of high-stakes language assessments are conducted using an argument-based approach, which requires evidence for inferences that are critical to score interpretation (Chapelle, Enright, & Jamieson, 2008b; Kane, 2013). The current study investigates the extrapolation inference for a high-stakes test of spoken English, the Michigan English Language Assessment Battery (MELAB) speaking task. This inference re…

  • Exploring the Relationship Between Toefl iBT Scores and Disciplinary Writing Performance

    Open AccessDoug Biber, Randi Reppen et al.ARTICLETESOL Quarterly2017Cited by: 1References: 6

  • Academic Writing Development at the University Level

    Open AccessShelley Staple, Shelley Staples et al.ARTICLEWritten Communication2016

    Using the British Academic Written English corpus, this study focuses on the use of grammatical complexity features in university level texts written by first language (L1) English writers to demonstrate knowledge and perform other specialized tasks required of advanced academic writers. While the primary focus of the analysis is on writing development from first-year undergraduate to graduate students, we also consider interactions with discipli…

  • Predicting Patterns of Grammatical Complexity Across Language Exam Task Types and Proficiency Levels

    Douglas Biber, BETHANY GRAY et al.ARTICLEApplied Linguistics2016

    In the present article, we explore the extent to which previous research on register variation can be used to predict spoken/written task-type variation as well as differences across score levels in the context of a major standardized language exam (TOEFL iBT). Specifically, we carry out two sets of linguistic analyses based on a large corpus of TOEFL iBT responses: one investigating the use of 23 grammatical complexity features, and the second b…

  • Talking at Work

    Open AccessShelley Staple, Lucy Pickering et al.BOOKTalking at Work2016

    This book offers original corpus research in a range of workplace contexts including office-based settings, call center interactions and healthcare communication. Chapters in this edited volume bring