Undergraduate Research Assistant in Linguistics


Position Overview

The KU Phonetics and Psycholinguistics Lab is looking for two self-motivated, quick-learning, up-and-coming undergraduate researchers who are interested in learning about acoustic phonetics and second language acquisition of sounds. This appointment is a research assistantship under the supervision of a graduate student conducting a dissertation research project. The research assistant (RA) is responsible for assisting the graduate student in a variety of tasks including acoustic analysis, data analysis, and preparing recordings for experimentation. Training will be provided on analyzing audio recordings using Praat software and analyzing data using R programming language.

Job Description

One-Time Training (5%)
  • Must be available for an in-person training ~2 hours long
Acoustic Analysis in Praat speech analysis software (70%)
  • Annotating sound files
  • Running/Creating scripts
  • Taking manual measurements where needed
  • Preparing recordings for perception experiment
Data Analysis (25%)
  • Importing data into RStudio
  • Running scripts in R programming language

*Note: the specific days and times of this position are flexible.

Required Qualifications

  1. Highly organized
  2. Self-motivated
  3. Interest in building phonetics skills
  4. During the semester term of the appointment, the student hourly must be enrolled in no fewer than 6 credit hours. For summer periods the student hourly must:
  • 1) have been enrolled in no less than 6 hours in the past spring semester or
  • 2) be preenrolled in upcoming fall semester in no less than 6 hours or
  • 3) be enrolled in summer session or
  • 4) be admitted to study in the upcoming fall semester. Student Hourlies may be undergraduate or graduate students. (Exceptions granted for GRA/GTA/GA appointments DO NOT apply to Student Hourly appointments)

Preferred Qualifications

  1. Federal Work Study Eligible
  2. Experience using Excel
  3. Experience with French
  4. Has taken LING 305: Phonetics I

Additional Candidate Instructions

In addition to the online application, the following documents are required to be considered for this position:
1. A cover letter addressing how required and preferred qualifications are met.
2. Resume or curriculum vitae.
3. Contact information for three professional references.

Application review begins 8/28/2024.

Contact Information to Applicants

For questions, please email Morgan Robertson at morgan.robertson@ku.edu

Advertised Salary Range

15.00/hr

Work Schedule

5-10 hours / week

Anticipated Start Date

Monday September 2, 2024

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Posting Information

  • Posting ID:  28777BR
  • Department:  Linguistics
  • Primary Campus:  University of Kansas Lawrence Campus
  • Reg/Temp:  Temporary
  • Employee Class:  S-Student

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