Research Participation System

The Research Participation System (RPS) at the Department of Linguistics at SFU provides students with exposure to linguistic phenomena, other linguistics research, and/or research ethics. Moreover, if you choose to participate in a RPS research study, you have the opportunity to experience what research in linguistics is like and come to understand that linguistics is a science. At the same time, you can earn credit towards participating linguistics courses.

Instructions to Students

Linguistics RPS credits can be accumulated in the following ways:

  1. One RPS credit is awarded for every half-hour of research participation in a sanctioned research project through the RPS system in the Department of Linguistics. Participation is voluntary. You may participate in more than one research project, but you may not repeat research projects to multiply credits awarded. You can find a list of available sanctioned projects below. Please use the direct booking link or send an email to the contact person of the study to make an appointment.
  2. One RPS credit is awarded for listening to 1-hour's worth of a podcast from this list. To claim your credit, please complete a half-page summary (single-spaced) for each hour of podcast time that you listened to. This summary must include a) the URL and duration of the podcast, b) the title and author of the podcast, and c) a minimum 300 word summary of its contents. Send this summary in PDF format using this webform.
  3. One RPS credit is awarded for attending a 1-hour colloquium from our department, or any session at a Lingustics conference offered this term (colloquia in our department are open to anyone [Lists of colloquia], and many conferences are free – do not pay for conferences [Lists of conferences]). To claim your credit, please complete a half-page summary (single-spaced) of what you heard. This summary must include a) the title and date of the conference (must be during this semester), b) the name of the session you attended, and c) a 300 word summary of the session contents – it is certainly OK not to understand everything – simply include what questions you have about the content of this talk or presentation in your summary. Send this in PDF format using this webform.
  4. One RPS credit is awarded for completing a 3-hour online Research Ethics Tutorial sanctioned by Canada's official research agencies. Upon completion, you will be given a PDF of a certificate of completion with your name. Please note that the date of training completion must be during this semester (i.e., prior completions do not count). Send this PDF using this webform.

General instructions:

  • Each set of points can be applied to ONE course only (no duplication of points)
  • All points will be used during the current semester (no banking of points)
  • Different instructors may have different ways of including RPS points in their overall grade assessment. Please see their course syllabus or research engagement policy below (Participating Courses).
  • Deadline to earn RPS credits - Friday, April 5, 2024

Participating Research Projects in Spring 2024

Note: Last update: 03/07. Note that ongoing updates are made throughout the term: new studies are added as they receive ethics approval, and removed once enough data has been collected.

Research Area Title Ethics Number Requirements Contact Location Number of credits
Phonology Ali3nology 2020s0117 Native Canadian English speakers, 18 years or older, with no hearing impairments or language-related pathologies. For this study, a native Canadian English speaker is defined as someone who has been a speaker of native Canadian English since at least the age of 5. [Click here for booking]

Ashley Farris-Trimble
phono@sfu.ca
In person (RCB) 2 credits
(60 min)
Phonetics Real-time speech adaptations in conversations between human interlocutor and AI confederate 30001857 Native English speakers, 18-35 years old, with no hearing impairments or language-related pathologies. Fenqi Wang

fenqiw@sfu.ca
RCB 7201 2 credits
(60 min)

Can choose between RPS credits or $12
Speech perception, production, second language learning L2 English learners’ phonetic adaptation to non-native accents 30001771 Native speakers of Mandarin, male, 19-30 years old, with no hearing impairments or language-related pathologies.

[Click here for booking]

Danielle Deng xizi_deng@sfu.ca

RCB 7410 2 credits
(70 min)
Syntax Grammar and Processing of Resumptive Pronouns 30001133 English speakers (native or non-native); access to a computer keyboard. [Click here for booking]

Sara Williamson
slw28@sfu.ca
online 1 credit
(30 min)
Phonetics Adaptations in conversation: Engaging voices, faces, brains and machines 30001857 Native or Heritage Cantonese speakers with normal hearing; reads Traditional Chinese. Ivan Fong

ivan_fong@sfu.ca
RCB 7201 2 credits
(60 min)

Can choose between RPS credits or $12
Phonetics Adaptations in conversation: Engaging voices, faces, brains and machines 30001857 Native speakers of Japanese or Mandarin, learned English as a second language via school setting. Han Zhang

han_zhang7@sfu.ca
RCB 7201 2 credits
(60 min)

Can choose between RPS credits or $12
Phonetics, Sociolinguistics An Emerging Asian Canadian Dialect: The Front Vowel Space of BC English 30002241 Native Canadian English speakers; 2nd generation immigrants; 19-30 years old; born in Metro Vancouver and have lived here for the majority of their lives; speakers of either Chinese or Korean descent (parents' first language is either Cantonese or Korean).
[Click here for booking]

Nicole Chan
ncc10@sfu.ca
RCB 7201 2 credits
(60 min)

Can choose between RPS credits or $20
Monolingualism, Bilingualism, Pragmatics Audiovisual processing and executive functioning in bilingual and monolingual children ("Community") 20200073 Monolingual and Bilingual children aged 2.5-5.5 years +/- 3 weeks [Click here for booking]

langdev@sfu.ca
Online
(Zoom)
2 credits
(30-45 min study + 20-min questionnaire)

Can choose between RPS credits or a child-sized T-shirt and $10 e-gift card
Second language acquisition, production, Bilingualism Linguistic analysis of infant- and child-directed speech in one's first and second languages ("Basel 1") 20200310 Bilingual parents with children aged 6-18 months old who speak English as their second language Language Learnining and Development (LangDev) Lab

langdev@sfu.ca
Remote
(at home)
5 credits
(16 hrs passive recording & logging, Zoom meeting, and 3 questionnaires)

Can choose between RPS credits or a child-sized T-shirt and $30 e-gift card
Sociolinguistics, language variation and change New Survey of Canadian English
22-06-070 (McGill) Adult speakers of Canadian English (18 or older), native or non-native.

IMPORTANT INFO: This study is run by a research team at McGill University and participation is anonymous. In order to claim your RPS credit, you must submit your participation record to SFU staff. After you complete the survey, take a screenshot of the "Thank You for Participating" page and send it using this webform.  
[Click here to access the survey and find out more about the project]

nsce@mcgill.ca
online 1 credit
(20-25 min)

Inquiries

Please contact the RPS coordinator (Brigid Portner) at lingrsch@sfu.ca.
(Short for Ling Research)