Ala Simonchyk

Dr. Ala Simonchyk is an Instructional Associate Professor of Linguistics in the Department of Modern Languages at the University of Mississippi, with additional specialization in Russian language pedagogy. She has been teaching English and Russian since 2002 and is an ACTFL-certified OPI rater for Russian.

Education

• Ph.D. in Second Language Studies & Slavic Linguistics, Indiana University (2017)
• M.A. in TESOL, St. Cloud State University (2010)
• M.A. in Slavic Languages, Indiana University-Bloomington (2012)
• B.A. in Modern Languages, Minsk State Linguistic University (2003)

Research Focus

Dr. Simonchyk’s scholarship centers on the intersection of perception, production, and orthography in second-language phonological acquisition, with particular attention to experimental phonetics and listening comprehension. Her dissertation explored how phonological domains interact during L2 phonology acquisition, findings published in Language and Speech.

Scientific Awards & Grants

• Neatrour-Edgerton Dissertation Fellowship
• REEI/Mellon Endowment Student Grant-in-Aid of Research

Teaching & Advising

At the University of Mississippi, Dr. Simonchyk teaches a broad spectrum of undergraduate and graduate courses, including Introduction to Linguistic Science, Phonology, Semantics & Pragmatics, Psycholinguistics, Instructed Second Language Acquisition, and multiple levels of Russian language instruction. She also mentors graduate students in psycholinguistic research within applied linguistics.

Laboratory & Research Environment

Her work is situated within the Department of Modern Languages and leverages experimental phonetics laboratories at the University of Mississippi, fostering interdisciplinary collaboration between linguistics, psychology, and language pedagogy.