Amanda Brown

Amanda Brown is a Professor of Linguistics and Director of the Linguistic Studies Program at Syracuse University’s College of Arts and Sciences. She holds a Ph.D. in Applied Linguistics from Boston University and the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics. Her research focuses on multilingualism, second language acquisition, and gesture analysis, with a particular emphasis on how first and second languages influence each other. She is a leading figure in CLAC (Cultures and Languages Across the Curriculum) program development and language teaching methodologies.

Education:

• Ph.D., Applied Linguistics, Boston University / Max Planck Institute (2007)
• M.A., English Language Teaching, University of Essex (1997)
• B.A., Economic and Social History (Honors), University of York (1992)

Research Interests: Brown investigates how languages interact in the multilingual mind, focusing on speech and gesture as markers of L1-L2 convergence. Recent work addresses machine translation’s role in education and the efficacy of multilingual teaching approaches. She has edited volumes such as Multimodality across Epistemologies in Second Language Research (2024).

Key Contributions: As coordinator of the Certificate of Advanced Studies in Language Teaching, she shapes TESOL/FLT curricula. Her grants include leadership roles in CNY Humanities Corridor initiatives on multimodal interaction and CLAC programs. She has presented globally on topics like gesture’s role in L2 ambiguity resolution and digital pedagogy challenges.

Awards: Recognized for program assessment excellence (2022) and a Humanities Center Fellowship (2020). Her service spans roles as Fulbright Interview Committee member, MA Linguistic Studies admissions convener, and leadership in interdisciplinary research clusters like ‘Language Matters’.