ÌÇÐÄvlog

Biography

I am an Assistant Professor of Linguistics and Psychology at ÌÇÐÄvlog. I received my Ph.D. in Linguistics from the University of Pittsburgh in 2023. Prior to joining Montclair State, I was a Ross-Lynn Postdoctoral Fellow at Purdue University for two years. I also served as a Visiting Assistant Professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in Spring 2024 and as a CIFLTE Fellow at Teachers College, Columbia University, during the 2023–2024 academic year.

My research spans several interconnected areas, reflecting my interdisciplinary training in linguistics, applied linguistics, and psycholinguistics. First, I investigate language processing and acquisition by integrating linguistic and psycholinguistic approaches. My work examines both monolingual speakers and adult language learners, with a particular focus on phenomena spanning the lexicon, morphosyntax, semantics, and pragmatics. Second, I am interested in research methodology, particularly the empirical validation and triangulation of methods used to investigate language knowledge and processing. Third, my research extends to language and AI, including the use of language models as models of human language processing and the application of AI in educational contexts.

My research has been supported by several fellowships and grants, including two Mellon Predoctoral Fellowships, a Language Learning Dissertation Grant, and a Language Learning Early Career Research Grant.

Publications

Recent Publications

Fang, S. (in press). Reliability of self-paced reading as an index of individual differences in L2 sentence processing. In K. I. Martin & P. Spinner (Eds.), Bridging linguistics and language education: Research and essays honoring the career of Alan Juffs.

Fang, S., Xu, Y., He, J., & Wang, J. (2026). L2 Chinese grammatical acquisition and processing: A substantive and methodological review. International Journal of Applied Linguistics.

Lu, X., Fang, S., & Liu, X. (2026). How frequency and L2 proficiency moderate the congruency effect in collocational processing? Evidence from L2 Chinese learners in an acceptability judgment task. International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching, (0). []

Fang, S., Li, Y., & Cong, Y. (2026). Semantic Processing and Individual Variation: Experimental and Modeling Evidence from Quantifier Scope. Languages, 11(6), 126. []

Fang, S., Li, Y., & Cong, Y. (2026, May). Semantic capacity in language learners and LLMs: A case study of quantifier scope. In Proceedings of the Fifteenth Language Resources and Evaluation Conference (LREC 2026) (Vol. 11, No. 16, pp. 9602–9617). European Language Resources Association (ELRA). []