Bethany Stoddard, M.A.
Research Assistant
Young German Learner English: Complexity, Accuracy, and Fluency
PhD Student
I am a PhD student and Research Assistant (“Wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiterin”) on the project Young German Learner English: Complexity, Accuracy, and Fluency, supervised by Prof. Dr. Robert Fuchs.
My research interests include psycholinguistics as well as first- and second-language acquisition. I am particularly drawn to the syntax-discourse interface in acquisition—in other words, the way that sentence structure and contextual knowledge are integrated in a learner’s language system. My work has utilized various quantitative methods from the domains of psycholinguistics, corpus linguistics, and computational linguistics.
In my doctoral dissertation, I investigate the use of the dative and benefactive alternations by young German learners of English. By looking at the early stages of acquisition of these structures, I aim to contribute to our understanding of second language acquisition processes. Specifically, this research would shed light on the effects of cross-linguistic influence from L1 on the production of similar structures in L2.
During the Summer Term 2025, office hours are held every Friday from 11:00 AM to 12:00 PM in Room 2.060 at Rabinstraße 8. To attend, please reserve a spot by sending an email.
My current research mainly focuses on second language acquisition using corpus linguistic methods (learner corpus research).
I would be happy to supervise BA and MA thesis related to:
- second language acquisition
- first language acquisition
- psycholinguistics
- variation
- capabilities of large language models (LLMs) & properties of LLM generated language
For example, I have supervised thesis such as:
- Phrasal Verbs in Spoken EFL: A Corpus-Based Study of L1 German Learners (BA)
Der Einfluss von Englisch als L2 auf den Erwerb des Deutschen als L3: eine Untersuchung an DSD-Schulen in Vietnam (BA)
The Influence of Foreign Language on Decision-Making: Investigating Risk-Taking Decisions in German-English Late Bilinguals (MA)
Intensely Informal: Adjective Amplifiers and the Rise of Colloquialisation in Written British English – Trends and Implications Over Three Decades (MA)
If you would like to discuss thesis supervision, please email me at bstoddard[@]uni-bonn.de.
Curriculum Vitae
2024-present Research Assistant (Wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiterin), "DFG Project “Young German Learner English: Complexity, Accuracy, Fluency”
Prof. Dr. Robert Fuchs, University of Bonn
2023 - 2024 Research Assistant (Wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiterin), DFG Project “Young German Learner English: Complexity, Accuracy, Fluency”
Prof. Dr. Robert Fuchs, University of Hamburg
2022 - 2023 Lab Manager/Research Assistant, Communication and Development Lab
Prof. Dr. Umay Suanda, University of Connecticut
2019 - 2019; 2021 - 2022 Research Assistant (Studentische/Wissenschaftliche Hilfskraft), German as a Second Language Lab
Prof. Dr. Petra Schulz & Dr. Merle Weicker, Goethe-University Frankfurt
2017 - 2018; 2019 - 2020 Research Assistant, Phonetics Lab
Prof. Dr. John Kingston, University of Massachusetts Amherst
2018 - 2018 Smith College Undergraduate Research Fellowship, Language Acquisition Lab
Prof. Dr. Jill de Villiers and Prof. Dr. Peter de Villiers, Smith College
2020 - 2023 MA in Linguistics, with a focus on psycholinguistics, Goethe-University Frankfurt,
2016 - 2020 BA in Linguistics and German Studies, Smith College
Oct. 2020 - Aug. 2021 Fulbright Open Study/Research Award
2020 Steuben-Schurz-Gesellschaft Berlin Airlift-Scholarship
2020 Smith College Anita Luria Ascher Memorial Prize
2018 - 2019 German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) Scholarship
SoSe 25: Applied Linguistics: Second Language Acquistion – Seminar (BA Module)
SoSe 25: Recent Trends in Applied Linguistics – Übung (MA Module)
SoSe 24: Recent Trends in Applied Linguistics – Übung (MA Module)
Publications
Fuchs, R., Meer, P., Halves, T., Altendorf, L.C., Brdarević-Čeljo, A., Calamai, S., Cavalheiro, L., Dubravac, V., Guerra, L., Köhler, P., Matz, F., Nodari, R., Schilling, J., Soria, C., Stoddard, B., Wirbatz, K. [under review]. Attitudes toward Englishes in European schools: Evidence from a large-scale, cross-national study. System.
Stoddard, Bethany & Jill de Villiers (2021). Children's Sensitivity to Prosody and Ostension in Answers to Wh-Questions, Proceedings of the 45th annual Boston University Conference on Language Development, ed. Danielle Dionne and Lee-Ann Vidal Covas, 707-720. Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press.
Presentations
Stoddard, B., Altendorf, L.C., Fuchs, R. and Werner, V. (2026, Sept. 17-19). Assessing CEFR proficiency of learner writing using LLMs: Testing prompts and models. [Conference presentation]. LCR 2026, Prague, Czechia.
Altendorf, L.C., Stoddard, B., Bracke, L., Werner, V., Fuchs, R. & Rosen, A. (2026, Sept. 17-19). Developing Complexity across Register and Mode in Young German Learner English. [Conference presentation]. LCR 2026, Prague, Czechia.
Bracke, L., Stoddard, B., Altendorf, L. C., Fuchs, R., Rosen, A. & Werner, V., (2026, July 16-18). Young German Learner English: Principles and Case Studies [Conference presentation]. BAELc15, Bonn, Germany.
Stoddard, B. (2026, May 26-30). BERT for large-scale data filtering and annotation: The dative and benefactive alternations in the written BNC 2014. [Conference presentation]. ICAME47, Koblenz, Germany.
Stoddard, B., Altendorf, L.C., Bracke, L. (2026, May 26-30). Fluency across modes: The case of German learners of English. [Conference presentation]. ICAME47, Koblenz, Germany.
Stoddard, B., Altendorf, L.C. (2026, May 16-17). Modelling coherence in L2 English at German schools: The role of cohesion and complexity. [Conference presentation]. CASLL, València, Spain.
Altendorf, L.C., Stoddard, B., Bracke, L., Werner, V., Rosen, A. & Fuchs, R. (2025, July 7-8). Register and task variation in Young German Learner English: A (quasi-)longitudinal look at complexity. [Conference presentation]. VAR4LCR, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium.
Stoddard, B., Altendorf, L.C., Fuchs, R. and Werner, V. (2025, June 17-21). Using Large Language Models for proficiency assessment of EFL learner writing. [Conference presentation]. ICAME46, Vilnius, Lithuania.
Werner, V., Fuchs, R., Rosen, A., Bracke, L., & Stoddard, B. (2024, September 26-28). Introducing the Corpus of Young German Learner English [Conference Presentation]. Learner Corpus Research (LCR) Conference, Tartu, Estonia.
Fuchs, R., Werner, V., Rosen, A., Stoddard, B. & Bracke, L. (2024, September 26-28). Introducing the Corpus of Young German Learner English [Conference presentation]. BICLCE 10, Alicante, Spain.
Werner, V., Rosen, A., Fuchs, R., Bracke, L., & Stoddard, B. (2024, September 6-7). Introducing the Corpus of Young German Learner English [Conference Presentation]. From empirical research to foreign language classroom practice and vice-versa, Fribourg, Switzerland.
Werner, V., Fuchs, R., Rosen, A., Bracke, L., & Stoddard, B. (2024, July 16-17). Introducing the Corpus of Young German Learner English [Conference Presentation]. Inter-Varietal Applied Corpus Studies (IVACS) Conference, Cambridge, U.K.
Bracke, L., Stoddard, B., Fuchs, R., Rosen, A. & Werner, V. (2024, June 18–22). Introducing the Corpus of Young German Learner English [Conference presentation]. ICAME 45, Vigo, Spain.
Bracke, Lea, Bethany Stoddard, Robert Fuchs, Anna Rosen & Valentin Werner (2024, March 21-22). Introducing the Corpus of Young German Learner English. [Conference presentation]. Norddeutsches Linguistisches Kolloquium, Hannover, Germany.
Williams, Julie-Ann, Nina Schoener, Bethany Stoddard & Sumarga H. Suanda (2023, March 25). Learning Words From Referentially Ambiguous Naming Events: Evidence From a New Artificial Word Learning Paradigm. [Conference presentation]. Society for Research in Child Development, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA.
Stoddard, Bethany. (2020). “Wo schläft wer?” The problem German questions pose for theories of learnability. [Conference presentation]. Five College German Studies Undergraduate Research Symposium, Amherst College.