Bilingual Minds in Motion: Code-Switching, Culture, and Cognition (LAAL)
We encourage work-study and non-work-study students to apply. This internship is only open to undergraduate students with a declared or proposed Humanities major or minor and requires work authorization.
Application Deadline: October 19, 2025
The Humanities Experiential Learning Opportunities in Research (EXPLORE) Program connects undergraduate Humanities majors and minors with faculty-led projects in the division for paid research positions. Fellows gain valuable mentorship and practical experience.
Details
Duration: January 2026-June 2026
Hours: 10 hours/week
Pay: $20/hour
Mentorship: Regular check-ins and support from Professor Ariel Chan (LAAL)
Read: Ariel Chan is a new voice for linguistics and bilingualism studies
About the project
Explore how bilinguals switch between languages and what this reveals about the brain, culture, and communication. Please learn more about the ongoing projects at our lab at:
https://bisonlinglab.wixsite.com/bison
This collaborative research project combines laboratory experiments with naturalistic conversational data to study how bilingual speakers use and manage multiple languages. In many multilingual communities, people switch seamlessly between two languages—even in the middle of a sentence.
This behavior, known as code-switching, feels natural for bilinguals but raises fascinating questions: How do bilinguals handle two languages without confusion? How does bilingualism influence the brain? And how do social and cultural factors affect language choice? Code-switching is intentional, not random. It is influenced by linguistic and sociocultural factors, including the speaker’s cultural identity, language experience, and listeners’ expectations. To examine these questions, our project employs sociolinguistic, psycholinguistic, and computational methods. Together, these approaches help us connect social context, cognitive processes, and real-world language use.
Subprojects & Job Duties
This research is highly collaborative; all student researchers—regardless of their primary project—are expected to attend weekly lab meetings with both undergraduate and graduate members. While each student will have a main project, their responsibilities will not be limited to that alone. Students will also contribute to other ongoing projects and lab tasks (e.g., updating lab social media, leading team check-in activities), ensuring they gain broad training in different areas of sociolinguistic, psycholinguistic, and computational research. The expected duties for specific projects are listed below. Weighted percentages are calculated based on an average of 10 hours of work per week.
(All) Humanities EXPLORE Programming: Attend a quarterly meeting when possible and participate in asynchronous Canvas experiential learning reflection.
Subproject 1: Sociolinguistics: Speaker Identity and Phonetic Cues – This subproject examines how sociocultural factors, such as cultural identity and language experience, influence the way bilinguals switch languages. Students will analyze phonetic cues, such as voice onset time, in collected conversational data from Cantonese-English bilinguals. They may also contribute to a follow-up experiment testing how listeners perceive bilingual code-switching speech.
- Attend weekly lab and project meetings, training, and discussions (20%)
- Data analysis (50%): Annotate and segment speech samples, transcribe conversational data, and organize and clean conversational datasets from Cantonese-English bilinguals.
- Literature review, experimental design, and testing (20%)
- Other lab contributions (10%): Assist with other ongoing projects and general lab responsibilities.
Subproject 2: Psycholinguistics: Language Processing and the Brain – This subproject explores how people form predictions about meaning as they process language, and whether bilingual experience influences these processes. By analyzing EEG (Electroencephalography) brainwave data from bilingual and monolingual speakers, students will investigate how the brain responds to words in different contexts. There may also be opportunities to help design and collect data for a follow-up EEG experiment.
- (20%) Attend weekly lab and project meetings, training, and discussions
- (50%) Data analysis: Pre-process and process EEG brainwave data from monolingual and bilingual participants.
- (20%) Experiment design and data collection: Assist in designing tasks and collecting data for EEG experiments.
- (10%) Other lab contributions: Assist with other ongoing projects and general lab responsibilities.
Subproject 3: Computational Modeling: Predictability of Code-Switching – This subproject studies how predictable code-switching is in bilingual conversations. Using existing trained bilingual computational models, students will test how factors such as surprisal (unexpectedness) influence when and how speakers switch languages.
- (20%) Attend weekly lab and project meetings, training, and discussions
- (60%) Model exploration and implementation: Research existing trained bilingual computational models, learn to apply them to naturalistic data, and use computational tools to analyze predictability and surprisal in code-switching.
- (10%) Literature review, documentation, and reporting: Summarize findings, maintain records, and contribute to reproducible workflows.
- (10%) Other lab contributions: Assist with other ongoing projects and general lab responsibilities.
By combining these three approaches, this project explores not only how bilinguals switch or mix languages but also why they make these choices. We also analyze how factors such as cultural identity, language experience, and predictability influence language processing. To ensure our findings are broadly applicable, we work with various bilingual groups, including Cantonese-English, French-English, Mandarin-English, and Vietnamese-English speakers.
Ultimately, our goal is to gain a deeper understanding of what bilingualism reveals about the human mind’s flexibility. This work emphasizes the strong links between language, culture, and cognition, showing how social dynamics and brain mechanisms interact to shape human communication.
Eligibility & Qualifications
Professor Chan welcomes students from diverse backgrounds and majors, with no prior research experience necessary. Preferred majors or minors include Applied Linguistics and Multilingualism, Language Studies, Linguistics, and East Asian Studies. The most important qualities are motivation, dependability, communication, and a willingness to learn. We especially seek students who share our lab’s core values: communication, respect, honesty, and open-mindedness.
- You must be a declared or proposed major or minor in a Humanities Division department and have good academic standing. If proposed, declare by June.
- Eligible majors: Applied Linguistics and Multilingualism, Classical Studies, Critical Race and Ethnic Studies, Feminist Studies, History, Jewish Studies, Language Studies, Linguistics, Literature, Philosophy, Spanish Studies
- Eligible minors: Black Studies, Classical Studies, East Asian Studies, History of Consciousness, History, Italian Studies, Jewish Studies, Language Studies, Linguistics, Literature, Middle Eastern and North African Studies, Philosophy, Spanish Studies
- You have work authorization (required)
- You can work independently and collaboratively (required)
Specific skillsets and requirements for each subproject are outlined below:
Subproject 1: Sociolinguistics: Speaker Identity and Phonetic Cues
Required:
- Bilingual in Chinese and English, with the ability to speak and understand both (knowledge of Cantonese preferred).
- At least basic written knowledge of Chinese characters.
- Self-motivation, attention to detail, and the ability to work collaboratively.
Helpful skills/knowledge:
- Background in phonetics, linguistics, or psychology (e.g., completion of an introductory course in linguistics, phonetics/phonology, or psycholinguistics).
- Willingness to learn basic computer programming or statistics.
Training Provided:
- Speech transcription and phonetic analysis (e.g., voice onset time).
- Coding and organizing conversational data.
- Sociolinguistic experimental design.
- Introduction to basic statistics and R programming.
Subproject 2: Psycholinguistics: Language Processing and the Brain
Required:
- Self-motivation, attention to detail, and the ability to learn independently.
- No prior experimental or EEG experience required.
Helpful skills/knowledge:
- Background in linguistics, or psychology (e.g., completion of an introductory course in linguistics, psychology, or psycholinguistics)
- Willingness to learn basic computer programming or statistics.
Training Provided:
- EEG (electroencephalography) data collection, pre-processing, and analysis.
- Behavioral and neurolinguistic experiment design.
- Research ethics and working with human participants.
- Introduction to basic statistics and R programming.
Subproject 3: Computational Modeling: Predictability of Code-Switching
Required:
- Bilingual in Chinese and English, with the ability to speak and understand both.
- A basic understanding of written Chinese characters.
- Familiarity and comfort with computer programming, particularly in Python.
- Some knowledge of natural language processing.
- Honesty, self-motivation, attention to detail, and the ability to work collaboratively.
Helpful skills/knowledge:
- Background in syntax or psycholinguistics (e.g., completion of an introductory course in syntax or psycholinguistics).
- Knowledge of Cantonese is preferred but not required.
Training Provided:
- Applying bilingual computational models to naturalistic data.
- Linguistics training on connecting computational tools with research questions.
- Theories and principles of computational modeling in linguistics.
- Introduction to basic statistics and R programming.
- Documenting workflows for reproducibility.
What You’ll Learn
This project provides student researchers with scaffolded opportunities to develop skills that benefit them in graduate studies, professional careers, and community engagement. You will enhance your research design and critical thinking by transforming broad questions about bilingualism into specific studies.
You will gain experience in data collection and analysis through working with conversational data, EEG (electroencephalography) recordings, quantitative and qualitative analysis, and computational modeling. Communication and collaboration skills will improve through weekly lab meetings, team-based projects, and peer feedback. You will also practice project management and professional development by balancing independent tasks with teamwork, leading check-ins, and contributing to outreach efforts. Additionally, you will be trained in ethical and inclusive research practices.
Our lab values—communication, respect, honesty, and open-mindedness—guide how we collaborate, engage with communities, and approach research. These skills in critical thinking, data analysis, communication, leadership, and ethical teamwork are highly transferable to careers in education, research, data science, public policy, community-based organizations, and further graduate or professional study.
How To Apply
- Updated resume
- 1-page cover letter addressing:
- Why you’re interested in this role
- How your background and skills apply
- What you hope to gain from the experience
- Address your letter to Professor Chan
Review these resume and cover letter resources to ensure you are a strong candidate! For application help, see Humanities Career Engagement.
Questions? Email Kylie Rachwalski at hum-experiential-learning@ucsc.edu.
The Mellon Foundation, The Helen and Will Webster Foundation, The Humanities Institute, the UCSC Humanities Division, and private donors generously support the Humanities EXCEL Program.
Misconduct Disclosure Requirement
As a condition of employment, the final candidate who accepts a conditional offer of employment will be required to disclose if they have been subject to any final administrative or judicial decisions within the last seven years determining that they committed any misconduct; received notice of any allegations or are currently the subject of any administrative or disciplinary proceedings involving misconduct; have left a position after receiving notice of allegations or while under investigation in an administrative or disciplinary proceeding involving misconduct; or have filed an appeal of a finding of misconduct with a previous employer.
- “Misconduct” means any violation of the policies or laws governing conduct at the applicant’s previous place of employment, including, but not limited to, violations of policies or laws prohibiting sexual harassment, sexual assault, or other forms of harassment, discrimination, dishonesty, or unethical conduct, as defined by the employer. For reference, below are UC’s policies addressing some forms of misconduct: