Professor Gillian Wigglesworth
on leave in semester 2, 2010
Contact details
Phone +61 3 8344 4215
Email: gillianw@ unimelb.edu.au
Office: Babel Building 620
Biography
Gillian Wigglesworth received her PhD in 1993 from La Trobe University with a thesis entitled "Investigating children's cognitive and linguistic development through narrative". From 1992 to 1994 she worked at the University of Melbourne in the Department of Applied Linguistics and the Language Testing Research Centre, where she focused particularly on the development of oral language assessments. She worked in the Department of Linguistics at Macquarie University from 1995-2001 where she was coordinator of the applied linguistics postgraduate programs. From 2000-2001 she was also a member of the Adult Migrant English Program Research Centre research staff. She returned to the University of Melbourne in 2001 where she has been Head of the School of Languages and Linguistics since 2005. Her research interests include first and second language acquisition, language testing and evaluation and bilingualism, using both quantitative and qualitative approaches to data collection and analysis. Most recently, she has worked on the Aboriginal Child Language Acquisition projects as chief investigator with Jane Simpson.
Grants
G. Wigglesworth, J. Simpson (2008-2012) A longitudinal study of the interaction of home and school language in two Aboriginal communities ARC Discovery Project (DP0877762)
G. Wigglesworth, J. Simpson, K. Moses (2008) The assessment of receptive traditional language skills in indigenous children AIATSIS Research Grant (G2007/7273)
G. Wigglesworth, J. Simpson (2003-2006) Aboriginal child language acquisition project ARC Discovery Project (DP0343189)
Publications (2006 - present)
Books
Ng, B. C. & G. Wigglesworth. 2007. Bilingualism: An advanced resource book. London, Routledge.
Edited books
Simpson, J. & G. Wigglesworth (eds.) 2008. Children's language and multilingualism: Indigenous language use at home and school. UK: Continuum International
Major Reference Works
Wigglesworth, G. 2008. Task and performance based assessment. In E. Shohamy (ed), The Encyclopaedia of Language Education, Volume 7; Language testing and assessment. Kluwer Press
Chapters in books
Disbray, S. & G. Wigglesworth. 2008. Variability in children’s language input in three communities in Aboriginal Australia. In G. Robinson, J. Goodnow, I. Katz and U. Eickelkamp, (eds), Contexts of child development: Culture, policy and intervention Alice Springs, Charles Darwin University Press. pp. 167-182.
Moses, K. & Wigglesworth, G. 2008. The silence of the frogs: Dysfunctional discourse in the "English-only" Aboriginal classroom. In Simpson, J. & G. Wigglesworth (eds) Children's language and multilingualism: Indigenous language use at home and school. UK:Continuum International Ch.10.
Wigglesworth, G. & J. Simpson. 2008. The language learning environments of preschool children in Indigenous communities. In Simpson, J. & G. Wigglesworth (eds). Children's language and multilingualism: Indigenous language use at home and school. UK:Continuum International, Ch.1
Storch, N. & G. Wigglesworth. 2007. Writing tasks: Comparing individual and collaborative writing. In María del Pilar Garcia-Mayo (ed) Investigating tasks in formal language learning. Multilingual matters.
O’Loughlin, K. & G. Wigglesworth. 2007. Investigating task design in academic writing prompts. In Taylor, L. & P. Frawley (eds.) IELTS collected papers: research in speaking and writing assessment. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Refereed journal articles
N. Storch & G. Wigglesworth. 2009. Pair versus individual writing: Effects on fluency, complexity an accuracy. Language Testing 26 (3) pp. 445-466.
G. Wigglesworth & L. Taylor. 2009. Are two heads better than one? Pair work in L2 assessment contexts Language Testing 26 (3) pp. 325-339.
Burns, A., Paltridge, B. & G. Wigglesworth. 2008. Review of doctoral research in second-language teaching and learning in Australia (2003–2006) Language Teaching 41, pp. 273-293.
Wigglesworth, G. & L. Yates. 2007. Mitigating difficult requests in the workplace: what teachers and learners need to know. TESOL Quarterly 41(4), pp. 791-803.
Wigglesworth, G. & Murray, D. 2007. Opening doors: Teachers learning through collaborative research. Prospect, 22, 1, 19-36
Elder, C. & Wigglesworth, G. 2006. An investigation of the effectiveness and validity of planning time in Part 2 of the IELTS speaking test. IELTS Research Reports, volume 6. London, British Council: pp. 13-40