Kathy MinHye Kim
Clinical Assistant Professor
Dr. Kathy MinHye Kim is a clinical assistant professor of language education at BU Wheelock College of Education & Human Development. Her work specializes in understanding how adult learners encode and retain second language (L2) knowledge. In particular, she examines how L2 learners develop implicit and explicit knowledge and factors that mediate their development; these factors include situational features (e.g., input modality), sleep conditions, and individual differences in cognitive (e.g., intelligence, working memory capacity) and biographical (e.g., education level and reading experiences) variables.
Dr. Kim is highly engaged in longitudinal research; in her recent work, she examined the longitudinal associations between linguistic knowledge types (e.g., explicit and implicit L2 knowledge) and how language engagement in a study aboard context impacts the knowledge interface. Currently, she is also working on exploring the development and evaluation of web-based linguistic measures and examining the construct validities of these measures.
Dr. Kim has received grants from the National Science Foundation (NSF), the International Research Foundation for English Language Education (TIRF), and the National Federation of Modern Language Teachers Associations/Modern Language Journal (NFMLTA/MLJ). She holds a PhD in second language studies from Michigan State University with an interdepartmental graduate specialization in cognitive science.
Recent News
Education
PhD, Second Language Studies, Michigan State University
MA, TESOL, Boston University
BA, English Literature, Keimyung University
Courses
LS658 Second Language Acquisition
TL509 Foundations of Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) Pedagogy
Selected Publications
Kim, K. & Fenn, K. (in press). Sleep-dependent consolidation of L2 grammar knowledge: The role of awareness. Studies in Second Language Acquisition.
Kim, K. & Godfroid, A. (2019). Should we listen or read? Modality effects in implicit and explicit L2 knowledge of grammar. The Modern Language Journal.
Loewen, S., Crowther, D., Isbell, D., Kim, K., Maloney, J., Miller, Z., Rawal, H., & Yin. Y. (2019). Mobile-assisted language learning: A Duolingo case study. ReCALL.
Selected Presentations
Kim, K. (2019, September). Exploring the interface of explicit and implicit L2 knowledge: A longitudinal perspective. 2019 Second Language Research Forum. Michigan, USA. Paper presentation.
Godfroid, A. & Kim, K. (2019, July). Where does L2 vocabulary learning ability fit in the explicit-implicit L2 knowledge debate? 2019 Vocab@Leuven. Leuven, Belgium. Paper presentation.
Kim, K & Godfroid, A. (2019, March). Individual differences in cognitive aptitudes and implicit-explicit knowledge: An SEM approach. 2019 American Association for Applied Linguistics. Atlanta, USA. Paper presentation.
Kim, K. & Fenn, K. (2018, October). When we are asleep: Investigating sleep-dependent consolidation of L2 grammar knowledge. 2018 Second Language Research Forum. Montreal, Canada. Poster presentation.
Godfroid, A., Kim, K., Hui, B., & Isbell, D. (2018, September). Validation research on implicit and explicit knowledge: A research synthesis. 2018 European Second Language Acquisition. Münster, Germany. Paper presentation.
Kim, K. (2018, July). The interface of explicit and implicit knowledge: A longitudinal study. 2018 The LEAD summer school. Tübingen, Germany. Poster presentation.
Kim, K. (2017, October). Should we listen or read? Investigating the role of modality in learning L2 syntax under incidental exposure conditions. 2017 Second Language Research Forum. Columbus, USA. Paper presentation.