As 2023 Winds Down, Linguist Anne McCabe's Research Takes Off
This year, Anne McCabe, Ph.D., has performed work in functional linguistics that has gained international attention among scholars from Australia to Mexico.
Amid her 33rd academic year at SLU-Madrid, McCabe continues to make contributions to the field of linguistics. McCabe has written two books and has co-authored three.
Her 2021 "A Functional Linguistic Perspective on Developing Language" was shortlisted for the international 2023 M.A.K. Halliday Prize. Although shortlisted, it was the only single-authored publication to achieve the distinction.
She also published "Systemic functional linguistics: the perfect match for content and language integrated learning" and "Expressing evaluation across disciplines in primary and secondary CLIL writing: a longitudinal study."
The articles were published in the International Journal of Bilingual Education & Bilingualism, a prestigious outlet for the field of language and educational linguistics.
Adding to her acclaim as a scholar, McCabe also co-authored a book chapter on systemic functional linguistics published in The Routledge Handbook of Applied Linguistics.
She gave a plenary talk on systemic functional linguistics in content and language-integrated learning, or "CLIL" in academic jargon. It was held by the University of Tasmania.
McCabe spoke at conferences held by TESOL-Ukraine, and Universidad Autónoma de Madrid's Doctoral School hosted by Europe’s Civic University Alliance.
She is currently involved in a research project, funded by Spain's Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, focused on language acquisition in bilingual learning in classrooms at all age levels.
"It's all linguistics applied to educational contexts," said McCabe. "We analyze the language that students need to be successful in school."
Using sociolinguistics, McCabe and the UAM-CLIL Research Group investigate how to help children of underprivileged backgrounds.
"We learn how children learn, how we can help them learn."
McCabe has two book projects that are underway. The forthcoming "Systemic Functional Linguistics and Foreign Language Teaching" and "The Routledge Handbook of Transdisciplinary Systemic Functional Linguistics" are both under contract. She also has a plenary talk in Mexico in the works.
More about Anne McCabe, Ph.D.
McCabe has been a faculty member at Saint Louis University's Madrid Campus since 1990. She has served as department chair, division director and associate dean. She has taught in the English, ESL, Communication and Spanish departments. She received SLU's Nancy McNeir Ring Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2018.
She has also led projects bridging the Madrid and St. Louis campuses as a member of the University's board for the Reinert Center for Transformative Teaching and Learning.
Most recently, she has served as the Madrid Campus' University Core director and co-chair for the SLU-Madrid leadership search committee. Said search seeks to appoint permanent campus leadership by July 1, 2024.