In this section, we share notes from several of our past DDG recipients. Their notes communicate how their awards were used to support their research endeavors, and these individuals also thank donors for their contributions.
We have invited some of our Doctoral Dissertation Grant (DDG) recipients to share with our readers how the DDG funding has impacted their studies and lives. Our grant recipients’ messages are printed below, and links to their studies are provided.
Eldin Milak (2022 DDG Awardee, Sungkyunkwan University): From the outset of my studies in linguistics, I was intrigued by the relationship between languages and the visual symbols we use to represent them. The ability to externalize and mark thought and language in the form of material signs which can traverse time and space, is perhaps one of humankind’s greatest achievements.
Having lived in South Korea for the past four years, I have become sensitized to the variety of ways in which different scripts can be used to reach different audiences, even if the linguistic message is the same. Unlike many Western contexts, where the prevalent account of language and script sees them as one and the same, scripts in the spaces of East Asia produce unique visual settings in which numerous systems and symbols compete for dominance, subvert expectations, and reproduce identities, histories, and nations. My aim is to describe this landscape to the best of my ability, and thanks to your generous contributions, I am much closer to that goal.
Your support is giving me the necessary encouragement to continue my research. As the funding for Humanities is running low around the world, student researchers like me are increasingly giving up on the work they love for fear of financial insecurity. Grants such as the DDGs remind us that the work we do is valuable and important, and that there are many individuals out there who are vested in improving our societies in ways which do not entail just economic growth and profit. As a scholar interested in exploring aspects of reality which are hidden in plain sight, I am very grateful for individuals such as yourself, who are able to maintain long-term vision in an increasingly shortsighted global order.
Eunhae Cho (2022 DDG Awardee, Pennsylvania State University): With the TIRF funding, I will also be able to disseminate the research findings in various ways: peer-reviewed articles, such as journal publications and edited academic book chapters; conference presentations, including local, national, and international conferences in the fields of linguistics, education, and family studies; invited talks at local, national, international K-12 schools and higher education institutions; media interviews and articles; and finally, articles in Chinese so parents, children, and youth in Chinese immigrant communities can have access to the stories of their own.
I would like to express my sincere gratitude for making this possible. I am thrilled to learn of my selection for this honor, and I am deeply appreciative of your support. This will allow me to focus more on my remaining doctoral journal, especially on writing the dissertation process: data collection, analysis, and writing.
By the end of the study, student participants will either introduce their parents to me or they will interview one of their parents so that I can learn about their child-rearing practices and their social and cultural backgrounds. Parents’ voices are essential both for data analysis and for understanding how familial values play a role in helping determine children’s social relations.
Your generosity will add significant luster to my dissertation project and I am once again appreciative of this honor.
Maria Kostromitina (2022 DDG Awardee, Northern Arizona University): I would like to express my genuine gratitude for your support of my dissertation study. Your recognition of my research is the highest praise a graduate student could receive, and I am extremely appreciative of the opportunities the grant will provide on my doctoral journey.
The funding I have been awarded will be instrumental in ensuring the success of my dissertation.
The grant will be extremely helpful for the dissemination of the study results. With the funding, I will be able to present the results of my study at large international conferences that are attended by English teachers, learners, digital platform developers, curriculum designers, and policymakers from all over the world. Thus, support from TIRF will be substantial not only in conducting the study but also in making the developed platform known and available for a larger target audience.
This award is helpful not only because it will assist me in completing my dissertation study, but also because of the value and weight it brings to my research. As a language educator and future applied linguist, I aspire to facilitate English learners’ success in global communication. The support of TIRF indicates that the research I do aligns with the mission of the foundation in serving English educators and learners around the world.