PhD position on Academic Literacy Development in Dutch and English Academic Programmes
PhD position on Academic Literacy Development in Dutch and English Academic Programmes
Employer Active
Job Alert
You will be updated with latest job alerts via email
Share
Job Alert
You will be updated with latest job alerts via email
Not Disclosed
Salary Not Disclosed
1 Vacancy
Job Description
We are hiring two PhD-candidates for a project that investigates language-related degree-awarding gaps in Dutch higher education. Are you interested in using AI and text mining for investigating the role of language in education and in conducting team science Apply now!
Dutch and English academic literacy
Dutch higher education is populated by students from many different language and cultural backgrounds. Ideally these diverse backgrounds make no difference for academic achievement. However research demonstrates that language-related degree-awarding gaps exist. Specifically students from non-native language backgrounds are less likely to succeed academically. You will be part of a team of researchers that aims to increase our understanding of the role of language in academic achievement in higher education.
Your specific subproject focuses on how Dutch and English academic literacy develop within Dutch and English tracks and how curriculum characteristics may be conducive to this. This involves the analysis of a large sample of graded student-written texts from UvA databases. Important steps constitute the development and validation of automated and potentially LLM-based scoring metrics. These metrics will then be used to inform longitudinal and cross-sectional studies intended to reveal to what extent students develop academic language abilities (in Dutch or English) throughout their bachelor programs and to what extent these abilities are supported by specific properties of the bachelor curricula.
This project is funded by NRO (Netherlands Initiative for Educational Research) and includes additional time for you to develop your teaching activities.
This is what you will be doing
You will be engaged in the following tasks and activities:
- developing and validating automated and likely LLM-based scoring metrics
- running empirical studies investigating the development of language skills through text quality analyses in relation to student background and curriculum features.
- collaborating in an interdisciplinary research team
- co-teaching and teaching courses at Bachelor level
- writing of a PhD thesis within the period of appointment
- presenting intermediate research results for academic and non-academic audiences at workshops and conferences;
- participating in the ACLC and Faculty of Humanities PhD training programmes.
This is what we ask of you
- A completed Masters degree or Research Masters degree in (Computational) Linguistics Education Artificial Intelligence or a related field;
- The skills and knowledge for in-depth automated text analysis and the development and use of text quality metrics;
- The skills and knowledge for carrying out in-depth empirical studies
- Excellent research skills demonstrated by a Master thesis;
- Enthusiasm for teaching;
- Strong communicative and organizational skills a cooperative attitude and strong commitment to team science;
- Participation in the ACLC and the national research school training program;
- Enthusiasm for communicating academic research to non-academic audiences;
- Excellent command of English and fair knowledge of Dutch (B1-level or higher).
Please note that if you already hold a doctorate/PhD or are working towards obtaining a similar degree elsewhere you will not be admitted to a doctoral programme at the UvA.
This is what else we offer you
- We offer a temporary employment contract for the period of 54 months. This is longer than the usual four-year appointment for a PhD-trajectory because it includes additional time for teaching.
- Based on a full-time appointment (38 hours per week) the gross monthly salary will range from 3059 in the first year to 3881 (scale P) in the last year. This does not include 8% holiday allowance and 83% year-end allowance. The UFO profile PhD candidate applicable. The Collective Labour Agreement of Universities of the Netherlandsis applicable.
- The first contract will be for 16 months with an extension for the following 38 months contingent on a positive performance evaluation within the first 12 months. As part of your contract you will (co-)teach the equivalent of 0.2 fte. The way your teaching is organized is negotiable. It is possible to schedule a teaching semester or to spread your teaching over a longer period of time. The preferred starting date is 1 January 2026.
- PhD candidates receive a tuition fee waiver.
- PhD candidates have free access to courses offered by the Graduate School of Humanities and the Dutch National Research Schools.
- You will have excellent possibilities for further professional development and education.
- You will work in an inspiring academic and international work environment in the heart of Amsterdam.
- You will work in an enthusiastic and professional academic team.
This is where you will be working
You will be appointed at the The Amsterdam Center for Language and Communication (ACLC) as part of the project Watching Our Language: Curriculum innovations for language equity and academic success led by prof. dr. Sible Andringa and funded by the Netherlands Initiative for Education Research (NRO). This project consists of three interconnected projects. The first develops tools to assess curriculum support for Dutch and English language development and is conducted at Hogeschool Rotterdam. The second and third projects are run by PhD candidates at the UvA. This PhD-project aims to establish how academic literacy evolves in Dutch and English tracks and how curricula can support this development. Another PhD-project explores the impact of language of instruction student backgrounds and curriculum features on academic success. Each PhD will have its own supervision team consisting of specialized members of staff (dr. Caitlin Meyer and dr. Jelke Bloem for the present project). You will meet regularly within these teams as well as in the larger project team.
The Amsterdam Centre for Language and Communication is one of the five Research Schools within the Amsterdam Institute for Humanities Research. Within the University of Amsterdam the ACLC represents the thriving linguistics community and is home to several research groups that you are free to joint. The current project falls under the Language Learning Literacy and Multilingualism research group. The ACLC also has an active and social PhD community that meets formally and informally.
For questions about the position or department you can contact Prof. dr. Sible Andringa
If you recognize yourself in the profile and are interested in the position we look forward to receiving your application. Applications should include the following information (submitted in one .pdf):
- A letter of motivation.
- A full academic CV.
- A list of relevant BA modules and all Master-level modules you have taken with an official transcript of grades.
- The names and contact details of two referents including your thesis advisor who may be approached by the selection committee.
- A writing sample for example a published paper or (a chapter from) your MA thesis.
The vacancy closes on. The first round of interviews will take place starting end of October and beginning of November in weeks 44 and 45.
Employment Type
Full Time
