Victoria Lauren Thomas
Victoria Lauren Thomas
Graduate Teaching Assistant
Corpus Linguistics, Experimental Sociolinguistics, Morphosyntactic Variation, Language Ideologies, Historical Linguistics, Language Evolution, Linguistic Typology, Second Language Acquisition
Victoria Thomas is a first-year PhD student and graduate teaching assistant in Linguistics. After completing her MA in TESOL and dual BA degrees in Spanish and French, she switched academic roles for 10 years and taught ESL and EFL courses in a U.S. university preparatory program, French secondary schools, and a Japanese university, as well as a wide variety of courses in introductory Spanish and French, bilingual education, global cultures, and university transitions. She is returning to graduate studies in linguistics and the realm of conceptual research where she can deepen her professional and theoretical knowledge, with particular interest in the evolution and current usage of the languages she has previously been tasked to teach.
Current Research
Projects in development:
- Corpus-based analysis of conditional morphology in Spanish and French
- Experimental analysis of factors in English-language speech perception
- Examination of vowel formants in American English speech
Selected Publications
Thomas, V. (2024). Examining student perspectives on improving online self-access learning. PanSIG Journal, 2023, 233-244. https://pansig.org/publications/2023/2023_PanSIG_Journal.pdf
Zencak, V. (2018). Variation in past counterfactual constructions [Master’s thesis, Central Washington University]. ScholarWorks@CWU. https://digitalcommons.cwu.edu/etd/916/
Expanded Publication List
Courses Taught
Lecturer, Central Washington University, Ellensburg, Washington (March 2024 - June 2026)
World Languages and Cultures Department
Courses taught:
• First Year Spanish (10 sections)
• Popular Cultures of the World (1 section)
• Culminating Experience (1 section)
Educational Development, Teaching and Learning Department
Courses taught:
• Principles and Practices for Educating Linguistically Diverse
Students (4 sections)
• Teaching in Linguistically Diverse Classrooms (1 section)
Office of Student Success
Courses taught:
• Transition to CWU (3 sections)
UESL Program
Courses taught:
• Writing, Level 3 (1 section)
• Grammar, Level 4 (1 section)
• Writing, Level 4 (1 section)
• Test Preparation (1 section)
• WorldCat Summer Program: Reading (1 section)
Lecturer, University of Shimane, Hamada, Japan (April 2020 – March 2024)
Faculty of International Studies (new curriculum)
Courses taught:
• English 1 (3 split sections – 6 koma)
• English 2 (3 split sections –6 koma)
• English 1 Repeaters (2 sections/koma)
• English 2 Repeaters (2 sections//koma)
• English Communication 1 (2 sections/koma)
• English Communication 2 (2 sections/koma)
• Essay Writing 1 (2 sections/koma)
• Essay Writing 2 (2 sections/koma)
• Digital Communication (1 section/koma)
Lessons taught in:
• TOEFL Preparation (2 sections)
Faculty of Policy Studies, 2020-2022 (previous curriculum)
Courses taught:
• Freshman English 1 (Repeaters) (2 sections/koma)
• Freshman English 2 (Repeaters) (2 sections/koma)
• Sophomore English 1 (2 split sections – 4 koma)
• Sophomore English 2 (2 split sections – 4 koma)
• Sophomore English 1 (Repeaters) (2 sections/koma)
• Sophomore English 2 (Repeaters) (2 sections/koma)
• Newspaper Reading (1 section/koma)
• Paragraph Writing (1 section/koma)
Lecturer, Central Washington University, Ellensburg, Washington (June 2019 – March 2020)
UESL Program
Courses taught:
• Oral Communication, Level 4 (2 sections)
• Oral Communication, Level 5 (1 section)
• Reading, Level 3 (2 sections)
• Reading, Level 4 (1 section)
• Grammar, Level 1 (1 section)
• Grammar, Level 2 (1 section)
World Languages and Cultures Department
Courses taught:
• First Year French (1 section)
• First Year Spanish (1 section)
CWU WorldCat ESL Program, Summers 2018 & 2019
Courses taught:
• Oral Communication, Level 2 (1 section)
• Grammar, Level 3 (1 section)
• Special Topics in American Culture, Level 3 (1 section)
Assistante de langue (Assistant Language Teacher), October 2018 – April 2019
Collège Jean-Jacques Rousseau & Collège Arthur Rimbaud, Saint-Julien-en-Génévois, France
Teaching Abroad Program in France (TAPIF)/Centre Internationale d’Études Pedagogiques (CIEP)
Courses co-taught:
• Level 1 English 6e (13 sections)
• Level 2 English 5e (3 sections)
• Level 3 English 4e (1 section)
• Level 4 English 3e (5 sections)
Graduate Teaching Assistant, Central Washington University (September 2016 – June 2018)
English Department
Courses taught:
• English Composition I: Critical Reading and Responding (4 sections)
Lessons taught in:
• UESL Writing 2/3 (TESOL Practicum)
• UESL Grammar 3 (TESOL Practicum)
• English Composition II: Reasoning and Research (substitute for colleague)
World Languages Department
Courses taught:
• First Year French (1 section)
Education
M.A. TESOL
Dual B.A. in Spanish & French with a minor in Linguistics
Recent Presentations
McCarvel, M., Truong, T., Bryant, S., Dees, J., & Thomas, V. (2026). First-gen in the classroom: Teaching by & for first-generation scholars in higher education [Conference presentation]. Linguistics Society of America Annual Meeting, 2026, New Orleans, LA.
Thomas, V. (2025). Basic research design and statistical analysis for teacher research [Conference presentation]. WAFLT Spring Conference, 2025, Ellensburg, WA.
Thomas, V., & Thomas, J. (2023). Self-perception of teaching capability and teacher identity in tertiary EFL [Conference presentation]. JALT CUE 30th Anniversary Conference, 2023, Toyama, Japan.
Thomas, V. (2023). Examining student perspectives on improving online self-access learning [Conference presentation]. JALT 2023 PanSIG Conference, Kyoto, Japan.