About our Faculty:

Dr. Chandrika Balasubramanian (formerly Rogers) (828) 227-3921 crogers@email.wcu.edu	Dr. Christopher Blake (828) 227-3920 blake@email.wcu.edu

Chandrika Balasubramanian is Assistant Professor of Applied Linguistics and Director of the Graduate TESOL Programs in the Department of English at WCU. Her research interests focus on sociolinguistics and the study of language varieties and variation using corpus linguistics methodology. Her ESL teaching ranges from elementary and middle school in the Middle East to university-level teaching in the U.S. She taught college level ESL at various universities in the U.S. for 10 years, and has been teaching graduate Applied Linguistics courses since 2004. Her book, Register Variation in Indian English has been accepted for publication by John Benjamins, and will be published in the next year. Her other current research, that she is doing with Christopher Blake, entails compiling a corpus of K-12 student writing (both native and non-native), and examining the patterns and types of grammatical errors in the writing of public school students. This study will result in a grammar textbook for pre-service K-12 teachers in the southeastern states.

Christopher Blake is Assistant Professor of Applied Linguistics in the Department of English at Western Carolina University. His research focuses on the development and measurement of oral fluency in a second language--especially within an online learning environment. He also specializes in international curriculum development, language assessment, and quantitative research design. His ESL teaching experience ranges from middle school to college level courses, including two years at the College of Optics and Fine Mechanics in Changchun, China. At Purdue University, he taught for four years in the Oral English Proficiency Program and worked with a team of researchers to develop the computer-based Oral English Proficiency test. Currently he is doing research on fluency within the field of World Englishes and is working on several projects that focus on the internationalization of K-12 and college level curricula. His research paper entitled "The Potential of Text Based Internet Chats for Developing Oral Fluency in a Second Language" was published in the Modern Language Journal in February 2009.