Susan Gass

Susan M. Gass (born 1943) is an American linguist who has won the Kenneth W. Mildenberger Prize. Her research focuses on applied linguistics with a special focus on second language learning, corrective feedback, and task-based language learning. She graduated in 1961 from Kingswood School Cranbrook.

Career Gass served as the director of the English Language Center, co-director of the Center for Language Education And Research (CLEAR), co-director of the Center for Language Teaching Advancement (CeLTA), and founding-director of the Second Language Studies (SLS) Ph.D. program at Michigan State University.

Between 2002 and 2008 she served as president of the International Association of Applied Linguistics.

She was the editor of Studies in Second Language Acquisition.

Research According to Google Scholar, Gass's most cited publications include: Second language acquisition: An introductory course, Second language research: Methodology and design, and Input, interaction, and the second language learner.

One of her major publications is a journal article, published in Applied Linguistics in 1985, entitled Non-native/Non-native Conversations: A Model for Negotiation of Meaning. The article, co-written with Evangeline Varonis, builds on the research focusing on conversational interactions between native speakers and non-native speakers. The paper focuses on interactions among non-native speakers of English. Varonis and Gass noted that negotiation of meaning was the most common among non-native speaker/non-native speaker pairs.

Publications Gass has had work published in several major journals such as Applied Linguistics, Studies in Second Language Acquisition, Language Learning, The Modern Language Journal, and AILA Review.

She has co-written books with Larry Selinker, Alison Mackey, Charlene Polio, and Bill VanPatten.

Awards Gass has received numerous outstanding awards throughout her career. 1995: MSU Outstanding Research Award, Golden Key Honor Society, 1995 1996: Paul Pimsleur Award for Outstanding Research, ACTFL (American Council for the Teaching of Foreign Languages). 1998: Ralph Smuckler Award for advancing international studies and programs, Michigan State University Michigan Association of Governing Boards Award 2002: Distinguished Scholarship and Service (American Association for Applied Linguistics) 2012: Language Learning Outstanding article (with Luke Plonsky) 2016: Kenneth W. Mildenberger Prize (with Alison Mackey