{"id":48,"date":"2016-05-31T20:58:27","date_gmt":"2016-05-31T20:58:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/akira-murakami.com\/?page_id=48"},"modified":"2026-04-01T01:54:38","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T01:54:38","slug":"background2","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/akira-murakami.com\/?page_id=48","title":{"rendered":"Background"},"content":{"rendered":"<style type=\"text\/css\"><!--\n<!--\n<!--\n<!--\n#wrap {\n   width:100%;\n   margin:0 auto;\n}\n#left_col {\n   float:left;\n   width:70%;\n}\n#right_col {\n   float:right;\n   width:30%;\n}\n--><\/p>\n<p>--><\/style>\n<h2>Work<\/h2>\n<div id=\"wrap\">\n<div id=\"left_col\">\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">2018-present: Birmingham Fellow (2018\u20132023), Assistant Professor (2023\u20132025), and Associate Professor (2025\u2013) at the University of Birmingham.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">2018-2026: Visiting Scientist at the <a href=\"https:\/\/aip.riken.jp\/?lang=en\">Center for Advanced Intelligence Project<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.riken.jp\/en\/\">RIKEN<\/a>.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">2017-2018: Post-doctoral Researcher at the University of T\u00fcbingen. I worked at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.uni-tuebingen.de\/en\/research\/core-research\/lead-graduate-school-and-research-network.html\">LEAD Graduate School &amp; Research Network<\/a>.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">2015-2017: Research Associate at the University of Cambridge. I worked at the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ling.cam.ac.uk\/ef-unit\/\">EF Education First Research Lab for Applied Language Learning<\/a>.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">2016-2017: Associate Lecturer at Anglia Ruskin University.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">2013-2015: Research Fellow at the University of Birmingham. I worked for the ESRC-funded project \u2018<a href=\"http:\/\/idrd-bham.info\/idrd\/\">Investigating interdisciplinary research discourse: the case of Global Environmental Change<\/a>\u2019.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"right_col\">\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/akira-murakami.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Tuebingen.jpg\" alt=\"Tuebingen\" width=\"100\" height=\"75\" \/><br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-193\" src=\"https:\/\/akira-murakami.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/DTAL2_small-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"DTAL\" width=\"100\" height=\"75\" srcset=\"https:\/\/akira-murakami.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/DTAL2_small-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/akira-murakami.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/DTAL2_small-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/akira-murakami.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/DTAL2_small-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/akira-murakami.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/DTAL2_small-1272x954.jpg 1272w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 100px) 100vw, 100px\" \/><br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-194\" src=\"https:\/\/akira-murakami.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/SinclairChair-300x300.jpeg\" alt=\"SinclairChair\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" srcset=\"https:\/\/akira-murakami.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/SinclairChair-300x300.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/akira-murakami.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/SinclairChair-150x150.jpeg 150w, https:\/\/akira-murakami.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/SinclairChair.jpeg 512w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 100px) 100vw, 100px\" \/><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h2>Education<\/h2>\n<div id=\"wrap\">\n<div id=\"left_col\"><strong>PhD in Theoretical and Applied Linguistics<\/strong><br \/>\n2010-2014<br \/>\nUniversity of Cambridge (UK)<br \/>\nPhD Thesis: \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.repository.cam.ac.uk\/handle\/1810\/254430\">Individual variation and the role of L1 in the L2 development of English grammatical morphemes: Insights from learner corpora<\/a>\u201d<br \/>\nSupervised by Dora Alexopoulou<\/div>\n<div id=\"right_col\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-114\" src=\"https:\/\/akira-murakami.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Congregation-1024x792.jpg\" alt=\"Congregation\" width=\"696\" height=\"538\" srcset=\"https:\/\/akira-murakami.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Congregation-1024x792.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/akira-murakami.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Congregation-300x232.jpg 300w, https:\/\/akira-murakami.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Congregation-768x594.jpg 768w, https:\/\/akira-murakami.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Congregation-1272x984.jpg 1272w, https:\/\/akira-murakami.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Congregation.jpg 1982w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 696px) 100vw, 696px\" \/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"wrap\">\n<div id=\"left_col\">\n<p><strong>MA in Linguistics (TESOL\/TEFL)<\/strong><br \/>\n2007-2009<br \/>\nTokyo University of Foreign Studies (Japan)<br \/>\nMA Thesis: \u201cA corpus-based analysis of English textbooks in Japan and Asian countries: Multidimensional approach\u201d<br \/>\nA paper based on the thesis is available <a href=\"https:\/\/www.academia.edu\/2584361\/Murakami_A._2009_._A_corpus-based_study_of_English_textbooks_in_Japan_and_Asian_countries_Multidimensional_approach._Proceedings_of_the_International_Conference_on_Multi-Development_and_Application_of_Languages_and_Linguistics_CD-ROM_\">here<\/a>.<br \/>\nSupervised by Yukio Tono<\/p>\n<p><strong>BA in Foreign Studies (Linguistics Minor)<\/strong><br \/>\n2003-2007<br \/>\nSophia University (Japan)<br \/>\nBA Thesis: \u201cPurposes of English education in Japan, their relationships and the implications on future education&#8221;<br \/>\nSupervised by Shinichi Izumi<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"right_col\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-146\" src=\"https:\/\/akira-murakami.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/MA_Graduation-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"MA_Graduation\" width=\"696\" height=\"522\" srcset=\"https:\/\/akira-murakami.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/MA_Graduation-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/akira-murakami.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/MA_Graduation-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/akira-murakami.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/MA_Graduation-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/akira-murakami.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/MA_Graduation-1272x954.jpg 1272w, https:\/\/akira-murakami.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/MA_Graduation.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 696px) 100vw, 696px\" \/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"wrap\">\n<div id=\"left_col\"><strong>Prospect High School, Illinois, USA<\/strong><br \/>\n1999-2002<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div id=\"right_col\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-148\" src=\"https:\/\/akira-murakami.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/HighSchool_Graduation.jpg\" alt=\"HighSchool_Graduation\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" srcset=\"https:\/\/akira-murakami.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/HighSchool_Graduation.jpg 640w, https:\/\/akira-murakami.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/HighSchool_Graduation-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<h2>Awards, Scholarships, and Other Qualifications<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>2021 Best Article Award by the International Association for Task-Based Language Teaching (IATBLT) for our paper \u201cEffects of task type on morphosyntactic complexity across proficiency: Evidence from a large learner corpus of A1 to C2 writings\u201d.<\/li>\n<li>The Albert Valdman award for outstanding publication in Studies in Second Language Acquisition for the paper \u201cL1 influence on the acquisition order of English grammatical morphemes: A learner corpus study\u201d.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.jasso.go.jp\/ryugaku\/tantosha\/study_a\/long_term_h\/\">A scholarship<\/a> by the Japan Student Services Organization that covers the tuition fee and living expenses for my PhD study for three years (January 2010 \u2013 November 2012)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hughes.cam.ac.uk\/current-students\/finance\/\">Hughes Hall Travel Grant<\/a> (\u00a3250.00; July 2011, October 2011, and September 2012)<\/li>\n<li>The representative graduate at the graduation ceremony of Tokyo University of Foreign Studies for achieving high academic performance among those who obtained masters\u2019 degrees in 2009<\/li>\n<li>One of the two debaters in the Japanese national debate team of <a href=\"http:\/\/japan-debate-association.org\/seminar\/exchange\">Japan-US Exchange Debate<\/a> in 2008, organized by the National Communication Association (US) and Japan Debate Association [<a href=\"http:\/\/old.japan-debate-association.org\/exchange\/08r.htm\">our report<\/a> (in Japanese)]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: small;\">(last updated: 17 October, 2025)<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Work 2018-present: Birmingham Fellow (2018\u20132023), Assistant Professor (2023\u20132025), and Associate Professor (2025\u2013) at the University of Birmingham. 2018-2026: Visiting Scientist at the Center for Advanced Intelligence Project, RIKEN. 2017-2018: Post-doctoral Researcher at the University of T\u00fcbingen. I worked at LEAD Graduate School &amp; Research Network. 2015-2017: Research Associate at the University of Cambridge. I worked [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-48","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/akira-murakami.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/48","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/akira-murakami.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/akira-murakami.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/akira-murakami.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/akira-murakami.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=48"}],"version-history":[{"count":52,"href":"https:\/\/akira-murakami.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/48\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1141,"href":"https:\/\/akira-murakami.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/48\/revisions\/1141"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/akira-murakami.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=48"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}