Contact Information
707 S. Mathews Ave
Urbana, IL 61801
Office Hours
Biography
Robin grew up in Newport News, Virginia. She completed a Bachelor's Degree in French and Spanish at George Mason University in Fairfax and her Master's in Applied French Linguistics at the University of Alabama. At UIUC, she is working towards a Ph.D. in French Linguistics with an emphasis in Romance Linguistics.
Apart from her research and studies, Robin co-hosts the GradLings podcast, a program dedicated to the promotion of graduate students working in all branches of linguistics and language study. This year, she will be co-chairing the 14th annual meeting of the Illinois Language and Linguistics Society and is the graduate student organizer for the Social Dynamics of Language Variation and Change HRI seminar & reading group. Robin is also a committee member of EuroChambana, a graduate student-led initiative with the European Union Center to bring together community members with shared interests in European cultures, languages, and politics.
Outside of UIUC, Robin is a steering committee member for the Diversity, Decolonization, and the French Curriculum collective where she serves as co-organizer of the graduate student special interest group. She also contributes research to the Gender in Language Project at University of California, Berkeley. This fall, she is excited to begin as a series blogger for We Linguistically, a virtual community that celebrates multilingual lives and confronts linguistic oppression rooted in white supremacy and capitalistic values.
Research Interests
- Historical sociolinguistics
- Linguistic anthropology
- Queer linguistics
- Raciolinguistics
- Feminist critical discourse analysis
- Minoritized languages
Research Description
Robin's project, "Discursive dualities: Exploring boundaries of sexuality, language, and separatism in Montréal, 1956-1977", examines relationships of power between identities, multilingualism, and community organization. Drawing on archives of mainstream media, her research investigates how publicly circulating discourses construct minoritizing narratives about groups of people based on their sexuality, gender, race, ethnicity, and linguistic identity. Robin applies a transdisciplinary lens to trace narrative pathways as they adapt to the mercurial sociopolitical environment in Montréal after the death of Maurice Duplessis until the first referendum for independence.
Education
Ph.D. French Linguistics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, in progress
Graduate Minors: Queer Studies; Gender and Women's Studies; European Union Studies; Museum Studies
M.A. Applied French Linguistics, The University of Alabama, 2018
B.A. Foreign Languages, French, George Mason University, 2015
B.A. Foreign Languages, Spanish, George Mason University, 2015
Lavender Languages Institute. Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, FL, 2022
Lavender Languages Institute. Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, FL, 2021
Genevan Paleography Workshop. Calvin University, Grand Rapids, MI, 2018
Linguistic Society of America Summer Institute. University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, 2017
Grants
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Departmental Fellowship – Department of French and Italian, Summer 2022
Conference Presentation Award – Graduate College, Fall 2021
Foreign Language & Area Studies Fellowship – European Union Center, AY 2020-2021
Foreign Language & Area Studies Fellowship – European Union Center, Summer 2020 [declined]
Knudson & McPherson Fellowship – Department of French and Italian, Summer 2020
Student Participation Award – North American Research Network in Historical Sociolinguistics Research incubator at KFLC – University of Kentucky, 2020
H. Henry Meeter Center Genevan Paleography Fellowship – Calvin University, 2018
Awards and Honors
Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award - Department of Gender & Women's Studies, 2022
Outstanding Asian & Asian American Graduate Student Leader Award - Asian American Cultural Center, 2022
Student Leadership Award - Department of Linguistics, 2022
K.A. Looney Senior Award for Excellence in Teaching French - Department of French & Italian, AY 2020-2021
Center for Innovation in Teaching and Learning's (CITL) Teachers Ranked as Excellent by their Students
- Fall 2018 (distinction for outstanding ratings)
- Spring 2019 (distinction for outstanding ratings)
- Spring 2020 (distinction for outstanding ratings)
- Fall 2020 (distinction for outstanding ratings)
- Spring 2021 (distinction for outstanding ratings)
- Fall 2021 (distinction for outstanding ratings)
Courses Taught
FR 101: Elementary French I
FR 102: Elementary French II
FR 103: Intermediate French I
FR 205: Oral French
FR 207: Writing and Grammar Workshop
FR 213: French Phonetics
GWS 275: Politics of Fashion
Additional Campus Affiliations
Department of Gender and Women's Studies
Department of Spanish and Portuguese
Department of Linguistics
External Links
Selected research presentations:
Turner, R. (2022, July). A critical exploration of scale and chronotope in shifting discourses of oppression. Paper presentation at Sociolinguistics Symposium 24, Universiteit Ghent.
Turner, R. (2022, May). Power dynamics of migrant linguistic strategies in Montreal. Paper presentation at the 18th annual International Congress for Qualitative Inquiry, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. [Accepted]
Turner, R. (2022, May). Thinking with the past through discourse. Paper presentation at the 23rd annual Michicagoan graduate student conference in linguistic anthropology, University of Michigan and University of Chicago. [Accepted]
Turner, R. (2022, May). “Violent enforcement of a category violently constructed”: The power of language as an agent of violence. Paper presentation at Language, Literature, Power, University of Niš. [Accepted]
Turner, R. (2022, April). The Queer Archive as a Site of Intervention and Resistance. Paper presentation at the 2022 meeting of the Society for Linguistic Anthropology, University of Colorado at Boulder. [Accepted]
Turner, R. (2021, October). Les identités sexuelles et linguistiques marquées après la Révolution tranquille. Paper presentation at Colloque du réseau de la recherche sur la francophonie Canadienne, Université d’Alberta, Campus Saint-Jean. [cancelled due to covid-19 pandemic]
Turner, R. (2021, May). Ethics of the Queer Archive: Minoritized Language, Queer Time, & Archival Activism. Paper presentation at the 17th annual International Congress for Qualitative Inquiry, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Turner, R. (2021, May). Publicly Circulating Discourses of Racialization in Quebec Media. Paper presentation at the 17th annual International Congress for Qualitative Inquiry, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Turner, R. (2020, March). Galician education influences on neofalante identity, attitudes, and language practices. Poster presentation at the Georgetown University Round Table 2020, Georgetown University.
Turner, R. (2020, February). Linguistic Constructions of Agency in the Grassroots Political Movement. Paper presentation at the twelfth annual meeting of Illinois Language and Linguistics Society, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Turner, R. (2020, February). Indexicalities of Community Membership in Multilingual Political Campaigning. Paper presentation at the second annual Sociolinguistic Symposium, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Selected pedagogical practices presentations:
Turner, R. (2022, November). A critical examination of bridging courses in university French curricula. Poster presentation at the 2022 ACTFL Annual Convention and World Languages Expo, Boston, Massachusetts.
Turner, R. (2022, April). Critical Reflections of Cultural Knowledges in French Bridging Courses. Paper presentation at the 2022 SLA Symposium, University of Wisconsin-Madison. [Accepted]
Turner, R. (2020, November). Bridging the Gap: Looking at language and literature courses in French program curricula. Paper presentation at Diversity, Decolonization, and the French Curriculum (DDFC) Conference. Online, Sam Houston State University & University of Louisiana-Lafayette.
Turner, R. (2020, February). Authentic texts: What do you adapt and how do you use them?. Presentation at the Spring 2020 Language Teaching Share Fair, Center for Language Instruction and Coordination, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Turner, R. (2019, November). Co-constructing a World: Global Simulation in the Elementary FL Classroom. Presentation at the 2019 ACTFL Annual Convention and World Languages Expo, Washington DC.
Turner, R. (2019, November). Global Simulation Strategies for the FL Classroom. Presentation at the 2019 Language Teaching Share Fair, Center for Language Instruction and Coordination, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Turner, R. (2019, October). Global Simulation as a Vehicle for Oral Proficiency. Presentation at the 2019 ICTFL Fall Conference, Naperville, IL.
Roncoroni, F. & Turner, R. (2019, May). A Study of Global Simulation for Engagement, Intercultural Awareness, and Fluency in Spontaneous Speech of Intermediate II French Learners. Poster Presentation at the 11th Annual SLATE Graduate Research Symposium, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Workshops & Panels:
Turner, R. (2021, March). A Sociolinguistic Approach to Bilingual LGBTQ+ Communities & their Histories. Panel presentation at the Lavender Languages and Linguistics Conference, California Institute of Integral Studies.
Turner, R. (2020, April). Indexicalities of Queerness and Personhood in “Emergent” Bilingual Montréal. Workshop presentation at the North American Research Network in Historical Sociolinguistics (NARNiHS) Research Incubator, The Languages, Literatures, and Cultures Conference at the University of Kentucky.
Turner, R. (2019, September). Temporal Perspectives on Language and Queer Identities. Panel presentation at the Solidarities of Difference Graduate Student Colloquium, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Invited talks:
Turner, R. (2022, February). Le Paris parlé. FR 156: Exploring Paris, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Turner, R. (2021, October). Technology and Community-building in Language Research and Education. WLLC 5000: Teaching and Learning Languages, University of Iowa.
Morgan, W.J., Robertson, W.B., & Turner, R. (2019, February). Navigating Linguistic Research and the Graduate Student-Faculty Dynamic. Panel presentation at The University of Alabama Languages Conference, Tuscaloosa, AL.
Turner, R. (2018, April). The Foundation of Emoji Social Semiotics. Presentation at The Mallet Assembly, The University of Alabama.
Highlighted Publications
Turner, R.S. (2022). Pronouns. In K. Strunk & S.A. Shelton (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Queer Studies in Education. Brill.
MacDonald, J.E., Fagyal, Z., Beristain, A., & Turner, R.S. (Eds.). (2023). Romance Languages and Linguistic Theory 18: Selected papers from LSRL 51. Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona.
Recent Publications
Blogs
Cipolla, S., Turner, R., & Zalewski, N. "Graduate Student Meeting with Professor Phillip M. Ayoub". EUC blog. European Union Center, 23 October 2020. http://eucenterillinois.blogspot.com/2020/10/graduate-student-meeting-with-professor.html
Turner, R. "Classroom Combatting Language Loss: a look at Basque in France and Spain". Linguis Europae, European Union Center.
Turner, R. "Engaging with Structuralism on its Own Terms". Response to Constantine Nakassis's lecture "Structuralism", Modern and Critical Theory Lecture Series 2019, Unit for Criticism and Interpretive Theory, 23 September 2019. https://unitforcriticism.wordpress.com/2019/09/23/professor-constantine-nakassis-on-structuralism-response-by-robin-turner-department-of-french-and-italian/
Turner, R. "'If it worked, we wouldn't need it': on the politics of deconstruction". Response to Geoffrey Bennington's lecture "Politics in Deconstruction", Modern and Critical Theory Lecture Series 2018, Unit for Criticism and Interpretive Theory, 22 October 2018. https://unitforcriticism.wordpress.com/2018/10/22/geoffrey-bennington-on-the-politics-of-deconstruction-response-by-robin-turner/