My research focuses on sociolinguistic aspects of bidialectism. I'm especially interested in gauging the prevailing language attitudes in societies in which two related dialects are used routinely and concurrently. A subsequent interest lies in establishing whether language performance is influenced when purely attitudinal changes are encouraged.

I also study linguistic behaviour in the context of second-dialect acquisition and development. The key issue is the degree of transference from the native variety to the developing non-native dialect. In investigating transference, I aim to document and distinguish the native features that assist or hinder learning of the second dialect. The eventual goal of this work is to inform on the aspects of the native variety that can be exploited (or that require special remedial attention) when promoting the efficient acquisition of a second dialect.

All of the above-mentioned issues come to the fore in the real world in the form of language educational policy which is formative to both language attitudes and to the way language is learned. In order for educational policy to make use of learning advantages that are based on dialectal comparisons, at least partial standardisation of the varieties involved must take place. A happy consequence of this for me is my involvement in preserving endangered linguistic varieties for posterity.

Recently, my research activities have also diversified to encompass interests in the use of digital technologies in foreign-language learning, analogy-based phonics instruction in classes of English as a foreign language, and the influence of bidialectism in second-language acquisition.