Areas of Interest

English for Academic Purposes
English as a Lingua Franca
Corpus Linguistics
Second Language Writing
Language Teacher Education

In my research, I mainly look at the academic writing practices of proficient second/foreign language users (whom I would like to refer to as "English as a Lingua Franca (ELF)" writers). I employ different corpus-linguistic approaches to analyzing the forms and functions of the multi-word combinations that ELF writers commonly use in academic texts. Similarly, I also do research on the instruction and assessment of academic writing for non-native users. Also, another passion of mine is language teacher education and so far, I have had the chance to collaborate with colleagues to better understand the processes of teacher candidates' professional development.

Published Work

Book Chapters and Articles

Ekoç-Özçelik, A., Kavanoz, S., & Yılmaz, S. (2025). English Medium Instruction Experiences of Lecturers: Evidence from Tertiary Education in Türkiye. Participatory Educational Research, 12 (1). 157-174.

Ekoç-Özçelik, A., Kavanoz, S., & Yılmaz, S. (2024). EMI Dynamics: An Empirical Study on Students’ Perspectives at Tertiary Level in Türkiye. Sustainable Multilingualism, 25 (1), 278-303.

Yılmaz, S. & İlerten, F. (2024). A corpus-based analysis of critical thinking through interactional metadiscourse in pre-service EFL teachers’ writing, Turkish Journal of Education, 13 (3), 239 - 265.

Yilmaz, S. (2021). A plurilithic approach to EAP writing instruction: Insights from English as a Lingua Franca research. In A.F. Selvi & B. Yazan (Eds.) Global Englishes language teacher education (pp. 125-131). London: Routledge.

Yilmaz, S., & Römer, U. (2020). A corpus-based exploration of constructions in written academic English as a Lingua Franca. In U. Römer, V. Cortes, & E. Friginal (Eds.). Advances in corpus research on academic writing (pp. 59-88). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

Marti, L., Yilmaz, S. & Bayyurt, Y. (2019). Reporting research in Applied Linguistics: The role of nativeness and expertise. Journal of English for Academic Purposes,40, 98-111.

Römer, U., & Yilmaz, S. (2019) Effects of L2 usage and L1 transfer on Turkish learners’ production of English verb-argument constructions. Vigo International Journal of Applied Linguistics, 16, 107-133.

Basal, A., Yilmaz, S., Tanrıverdi, A. & Sari, L. (2016). Effectiveness of mobile applications in vocabulary teaching. Contemporary Educational Technology. 7 (1), 47-59.

Book Reviews in Journals

Yilmaz, S. (2020). English as a Lingua Franca for EFL contexts, N. C. Sifakis & N. Tsantila (Eds). Journal of English for Specific Purposes, 57, 29-31.

Yilmaz, S. (2017). Understanding, Evaluating, and Conducting Second Language Writing Research, C. Polio & D.A. Friedman. Journal of Second Language Writing, 37, 7-9.

Blog Posts

Yilmas, S. (2020, November 19). Finishing Ph.D. during the pandemic: My story [Blog post]. Retrieved from https://www.aaal-gsc.org/post/finishing-ph-d-during-the-pandemic-my-story

Conference Papers and Presentations

Yilmaz S. (2024, November). Navigating (In)formality in ELF Research Writing: Insights from a Comparative Corpus Analysis. Paper presented at the 6th International English for Specific Purposes Conference, Ankara, Turkey,

Ekoç Özçelik A., Kavanoz S., Yılmaz S. (February, 2023). Reviewing the medium of instruction debate in Türkiye. Paper presented at Educast International Conference 2023, Cairo, Egypt.

Yılmaz, S. & İlerten, F. (2022, July). Metadiscourse in Critical Response Papers by Pre-Service EFL Teachers. . Paper presented at the 5th International English for Specific Purposes Conference, Ankara, Turkey,

Bustamante, A., Yilmaz, S., & Monteiro A. (2019, September). English as a Lingua Franca scholars to advanced language learners: A phraseological analysis of proficient L2 writing for assessment purposes in academic settings. Paper presented at Second Language Research Forum. East Lansing, MI, US.

Römer, U., & Yilmaz, S. (2019, March). Effects of L2 usage and L1 transfer on Turkish learners’ production of English verb-argument constructions. Paper presented at the American Association for Applied Linguistics (AAAL) Conference. Atlanta, GA, US.

Yilmaz, S. (2019, March). A corpus-based analysis of transracialism in the web discourse: The controversial case of Rachel Dolezal. Poster presented at the American Association for Applied Linguistics (AAAL) Conference, Atlanta, GA, US.

Yilmaz, S., & Römer U. (2018, September). Phraseological variability in English as an Academic Lingua Franca (ELF) writing. Paper presented at the 14th American Association for Corpus Linguistics (AACL) Conference. Atlanta, GA, US.

Belcher, D., Friginal, E., & Yilmaz, S. (2018, September). Exploring the academic blogging practices of English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) scholars. Paper presented at the 14th American Association for Corpus Linguistics (AACL) Conference. Atlanta, GA, US.

Yilmaz, S. (2018, February). A usage-based analysis of verb-argument constructions in argumentative essays by Turkish writers of English. Paper presented at Constructionist Approaches to Language Pedagogy (CALP) 3. Austin, Texas, US.

Yilmaz, S., Marti, L., & Bayyurt, Y. (2017, March). The use of reporting verbs in a corpus of research papers in applied linguistics. Paper presented at the 1st Metadiscourse Across Genres Conference (MAG). Kyrenia, Cyprus.

Yilmaz, S., Bayyurt, Y., & Marti, L. M. (2016, July). A contrastive corpus-based analysis of reporting verbs in research articles on foreign language education by native and Turkish nonnative writers of English. Paper presented at the Corpora and Discourse (CADS) International Conference. Siena, Italy.

Ilerten, F., & Yilmaz, S. (2016, April). Pre-service English language teachers’ evaluation of a reflective practicum course. Paper presented at the 2nd Çukurova International ELT Teachers (CUELT) Conference “Replacing Cliches: Teaching Subordinated to Learning. Adana, Turkey.

Yilmaz, S., Bayyurt, Y., & Marti L. (2015, October). A contrastive corpus-based analysis of reporting verbs in research articles on foreign language education by native and Turkish nonnative writers of English. Paper presented at the 34th Second Language Research Forum (SLRF). Atlanta, GA, US.

Bayyurt, Y., & Yilmaz, S. (2015, July). A corpus-based analysis of reporting verbs in nonnative graduate student papers in applied linguistics. Paper presented at the 8th International Corpus Linguistics Conference - Pre-Conference Workshop: Academic Corpora: Development, Exploration and Application. Lancaster, UK.

Yilmaz, S. (2015, April). CEFR, Its areas of use, and role in test validation. Paper presented at the 9th International IDEA Conference: "Studies in English". Malatya, Turkey.

Efeoglu, G., Celen, K. M., & Yilmaz, S. (2014, October). Acquisition of prepositions in English by Turkish EFL learners. Paper presented at the International Journal of Arts and Sciences (IJAS) International Conference for Academic Disciplines. Rome, Italy.

Yilmaz, S. (2014, July). Turkish pre-service EFL teachers’ pragmatic competence: The investigation of complaint speech acts. Paper presented at the International Journal of Arts and Sciences (IJAS) International Conference for Academic Disciplines. Venice, Italy.

Research-Related Work Experiences

Georgia State University

Spring '18, Fall ' 18, Spring ’19, Fall ' 19 : Research assistant to Dr. Diane Belcher
- Help with designing, piloting, and evaluating the new online practicum course for graduate students and other research and administrative duties

Fall ' 16 & Spring' ’17: Research assistant to Dr. Scott Crossley
- Help with natural language processing research and administrative duties

Fall' ’15 Research assistant to Dr. Ute Römer
- Help with data cleaning and analysis for corpus projects