Christopher Nicklin is Assistant Professor and Academic Coordinator of the Graduate School of Education at Temple University Japan, where he also earned both a MSEd in TESOL and a PhD in Applied Linguistics. He has taught at numerous Japanese universities for over a decade, including full-time positions at Rikkyo University and The University of Tokyo. His research interests lie at the intersection of research methodology, vocabulary acquisition, and psycholinguistics. He has published in numerous leading applied linguistics journals and with Jenifer Larson-Hall is co-author of the third edition of the textbook, A Guide to Doing Statistics in Second Language Research. He co-Editor-in-Chief of the Vocabulary Learning and Instruction (VLI) journal, and sits on the Editorial Boards of TESOL Quarterly, JALT Journal, and The Language Teacher.

Selected Publications

• Nicklin, C., McLean, S., & Vitta, J. P. (2026). Contrasting fixed‐ and mixed‐effects modeling in vocabulary research: Reanalyzing Laufer (2024) and McLean et al. (2020). Language Learning, 76(1), 211–248 New Tab.
• Vitta, J. P., Hahn, A., Canning, D., Isbell, D. R., Al-Hoorie, A. H., & Nicklin, C. (2025). Conceptualization and frequency of sampling (mal)practices in L2 inferential quantitative research: Towards a potential QRP? Journal of Second Language Studies, 8(2), 281–312 New Tab.
• Patterson, A. S., Nicklin, C., Vitta, J. P. (2025). Methodological recommendations for webcam-based eye tracking: A scoping review. Research Methods in Applied Linguistics, 4(3), 1–19 New Tab.
• Stewart, J., Anthony, L., Batty, A. O., Nakamura, K., Nicklin, C., McLean, S., & Tomaru, K. (2025). Can we reliably score meaning recall vocabulary tests using AI? A comparison of human vs. AI scoring. Computer Assisted Language Learning, 1–23 New Tab.
• Nicklin, C., Bailey, D., McLean, S., Kim, Y. A., Kang, H., & Vitta, J. P. (2025). Applying lexical sophistication models to wordlist development: A proof-of-concept study. Research Methods in Applied Linguistics, 4(1), 1–18 New Tab.
• Stoeckel, T., Ha, H. T., Nguyen, D. T. B., & Nicklin, C. (2024). Can an extended-matching second-language vocabulary test format bridge the gap between meaning-recognition and meaning-recall? Research Methods in Applied Linguistics, 3(2), 1–17 New Tab.
• Stewart, J., Gyllstad, H., Nicklin, C., & McLean, S. (2024). Establishing meaning recall and meaning recognition vocabulary knowledge as distinct psychometric constructs in relation to reading proficiency. Language Testing, 41(1), 89–108 New Tab.
• Vitta, J. P., Nicklin, C., & Albright, S. (2023). Academic word difficulty and multidimensional lexical sophistication: An English-for-academic-purposes-focused conceptual replication of Hashimoto & Egbert (2019). The Modern Language Journal, 107(2), 373–397 New Tab.
• Patterson, A. S., & Nicklin C. (2023). L2 self-paced reading data collection across three contexts: In-person, online, and crowdsourcing. Research Methods in Applied Linguistics, 2(1), 1–15 New Tab.
• Nicklin, C., Patterson, A. S, & McLean, S. (2023). Quantifying proper nouns’ influence on L2 English learners’ reading fluency. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 45(4), 906–929 New Tab.
• Nicklin, C., & Vitta, J. P. (2022). Assessing Rasch measurement estimation methods across R packages with yes-no vocabulary test data. Language Testing, 39(4), 513–540 New Tab.
• Nicklin, C., & Vitta, J. P. (2021). Effect-driven sample sizes in second language instructed vocabulary acquisition research. The Modern Language Journal, 105(1), 218–236 New Tab.
• Nicklin, C., & Plonsky, L. (2020). Outliers in L2 research in applied linguistics: A synthesis and data re-analysis. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 40, 25–55 New Tab.

EDUCATION
PhD Temple University