Sungdai Cho
Director, Center for Korean Studies; Professor, Korean and Linguistics; Professor, Korean and Linguistics; Graduate Director
Center for Korean Studies; The Linguistics Program; Department of Asian and Asian American Studies
Background
Sungdai Cho's main research areas are (1) syntax and morphology, and (2) language pedagogy for Korean.
Regarding theoretical linguistics, he is mostly interested in causative, passive constructions, honorific expressions in Korean, and how they are placed in the Northeast Linguistic area. Concerning language pedagogy, he is mainly interested in the National Standards for Learning Languages and Assessment.
After receiving his doctorate in linguistics from the University of Hawaii, Cho joined ˿Ƶ University in 2000 after teaching for seven years at the University of Michigan, Indiana University and Stanford University. He has published 11 books, including four language textbooks (University of Hawaii Press), three edited books (Cambridge University Press and Korea University Press) and four monographs on Korean linguistics and language pedagogy (Cambridge University Press, Oxford University Press, and Cambridge Scholars Publishing). Two books are under contract with Cambridge University Press (Korean Syntax) and Routledge (Korean Pedagogy).
Cho has been a founding director of the Center for Korean Studies at ˿Ƶ University since 2008. He was the former chair of Korean Special Interest Group (SIG) at American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL), co-chair of the National Standards for Learning Korean task force associated with the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL), and SAT Korean chair in the College Board's Educational Testing Service for the past 10 years.
He has frequently organized conferences on foreign language pedagogy and Korean linguistics. He has also hosted the 2008 AATK (American Association of Teachers of Korean) and 2008 ICKL (International Circle of Korean Linguistics) conferences at ˿Ƶ University, the 2018 workshop on "Korean at the Nexus of Northeast Linguistic Area I" at Seoul National University and a 2021 workshop on “Korean Linguistics in Cross-linguistic Context” at Cornell University, and organized the 2024 Culture Learning Workshop at MIT and the 2025 Japanese/Korean Linguistics Conference at Cornell University.
Education
- PhD, University of Hawai'i at Mānoa
- MA, SUNY at Buffalo
- BA, Kon-Kuk University
Research Interests
- Syntax and Morphology
- Passive; Causative; Sluicing; Honorifics
- Language Pedagogy
- National Standards
- Assessment
Teaching Interests
- Structure of Korean
- Language, Culture and Society in Korea
- Advanced Korean Linguistics
- East Asian Linguistics
- Morphology and Syntax
- Science of Language and Artificial Intelligence
- Pedagogy for East Asian Languages
Awards
- Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Teaching