Kelly Biers, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of French; CTL Faculty Fellow, 2023-25Contact Information
- kbiers@unca.edu
- 232-2440
- 243 Whitesides Hall
Office Hours
- Thursday 10:00 am - 12:00 pm
- Note: Or by appointment.
Kelly Biers is originally from the Black Hills in South Dakota. He joined UNC Asheville after teaching for three years at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. His research interests include sociophonetic variation in French as well as relationships between language and gender. More recently, he has worked on a language documentation and preservation project for Wisconsin Walloon, an immigrant language from southern Belgium spoken in northeastern Wisconsin. He has taught courses in French language, civilization, phonetics, conversation, and composition, and enjoys working closely with students in collaborative research projects and independent studies.
Education
- Ph.D., French linguistics
Indiana University, Bloomington - M.A., French linguistics
Indiana University, Bloomington - B.A., French; English (Creative Writing)
Minnesota State University, Mankato
Professional Interests
- French sociolinguistics and dialectology
- French phonology and phonetics
- Language and gender
- Language documentation, preservation, and revitalizatioon
- All levels of French language instruction
- Instruction in French linguistics and French for professional communication
- Undergraduate research collaboratioon and mentorship