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September Disciple Scholar: Dr. Troy Cox

by Abigail Norton | September 25, 2018

This week, Assistant Professor of Linguistics, Dr. Troy Cox, will give fall semester’s first Disciple Scholar lecture, “Tailwinds and Headwinds: Stretching Yourself Both Spiritually and Academically.” His passion for language and academics has led him to his position as Associate Director of the Center for Language Studies.

We asked Dr. Cox about some of his favorite things:

  • What is your perfect pizza?
    Dr. Cox: I am no respecter of pizzas. I tend to prefer ones with many types of toppings and am fairly adventurous. I’d rather sample small pieces of different types of pizzas than just have a single kind.
  • What is your favorite book?
    Dr. Cox: That’s like choosing a child. Lord of the Rings by Tolkien was a huge inspiration when I was younger, but I like a number of others as well and often listen to podcasts and audiobooks.
  • What is the most interesting thing you've researched lately?
    Dr. Cox: The relationship between self-assessment and language ability.

Dr. Cox is married and is the proud father of Cameron, Hannah, and Millie. When he isn’t cycling, practicing yoga, experimenting in the kitchen or with a camera, you can find him in his office where he works with graduate students and colleagues conducting research in language testing, language acquisition, self-assessment and objective measurement.

In 1994, Dr. Cox graduated cum laude from Brigham Young University with a BA in Linguistics. He received his MA in Teaching English as a Second Language from BYU and completed his Master’s Thesis on: The effect of prequestions, proficiency level and passage length on listening comprehension test scores. Dr. Cox went on to earn his PhD in Instructional Psychology and Technology from BYU. He wrote his Dissertation on: Investigating prompt difficulty in an automatically scored speaking performance assessment.

Dr. Cox’s Disciple Scholar Lecture, “Tailwinds and Headwinds: Stretching Yourself Both Spiritually and Academically,” will take place Thursday, September 27, at 5:30 PM in 321 MSRB.