Sarah Mercer

In 2012 she was awarded Habilitation at the University of Graz. The title of her submission was Emerging complexity in language learning psychology.

In 2011 Towards an Understanding of Language Learner Self-Concept was published by Springer Publishing. In this book, Mercer investigates the nature and development of language and learner self-concept. The book provides a deep insights into how learners view themselves, and how these self-beliefs can develop and affect the progress of an individual’s language learning process.

In her most-cited journal article entitled Language learner self-concept: Complexity, continuity and change, published in System in 2011, Mercer investigated the nature and dynamics of self-concept in language learning. She found that self-concept is perhaps best conceived of as a complex, multilayered, multidimensional network of interrelated self-beliefs.

Between 1998-2015 Mercer was a Lecturer at the University of Graz. In 2013 she became the co-editor of the journal 'System'. Between 2012-2018 she became the Deputy Head of the Centre for Teaching and Learning at the University of Graz. Between 2015-2017 she was the joint co-ordinator for the Research SIG at IATEFL.

Sarah Jane Mercer (born 1969) is a British linguist. She is currently the head of the Department of English Language Teaching at the University of Graz, Austria. Her research focuses on applied linguistics, with a special focus on psycholinguistics from a Complex Dynamic Systems Theory approach.