Ferenc Bunta, Ph.D.
![Bunta](../../../_images/facultyandstaff/ferenc_bunta-lg.jpg)
Professor
Phone: (713) 743-2892
E-mail: fbunta@uh.edu
Office: Melcher Life Sciences M243A
Curriculum Vitae
Faculty Video
Prior to joining the faculty of the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders at the University of Houston, Dr. Ferenc Bunta worked as a postdoctoral research fellow at Temple University. He completed his Ph.D. at Arizona State University in speech and hearing sciences. The main focus of Dr. Bunta's research is bilingual phonological acquisition.
Education
- Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Bilingual Language Laboratory and the Eleanor M. Saffran Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA
- Ph.D., Speech and Hearing Science, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ
- M.A., English Linguistics, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ
- B.Ed., Teaching English as a Second Language, Lajos Kossuth University (currently University of Debrecen), Debrecen, Hungary
Teaching
- Speech Science (COMD 3385)
- Phonetics (COMD 2338)
Research Interests
The core of Dr. Bunta's research is the study of bilingual and cross-linguistic phonological acquisition. There are multiple on-going projects that investigate various aspects of phonological acquisition and representation cross-linguistically and in bilingual speakers, ranging from the phonological patterns of Spanish-English bilingual children with hearing loss who use cochlear implants and their peers with normal hearing (funded by the NIH/NIDCD) to exploring factors related to the identification of reading and language disorders in Spanish-speaking English language learners (funded by the IES in collaboration with Drs. David Francis, Kristi Santi, and Raul Rojas).
For more information, view Dr. Bunta’s research page.
Research Grants
(past 5 years)
- 2023-2025 Cochlear Corporation, Health Disparities in Access to Quality Hearing, Speech and Language Care for Children with Sensorineural Hearing Loss Who Use Cochlear Implants, Role: Co-Principal Investigator
- 2020-2024 National Institutes of Health/National Institute of Deafness and Communication Disorders (NIH/NIDCD), 1R01DC017683, Image-Guided Cochlear Implant Programming: Pediatric Speech, Language, and Literacy, Role: Consultant
Selected Publications
(for a full list of publications, see curriculum vitae)
- Bunta, F., Fürész-Mayernik, M., Bóna, J., Navracsics, J., Bátyi, Sz., & Parapatics, A. (2024). Speech and language assessment of multilingual children in Hungary. In Elena Babatsouli (Ed.), Multilingual acquisition and learning: An ecosystemic view to diversity, Chapter 10 (pp. 272-294). John Benjamins.
- Benitez-Barrera, C., Reiss, L., Majid, M.*, Chau, T., Wilson, J., Figueroa Rico, E., Bunta, F., Raphael, R., & de Diego-Lázaro, B. (2023). Caregiver experiences with oral bilingualism in children who are deaf or hard of hearing in the U.S.: Impact on child language proficiency. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 54(1), 224-240. doi: 10.1044/2022_LSHSS-22-00095
- Bunta, F., & Castilla-Earls, A. P. (2022). Home language maintenance in bilingual children with cochlear implants and normal hearing. Clinical Linguistics and Phonetics, 36(4-5), 436-455. doi: 10.1080/02699206.2021.1990412
- Gibson, M. A., Bunta, F., Johnson, C., & Huárriz, M.* (2022). The production of English syllable-level timing patterns by bilingual English- and Spanish-speaking children with cochlear implants and their peers with normal hearing. Journal of Phonetics, 95, 1-16. doi: 10.1016/j.wocn.2022.101194
- Bunta, F., Douglas, M., Dickson, H., Cantu, A., Wickesberg, J., & Gifford, R. H., (2016). Dual language versus English only support for bilingual children with hearing loss who use cochlear implants and hearing aids. International Journal of Language and Communication Disorders, 51(4), 460-472. doi: 10.1111/1460-6984.12223 * student co-author
Professional Activities
- National Science Foundation and American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, Grant Reviewer
- Beszédkutatás (2014-present) and Hungarian Journal of Applied Linguistics (2022-present) Editorial Board member
- ASHA’s Mentoring Academic-Research Careers (MARC), PROmoting the next GENeration of Researchers (PROGENY)