Projects
Language socialisation and second language acquisition in kindergarten. KU Leuven
Little Pitchers, Big Ears? The Success of Learning New Vocabulary through Addressed and Overheard Speech in Flemish- and Moroccan-heritage Preschool Children
Language acquisition research has long focused nearly exclusively on the way in which young children learn language in direct interactions (Akhtar, Jipson, & Callanan, 2001). However, children also learn much language in indirect situations: by keenly observing others ...
Developmental patterns and mechanisms in the acquisition of receptive grammar knowledge in a second language Vrije Universiteit Brussel
The acquisition of the Hindi case system by foreign language learners. Ghent University
This project aims to investigate the foreign language acquisition (FLA) of the Hindi case system.
Hindi is an Indo-Aryan language that only recently came to the attention of FLA research, with a
few studies focussing on the case acquisition of heritage learners (Montrul et al., 2012) and
foreign language (FL) learners (Baten & Verbeke, 2015; Ponnet et al. 2016; Ranjan 2016),
respectively. The data for these studies ...
The acquisition of the Hindi case system by Dutch-speaking and German-speaking foreign language learners Ghent University
This project aims to investigate developmental sequences in the foreign language acquisition of the Hindi case system. A qualitative longitudinal study will be conducted among Hindi foreign language learners in an instructed learning environment. The research will be embedded within the framework of Processability Theory, which is a second language acquisition theory that describes and explains stages of morphosyntactic development
If we would ask the children. The potential of productive interaction for second language acquisition from the early beginning KU Leuven
In Flemish schools, a high proportion of children with an ethnic minority background underachieves. It is commonly accepted that underachievement is closely related to limited academic language proficiency. The nature of early second language learning is perceived as an implicit and automatic process driven by affiliation with significant others. Powerful modes of teacher-child interaction, like productive classroom talk, are therefore ...
Multimodal storytelling in Virtual Reality: Impact from medium and gaze on vocabulary acquisition in children with Developmental Language Disorder and multilingual children KU Leuven
The emergence of syntactic complexity. The first language acquisition of cleft sentences as a window onto the syntax – prosody – information structure interface. KU Leuven
This project will investigate how complex language is acquired. We will focus on how children, in their first language acquisition, produce and understand meaning making use of complex form (syntax), pronunciation (prosody) and discourse context. To this extent, we will analyze the emergence and development of two types of “cleft sentences” (1-2) in French, with children between ages 2 and 8. (1) Child (age 2;9): C'est toi qui m(e) fait les ...
The emergence of syntactic complexity. The first language acquisition of cleft sentences in French as a window onto the syntax - prosody - Information Structure interface. KU Leuven
This project will investigate how complex language is acquired. We will focus on how children, in their first language acquisition, produce and understand meaning making use of complex form (syntax), pronunciation (prosody) and discourse context. To this extent, we will analyze the emergence and development of two types of “cleft sentences” (1-2) in French, with children between ages 2 and 8. (1) Child (age 2;9): C'est toi qui m(e) fait les ...
Effects of second language acquisition on cognitive development: A longitudinal study Ghent University
A plethora of previous research has shown early beneficial effects of bilingualism and second language acquisition (SLA) on cognitive control (CC) (e.g. Crivello et al., 2016), working memory (WM), and intelligence (IQ) (e.g. Woumans et al., 2016). However, the reliability and validity of these so-called bilingual advantage effects is also disputed (Paap et al., 2015), and the reported between-group comparisons imply the risk for relevant ...