Biography:
Research Interests: Second language learning and bilingualism/multilingualism.
The Bilingualism and Language Development (BiLD) Lab studies the cognitive and neurocognitive processes related to language development, second language learning, and bilinguals’ use of two languages. We combine behavioral, neuropsychological (ERPs), and linguistic techniques to study patterns of cross-language interaction and transfer in second language learners at different levels of proficiency, as well as neural and cognitive mechanisms involved in code-switching. We also study sign-speech bilinguals who use spatial and oral languages from two different modalities. A second research theme in the BiLD Lab focuses on language development in school-aged children with typical or atypical development, including children with dyslexia or with specific language impairment, and children who are deaf.
Research Opportunities:
The Bilingualism and Language Development (BiLD) Lab studies the cognitive and neurocognitive processes related to language development, second language learning, and bilinguals’ use of two languages. We combine behavioral, neuropsychological (ERPs), and linguistic techniques to study patterns of cross-language interaction and transfer in second language learners at different levels of proficiency, as well as neural and cognitive mechanisms involved in code-switching. A second research theme in the BiLD Lab focuses on language development in school-aged children with typical or atypical development, including children with dyslexia or with specific language impairment, and children who are deaf.
The Bilingualism and Language Development (BiLD) Lab is focuses on language development and bilingualism at middle childhood and beyond. Questions we examine include: How do bilinguals with different levels of proficiency in their second language process words and sentences in their first and second language? Why do bilinguals switch between languages and what triggers a switch to the other language? How do beginning second language learners learn new words and syntactic structures in the second language? How do children with dyslexia or with Specific Language Impairment process complex morphosyntactic structures? How does sign language influence processing in an oral language in sign-speech bilinguals?