Research

In the Child Language Learning Center (CLLC), we are trying to understand the language-learning process for monolingual and multilingual learners from infancy through adulthood. One phenomenon we are very interested in is the fact that young children pay attention to a variety of aspects of their language, even aspects that are not used in their native language. We believe this flexibility when paying attention to language is a crucial part of learning new language structure. We are interested in how this flexibility changes across development, how it differs for children and adults who have language-based learning disabilities, and how it differs in multilinguals with varying degrees of proficiency in each language. Our interests in multilingualism also extend to broader contextual factors that support or undermine families' ability to pass on their home language to children. Currently, the CLLC has two projects in active data collection exploring these ideas, which are summarized below. We are also working on additional projects, including a scoping review of the literature on factors that support or undermine heritage-language maintenance.