The Language Scientists

In this Episode, Dr Bisson talks to Professor Emma Marsden about a really important change coming to the French, German and Spanish curriculum in England. There is going to be a more defined and constrained list of words that students have to learn and that are allowed to be on the GCSE exams. Is this going to make a difference to the number of students that choose to study languages at secondary schools? We think so! Join us to find out how many words are on the list and how this change came about.

To find out more behind-the-scenes information about this topic or about our podcast, please visit our webpage, languagescientists.dmu.ac.uk. This is where you can go to ask questions, leave comments, or even participate in our current research! We'd love to hear from YOU.

Follow Dr Zavaleta and Dr Bisson on twitter: @dr_klzavaleta and @mjbisson

Or get in touch via email: [email protected] and [email protected]

Links to some of the initiatives mentioned in the podcast

Oasis research summaries: read one-page accessible research summaries

LP Pedagogy resources: access over 1000 language resources, schemes of works and word lists

Multiling Profiler: check that a text meets the language knowledge of your learners

In this episode, Dr Kaitlyn Zavaleta interviews Professor Neil Kenny, Professor of French at University of Oxford, Senior Research Fellow in All Souls College, and Lead Fellow for Languages for the British Academy. This episode addresses one of the central motivations for the podcast: how to increase the number of language learners in the UK. In his role as Lead Fellow for Languages at the British Academy, Professor Kenny has developed initiatives to encourage language learning and he describes a few of these initiatives, as well as why it is so important to learn a language.

To find out more behind-the-scenes information about this topic or about our podcast, please visit our webpage, languagescientists.dmu.ac.uk. This is where you can go to ask questions, leave comments, or even participate in our current research! We'd love to hear from YOU. 

Follow Dr Zavaleta and Dr Bisson on twitter: @dr_klzavaleta and @mjbisson

 Or get in touch via email: [email protected] and [email protected]

 To follow the British Academy and hear more about their work, they are on Twitter: @BritishAcademy_

 To read more about Professor Kenny's work at the British Academy: https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/publications/towards-national-languages-strategy-education-and-skills/

Links to some of the resources in the podcast

The Languages Gateway: the UK's portal for languages

Association for Language Learning: organisation for school resources

University Council of Modern Languages: organisation for higher education language learning

World of Languages and Languages of the World (WOLLOW): resources for encouraging children to learn languages

In this episode, Dr Kaitlyn Zavaleta interviews Dr Jiayi Wang, about those "unwritten" rules of language use, which are known as "pragmatics". What's really interesting about pragmatics is that they aren't really reflected in textbooks the way we originally learn a language. Dr Wang discusses research into English learners and their use of language in emails.

To find out more behind-the-scenes information about this topic or about our podcast, please visit our webpage, languagescientists.dmu.ac.uk. This is where you can go to ask questions, leave comments, or even participate in our current research! We'd love to hear from YOU.

Follow Dr Zavaleta and Dr Bisson on twitter: @dr_klzavaleta and @mjbisson

Or get in touch via email: [email protected] and [email protected]

Link to Dr Wang's webpage

Dr Wang's research:

Wang, Jiayi and Halenko, Nicola (2022a). “Mind your language”: L2 English emails during study abroad. In Halenko, Nicola and Wang, Jiayi (eds.) Pragmatics in English Language Learning. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 29-56.

In this episode, Dr Marie-Josee Bisson asks Dr Walter Van Heuven about language organisation in the brain. How does the brain cope with having words in different languages and how come we don't make lots of mistakes when we speak (for example saying a word in French in the middle of a conversation in English!). Listen to the episode to find out! 

To find out more behind-the-scenes information about this topic or about our podcast, please visit our webpage, languagescientists.dmu.ac.uk. This is where you can go to ask questions, leave comments, or even participate in our current research! We'd love to hear from YOU.

Follow Dr Zavaleta and Dr Bisson on twitter: @dr_klzavaleta and @mjbisson

Or get in touch via email: [email protected] and [email protected]

Link to Dr Van Heuven's research lab: https://waltervanheuven.net/

Example article about Dr Van Heuven's research:

van Heuven, W.J.B., Schriefers, H., Dijkstra, T., & Hagoort, P. (2008). Language conflict in the bilingual brain. Cerebral Cortex, 18, 2706-2716.https://dx.doi.org/10.1093/cercor/bhn030

In this Episode, we welcome you to Season 2 of the Podcast and talk about how the language that we know can influence the way we learn other languages.

In particular, some foreign language words look really different compared to words in our native language. It may be that they include a combination of letters that are not possible in our native language. For example, "llw" in Welsh is quite frequent but for a speaker of English that will look quite unusual.

How does this impact the learning of words? Join Dr Kaitlyn and Dr Marie in this episode to learn more about it (and we revisit incidental learning which is Marie's favourite topic!).

To find out more behind-the-scenes information about this topic or about our podcast, please visit our webpage, languagescientists.dmu.ac.uk. This is where you can go to ask questions, leave comments, or even participate in our current research! We'd love to hear from YOU.

Follow Dr Zavaleta and Dr Bisson on twitter: @dr_klzavaleta and @mjbisson

Or get in touch via email: [email protected] and [email protected]

Link to our research lab the Language Lab

A recent publication on Marie's work:

Bisson, M-J. (2022). Learning words with unfamiliar orthography: The role of cognitive abilities. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0272263122000390

In this episode, Dr Zavaleta speaks with Dr Anue Kukona about psycholinguistic research. In particular, they discuss conduction research over the internet and the advantages that come with that in terms of a more diverse sample of participants, mouse-tracking as an alternative to eye-tracking, as well as predictions in language that goes at three times the normal speed! Join us for an interesting episode! 

Can you help us by completing our survey? We would like to know what you liked about this episode, what you would like to hear about next and also whether you have encountered any barriers in your language learning journey. Click here for the link to this 5-minute survey. 

Follow Dr Zavaleta on twitter:  @dr_klzavaleta  

Or get in touch with her via email: [email protected]   

The Language Scientists Podcast website: languagescientists.our.dmu.ac.uk 

Follow Dr Kukona on Twitter @AnueBK 

Or get in touch via email: [email protected] or Dr Kukona's webpage 

Link to an article on mouse-tracking as mentioned in the episode:  

Kukona, A., Jordan, A. Online mouse cursor trajectories distinguish phonological activation by linguistic and nonlinguistic sounds. Psychon Bull Rev (2022). https://doi.org/10.3758/s13423-022-02153-6 

In this episode Dr Bisson interviews Dr Zavaleta about her research on speech errors (when you say cat instead of dog or "Platurn" instead of planet because you were also thinking of Saturn... ). Dr Zavaleta explains how speech errors are a normal occurrence especially when we learn another language. Things get muddled up and the wrong word comes out but speech errors are so interesting because they tell us so much about the organisation of language in the brain. Join us for an interesting episode that we can all relate to. 

Can you help us by completing our survey? We would like to know what you liked about this episode, what you would like to hear about next and also whether you have encountered any barriers in your language learning journey. Click here for the link to this 5-minute survey. 

Follow Dr Zavaleta and Dr Bisson on twitter: @dr_klzavaleta  and  @mjbisson 

Or get in touch via email: [email protected] and  [email protected] 

Or via the De Montfort University website: Dr Kaitlyn Zavaleta and Dr Marie-Josee Bisson 

The Language Scientists Podcast website: languagescientists.our.dmu.ac.uk 

Link to Dr Zavaleta and Dr Bisson's research lab: sites.google.com/view/languagelab-dmu 

Zavaleta, K. L., & Nicol, J. L. (2018). Effects of second language proficiency and working memory span on novel language learning. Journal of Second Language Studies, 1(1), 79-105. 

In this episode, Dr Bisson talks to Professor Matthew Inglis about the importance of randomised controlled trials in education research. In other words, why is it crucial to allocate pupils to an intervention randomly and at the pupil level (rather than, say, a whole class) in order to be able to draw strong conclusions from a research study. Join us as we discuss how to get teachers better informed about this and other research methods.    

Can you help us by completing our survey? We would like to know what you liked about this episode, what you would like to hear about next and also whether you have encountered any barriers in your language learning journey. Click here for the link to this 5-minute survey. 

Follow Dr Bisson on twitter:  @mjbisson 

Or get in touch with her via email:  [email protected] 

The Language Scientists Podcast website: languagescientists.our.dmu.ac.uk 

Link to Dr Bisson's research lab: sites.google.com/view/languagelab-dmu 

Visit Dr Inglis research webpage or get in touch via email: [email protected] 

Link to research article mentioned in the podcast 

Jones, I., Bisson, M., Gilmore, C. & Inglis, M. (2019). Measuring conceptual understanding in randomised controlled trials: Can comparative judgement help? British Educational Research Journal, 45, 662-680.

In this episode Dr Bisson speaks with Dr Angelos Lengeris about phonological abilities and their importance for language learning. Join us to hear about how we can train our ear to hear sounds that do not exist in our native language and how this then helps us speak with a more "native-like" accent. 

Can you help us by completing our survey? We would like to know what you liked about this episode, what you would like to hear about next and also whether you have encountered any barriers in your language learning journey. Click here for the link to this 5-minute survey. 

Follow Dr Bisson on twitter:  @mjbisson 

Or get in touch with her via email:  [email protected] 

The Language Scientists Podcast website: languagescientists.our.dmu.ac.uk 

Link to Dr Bisson's research lab: sites.google.com/view/languagelab-dmu 

Visit Dr Lengeris research webpage or get in touch via email: [email protected] 

Link to research article on training phonological abilities 

Lengeris, A. (2018). Computer-based auditory training improves second-language vowel production in spontaneous speech. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America Express Letters, 144 (3), EL165-171. 

In this episode Dr Zavaleta speaks with Dr Elizabeth Enkin about using virtual reality as a tool for language learning. Join us to hear research using virtual reality to help students speak in the target language whilst reducing feelings of anxiety, even using virtual sculpture making as a way of facilitating target language use.

Can you help us by completing our survey? We would like to know what you liked about this episode, what you would like to hear about next and also whether you have encountered any barriers in your language learning journey. Click here for the link to this 5-minute survey.

Follow Dr Zavaleta on twitter: @dr_klzavaleta

Or get in touch with her via email: [email protected]   

The Language Scientists Podcast website: languagescientists.our.dmu.ac.uk  

Link to our research lab: sites.google.com/view/languagelab-dmu

Follow Dr Enkin's department at @UNLModLang

Or contact her via email: [email protected]  

Link to book chapter mentioned in the Podcast https://www.researchgate.net/publication/352798940_The_Smart_Language_Lab_Building_and_Integrating_Emerging_Technology_into_Language_Programs