Research interests

• (Instructed) second language acquisition
• Assessment of (second language) proficiency
• L2 learning and proficiency and age-related decline
• L2 comprehension and the role of verbal working memory

Current research

I aim to do theoretically driven research that may have practical, pedagogical implications. I'm interested in the added value of explicit information and instruction for second language learning; how distributional features of the input affect language learning outcomes; what role awareness plays in the language leanring trajectory.  I am currently working on several projects / papers:

• A project on how metalinguistic information affects online L2 speech processing (project with Maja Curcic)
• A project on how (un)reliable input may affect L2 learning and an investigation of aptitutde by treatment interaction(PhD project Maja Curcic, see below)
• A project on the role of concscious awareness in child (second) language learning (PhD project Sybren Spit), see below)
• A paper on the acquisition of novel construction on the basis of balanced and skewed input (with Niki Moeken)
• A paper about confounds in form-focused instruction research (with Katie Schulz)
• A paper about the validity of multiple choice comprehension testing; an attempt to predict test item difficulty on the basis of test item and test taker characteristics
• A paper about age-related differences in native speaker listening comprehension (with Catherine van Beuningen, Jan Hulstijn, Nomi Olsthoorn and Rob Schoonen)
• A paper individual differences in word recognition from fast/slurry speach by elderly people (With Esther Janse, Radboud University Nijmegen and Max Placnk Instititut)

PhD supervision

Maja Curcic - The interplay between learner, language, and input characteristics in second language acquisition.

In this project, a series of second language learning experiments will be conducted to investigate how the learnability of a novel syntactic L2 structure is affected by the reliability of the input, the provision of metalinguistic information and by individual differences in aptitude for language learning. (Supervision: Folkert Kuiken, Sible Andringa)

Sybren Spit - Meta-linguistic awarenss in early (second) language acquisition

It is commonly assumed children learn their first language entirely implicitly and without any conscious awareness of form and grammar. Although the role of meta-linguistic awareness in adult language acquisition has been extensively studied, such research is virtually absent in the field of child language acquisition. This research tries to fill this gap.

Positions

• Member of the EuroSLA executive committee (treasurer)
• Editor at the Dutch Journal of Applied Linguistics

Past projects

Studies in Listening (Stilis)

I was involved in the Stilis project (studies in listening proficiency). The goal of this project was to explore and explain individual differences in listening proficiency. This was done by assessing our participants' sentence processing skills and several related skills/capacities we hypothesize to be predictive of or related to listening comprehension. Both young and elderly native speakers of Duch and nonnative learners of Dutch were assessed. The Stilis project is a five-year project that started in August 2007 (with Catherine van Beuningen, Jan Hulstijn, Nomi Olsthoorn and Rob Schoonen) and ended officially in the summer of 2012, although we are still in the process of publishing papers.

Form-focused instruction

My PhD research project was titled Form-focused instruction and the development of second language proficiency. In the project, I reviewed previous work comparing the effectiveness of explicit and implicit types of instruction, and I assessed experimentally whether explicit instruction was more effective than implicit instruction all else being equal (most notably: exposure to the target structures). I concluded that the evidence for the superiority of explicit instruction is not as overwhelming as sometimes suggested. The data demonstrated that both approaches were equally effective overall. However, for one of the target structures, there was an interaction with first language background. Explicit instruction was more effective than implicit instruction for participants with a resembling structure in the L1, but less effective if the same meaning was expressed by means of a totally different target structure.

For publications, please click the corresponding tab on this site.

Links

• Our research group: Cognitive approaches to second language acquisition

• Amsterdam Center for Language and Communication

• Website Maja Curcic

• Website Sybren Spit

• EuroSLA website

• Dutch Journal of Applied Linguistics

Teaching

Most of the courses I teach are part of the master programme Dutch as a Second Language. This is a programme of one and a half years that focuses on every aspect of the acquisition of Dutch as a second language. The programme includes courses on second language acquisition, multilingualism ad langauge policiy, language pedagogy, and the development of language teaching materials. In all courses, the goal is to bridge the gap between theory and practice.

I also teach courses in the BA programme of the Dutch department about child and adult literacy development and reseach methods.

In the MA programme Dutch as a second langauge, I am currently teaching:

• Second language acquisition and pedagogy
• The multilingual society: Educational practice and policy
• Mid-term paper Dutch as a second language

In the BA programme of Dutch, I am teaching:

• Applied Linguistics: The development of literacy
• A module about research design and statistics within the course Language Development

Previously taught courses at the University of Amsterdam:

• Research Design and Statistical Analysis
• Language in Society (at the Department of English)
• Second and foreign language acquisition

Links

• MA programme Dutch as a second language

• BA programme Dutch language and society

• Het college voor toetsen en examens
  Commissariaat