Research Projects
Our research projects span various topics and the Lab is equipped with the following mobile devices and software currently available: Eye-tracker GazePoint 3HD; E-prime software with Chronos buttonbox; Paradigm software, SPSS statistical software, R e MatLab (basics).
Current projects on language sentence processing
The effects of structured input and structured output on the acquisition of English causative forms using online measurements. A self-paced reading test will be used measure accuracy of response, response and reading time among L2 learners.
The relative effects of structured input on the processing and retention of English past tense regular forms. This investigation builds upon the work carried out within the structured input research framework with the intention to measure its online effects. A self-paced reading test will be used measure accuracy of response, response and reading time among L2 learners.
Primary and secondary effects of structured input activities and structured output activities on the acquisition of passive causative constructions in Cantonese as measured by an offline production discourse-level test and an online self-paced reading test.
The effects of individual and instructional variables on young adolescents’ ability to develop grammatical accuracy in French as a L2. Data will be gathered via sentence-level interpretation and production tasks; discourse-level interpretation and production tasks, and a self-pace reading task.
The effects of PI on the acquisition of English passive constructions through using two online measures, namely self-paced reading and self-paced listening tests.
Current projects on the acquisition of interface phenomena
The acquisition of the adjective placement in the NP in Romance languages (Italian, Spanish, French). We want to investigate whether and when intermediate to advanced learners manage to master the noun-adjective order and relate it to its functional and/or meaning shifts;
The acquisition of subject Control with non-finite verbs (gerund, infinitive) in L2 Italian:
We want to investigate whether learners with different proficiency levels manage to co-index non-finite verbs such as the gerund and the infinitive to the subject vs object controller;
The acquisition of Lexical Aspect (telic vs atelic contrast) in Romance and Germanic languages
We want to question the stronger tenets of the Lexical Aspect Hypothesis according to which L2 learners use the perfective morpheme first with telic predicates;
The acquisition of Auxiliaries in a second language
We want to investigate the reflexes of auxiliary selection at the syntax-semantics interface of L2 learners with different L1s and backgrounds,
Current projects on statistical learning
The impact of frequency and contingency learning in L2 productive past perfective morphemes
We want to investigate whether and to what extent frequency in the input and associative learning affect the patterns of acquisition of L2 morphology, namely the past perfective morpheme
Current project on the teaching/acquisition interface
Can explicit knowledge become implicit?
We want to contribute – and possibly broaden – the debate concerning whether the grammar notions that are explicitly taught in the language classroom can at a certain point (e.g., after intensive practice) turn into implicit (unconscious and incidental) knowledge.