I am interested in the cognitive basis of language learning and processing, i.e. I study how the mind and brain acquires and processes novel language(s). I am particularly interested in implicit learning, statistical learning, heritage language bilingualism, and second language acquisition.
For more information, including publications, please visit my website or the Language Learning lab website.
My research looks at the following six questions, so I am interested in supervising projects on the following:
1. What role do individual differences (e.g., working memory, intelligence, etc.) play in implicit and explicit learning?
2. How does explicit knowledge affect implicit learning?
3. What is the role of frequency in language acquisition?
4. What is the nature of the (implicit) learning mechanism?
5. How do we measure implicit and explicit knowledge?
6. How are implicit and explicit knowledge represented in the mind and, ultimately, the brain?
I am Professor of Linguistics and Cognitive Science at Lancaster University, where I also serve as Director of Internationalization at the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences.
I am also Distinguished International Professor at the LEAD Graduate School, University of Tübingen, and Director of the Heritage Language 2 Consortium (HL2C), a strategic partnership that brings together six leading universities and the Portuguese Ministry of Foreign Affairs. I coordinate the NOVA Lancaster partnership on behalf of Lancaster University and the SLLAT Research Group within the Department of Linguistics and English Language. I also co-direct the Lancaster Language Learning Lab (4L).
I received my PhD from the University of Cambridge and my BA from the University of Lisbon. Prior to joining Lancaster, I taught at Georgetown University, Harvard University, the University of California, Santa Barbara, and the University of Göttingen. I also spent a semester as a Visiting Researcher at the University of Auckland.
If you are interested in joining the Lancaster Language Learning Lab (4L) as a PhD student or postdoctoral fellow, please send me a message.
