Centre for Research in Language Development throughout the Lifespan

17/01/2024

Learn the beginnings of a new language and contribute to research at the same time!

We are a research team at the University of Essex looking for participants aged 60 or over to take part in a British Academy-funded study on language learning in older adults.

Participation involves the completion of four online language lessons, some online tests and an online questionnaire at a time that is convenient to you.

Each volunteer will receive a £20 shopping voucher (or equivalent for participants outside the UK).

Criteria for participation:
• Age 60 or over;
• Access to a laptop or desktop computer, speakers/headphones and a stable internet connection;
• No knowledge of Croatian or any other Slavic languages;
• Good proficiency in English.

If you are interested in joining this exciting project, please contact Karen Roehr-Brackin for more information:

Contact Us Your message Please enable JavaScript in your browser to complete this form.First Name *Last Name *Email *Message *

01/08/2023

Teaching Languages to Older Adults - registration for our online workshop on 19 October is now open:

A workshop from the Centre for Research in Language Development throughout the Lifespan

12/04/2023

Teaching Languages to Older Adults - online workshop on 19 October 2023. Note our call for papers:

A workshop from the Centre for Research in Language Development throughout the Lifespan

05/03/2023

Read the latest research on language learning aptitude in older adults:

Recent developments in language learning aptitude research have generated renewed interest in the topic, especially with regard to the distinction between aptitude for explicit and implicit learning. This work is complemented by ongoing improvements to the LLAMA aptitude test. To date, studies of ap...

09/01/2023

Call for papers: International conference on Interaction and L2 grammar learning by children in foreign language contexts: Form-focused instruction and individual differences. See further info here:

24-26 MAY 2023, VITORIA-GASTEIZ|Facultad de Letras UPV/EHU INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE 2023 Interaction and L2 grammar learning by children in foreign language contexts: Form-focused instruction and individual differences CALL FOR PAPERS WHO HELPS US OUR SPONSORS

02/09/2022

Just published! Have a look at the new book in honour of Prof. Florence Myles, founding director of LaDeLi: How Special are Early Birds?

This volume honours the academic achievements and scholarship of Professor Florence Myles as a world-leading scholar in the fields of Second Language Acquisition (SLA) and French Linguistics, in particular for her work in corpus-based SLA and language policy in primary school education. In addition....

06/06/2022

Join our workshop on 23 June on Language learning in older adults: Interdisciplinary perspectives. Registration closes on 15 June. For further details and registration, visit

A workshop from the Centre for Research in Language Development throughout the Lifespan

04/05/2022

Language learning in older adults: Interdisciplinary perspectives

Registration for this international workshop (in-person event) is now open.

For further information including the full programme, please see

A workshop from the Centre for Research in Language Development throughout the Lifespan

11/04/2022

Participate in a project on language learning for older adults and take part in free Italian classes

Would you like to learn some basic Italian in the context of a research project run by Helga Donnerer, a PhD student in the Department of Language and Linguistics at the University of Essex (supervised by Karen Roehr-Brackin)?

Helga is trying to find out which approaches to language teaching and learning work best with older adults. She is an older adult herself and an experienced language teacher.

Helga is going to run 10-week courses in beginners’ Italian starting on 27 April 2022. Participants will be assigned to either a monolingual or a multilingual teaching approach in order to find out which approach is more effective.

Helga is looking for people who
1. are over 60 years of age (there is no upper age limit);
2. are fluent in English, either because it is their native language or because they have learned it to a high level;
3. have no knowledge of Italian (beyond words commonly used in English such as pizza, pasta, ciao, ...);
4. have access to the internet via a laptop or desktop computer with a camera, microphone, and speakers/headphones.

If you would like to find out more and/or are interested in taking part, please email Helga: [email protected]

08/03/2022

Language learning in older adults: Interdisciplinary perspectives
Thursday, 23 June 2022

Centre for Research in Language Development throughout the Lifespan

This workshop focuses on additional language learning in older adults (ages 60+). It aims to bring together researchers from different disciplines to enhance our understanding of the processes of language learning and use in later life as well as the various factors influencing these processes. We are seeing a welcome increase in research involving older adults, but it is still the case that the vast majority of studies to date has worked with younger participants, and accordingly theories are primarily based on data from younger samples. It is as yet unknown whether language learning processes function in exactly the same way in younger and older individuals, and it is likewise of interest to investigate whether additional language learning and use in older adults is influenced by the same combination and weighting of factors as younger adults’ learning.

CALL FOR POSTERS

We are inviting abstracts for posters on language learning and use in older adults (ages 60+). We welcome contributions from all and any disciplines that can inform, and be informed by, linguistics research (applied, psycho- and sociolinguistic) into additional language learning and use, including (but not limited to) cognitive, social and educational psychology, health and social work, speech and language therapy, and sports and exercise science. We would like to specifically encourage submissions from early-career researchers including doctoral students.

Confirmed invited speakers:
Thomas Bak (University of Edinburgh)
Merel Keijzer (University of Groningen)
Simone Pfenninger (University of Salzburg)
Outi Tuomanen (University of Potsdam)

The workshop will comprise four plenary-length talks by the invited speakers and a poster session with a poster slam where presenters give a one-minute, one-slide overview to showcase their posters prior to the poster display itself. The day will conclude with themed group discussions to facilitate an exchange of expertise among different disciplines, so we can learn from each other about the strengths and weaknesses of the main methodologies and predominant theoretical models in our respective fields. The event will thus enable the forging of collaborations for future research that offer all the benefits of multidisciplinary breadth and impact.
Please submit your abstract (350 words max., excluding references) together with your full name and institutional affiliation via email to [email protected]

Deadline for abstract submissions: 4 April 2022.

Organising committee: Karen Roehr-Brackin, Faith Chiu, Eva Gutiérrez-Sigut, Ramya Maitreyee

This event is supported by a grant from the EuroSLA Workshop Fund.

A workshop from the Centre for Research in Language Development throughout the Lifespan

10/09/2021

New paper on language learning just published! This study of multilingual learners suggests that individual differences in ability may no longer matter once a certain level of experience has been reached. Have a look here:

(2021). Are individual differences in cognitive abilities and stylistic preferences related to multilingual adults’ performance in explicit learning conditions?. Language Awareness. Ahead of Print.

30/06/2021

Call for Expressions of Interest

The Centre for Research in Language Development throughout the Lifespan (LaDeLi) at the University of Essex in the UK invites expressions of interest from postdoctoral researchers to apply for a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship. We are looking to support a small number of high-quality applications under the new round which opened on 22 June 2021 and would welcome expressions of interest from interested researchers, particularly, but not exclusively, in the following areas:

• Early language development
• Second/additional language learning and teaching, bilingualism and multilingualism
• Language attrition, ageing and impairments

Our research centre is unique in bringing together researchers working on language development at all stages of the life cycle. The broad range of our research makes us highly interdisciplinary, merging theories and methodologies from applied and psycholinguistics, psychology, cognitive science, sociolinguistics and education. Full details about the centre can be found here:
https://www.essex.ac.uk/centres-and-institutes/language-development-throughout-the-lifespan

Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship Programme

The purpose of the programme is to support the mobility, career development and training of researchers. The grant provides an allowance for living, travel and family costs. In addition, it contributes to the training, networking and research costs of the fellow, as well as to the management and indirect costs of their project. The grant is awarded to the host organisation. Full details of the scheme are available here: https://ec.europa.eu/research/mariecurieactions/actions/postdoctoral-fellowships

Eligibility and Requirements

Applicants need to hold a doctoral degree or have at least four years of full-time research experience in a relevant social science or humanities discipline. Candidates are also expected to have good problem-solving, troubleshooting and analytical skills, be fluent in English, have good interpersonal, written and oral communication skills, and be able to work independently as well as within an international team.

At the time of the call deadline, researchers must not have resided or carried out their main activity (e.g. work, studies, etc.) in the country of the host institution (i.e. the UK in this case) for more than 12 months in the last 3 years.

Submitting an Expression of Interest

Interested applicants should submit a one-page CV, an outline of the proposed research (maximum 1,000 words) and a cover letter highlighting why you believe this area of work will be suited to LaDeLi at the University of Essex as the host institution (maximum 500 words). Please submit these documents as a single email attachment in PDF format to Karen Roehr-Brackin ([email protected]) by Monday, 26 July 2021.

An expression of interest is not a promise of funding or a position. It is an expression of interest in making a future application with the University of Essex as your host institution.

Review of expressions of interest will start after the deadline. Proposals will be evaluated based on research quality, the applicant’s future career prospects and the availability of appropriate supervision/mentoring. The best proposals will be chosen for submission to the competition.

The successful applicant(s) will be supported in completing their application by the scheme deadline of 12 October 2021.

PFs support researchers’ careers and foster excellence in research. Researchers gain experience in other countries, disciplines and non-academic sectors.