Sub sections:
Second Language Acquisition Twin Study (SLATS-Aus)
A cross-disciplinary project in progress
Professor Brian Byrne, Dr Liz Ellis, Dr Will Coventry, Dr Inés Anton-Mendez
School of Behavioural, Cognitive and Social Sciences
Monday 25th August
12Noon–1pm
Seminar Room 2 (Rm 31), Psychology Building S06
This seminar will report on work-in-progress on a project which aims to investigate the relative contributions of genetic and environmental factors to success in learning a foreign language. The study forms part of a large international collaboration between linguists and behavioural geneticists and is the first of its kind in the world. We will explain the logic of using twins to quantify and identify genetic and environmental influences on academic achievement and cognitive capacities, with reference to such work in language and literacy, and to findings of related research in Japan and the Netherlands. The seminar will give an overview of the origins of the project, and the relationship of the Australian part (SLATS-Aus) to the whole (SLATS). Further, it will outline some of the central questions in SLA that the research may shed light on, with examples shown of current and future data-collecting instruments. Data analysis methods will be considered, and following the presentation, feedback and comments will be welcomed.