Sub sections:
Second Language Acquisition Twin Study (SLATS-Aus)
Language lessons from twins: Behaviour-genetic studies of further language acquisition (FLA)
Inés Anton-Mendez, Brian Byrne, Will Coventry, Liz Ellis and Christine Levisen
School of Behavioural, Cognitive and Social Sciences
& Language and Cognition Research Centre
Friday 12 June
12 Noon–1pm
Seminar Room 2 (Rm31), Psychology Building S06
We outline some of the questions raised about FLA, and provide the background to ongoing studies at UNE into those questions using the genetically-sensitive design of twin research. Part of the background consists of another twin study at UNE into aspects of first language acquisition, research that forms a basis for comparison with FLA. We describe the nature of the data we have collected on a sample of Australian high school students learning further languages, and outline some of the results to date. We consider teacher ratings and the ratings from the twins themselves and show that both genes and aspects of the environment contribute to levels of achievement. We have access to similar data from European studies, and they too will be described briefly.