CILS 11th Symposium update

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11th Annual Symposium

Bilingualism Across the Lifespan

Friday, May 1, 2015 10:00am-4:00pm

Asian Studies Auditorium, 1871 West Mall, Vancouver

Symposium Program

CILS 11th annual Symposium took place on May 1st, 2015. With   over 130 participants, many of whom were first-time attendees, the Symposium was a great success, marking the end of CILS academic programming for 2014-2015 academic year.

Photo 2015-05-01, 1 35 20 PMDr. Judith Kroll opened the Symposium with her talk:  Two languages in mind: Bilingualism as a tool to investigate language, cognition, and the brain in which she presented research of the ways in which second language learners negotiate two languages in their minds.

Symposium continued with poster presentations. Nineteen scholars and practitioners in the field of bilingualism presented their work and shared their ideas with the attendees. Xuan Zhang, a doctoral student from UBC School of Audiology, won the Best Graduate Student Poster Award with her presentation: Factors Explaining the Cognitive Advantage of Bilinguals.

 

 

Symposium closed with a key note address  Rethinking early dual language learning, delivered by Dr. Fred Genesee, Professor Emeritus of Psychology at McGill University. Dr. Genesee’s talk presented research findings on “dual language learning in both school and non-school settings, among simultaneous and sequential bilinguals, and in typically-developing learners and those with an impaired capacity for language learning.”

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We would like to thank all those who attended CILS Symposium for your continuous support and interest in CILS events.

Key Note Summaries:

Judith Kroll

Distinguished Professor of Psychology, Linguistics, and Women’s Studies at Pennsylvania State University

 Two languages in mind: Bilingualism as a tool to investigate language, cognition, and the brain

In the past decade, the recognition that more of the world’s speakers are bilingual than monolingual has led to a dramatic increase in research that assumes bilingualism as the norm rather than the exception. This new research investigates the way in which bilinguals and second language learners negotiate the presence of two languages in a single mind and brain. A critical insight is that bilingualism provides a tool for examining aspects of the cognitive architecture that are otherwise obscured by the skill associated with native language performance. In this talk, I illustrate this approach to language processing and its neural basis and consider the consequences that bilingualism holds for cognition more generally.

Fred Genesee

Professor Emeritus of Psychology at McGill University

 Rethinking early dual language learning

People often have serious concerns about raising or educating children bilingually. These concerns are often based on expectations that are not supported by research evidence. This presentation will review research findings on dual language learning in both school and non-school settings, among simultaneous and sequential bilinguals, and in typically-developing learners and those with an impaired capacity for language learning. Misunderstandings about the role of the first language in educating ELL students, the benefits of early and extensive instruction in a second language, children with language impairment, and the assumption that young learners are efficient second language learners will be discussed.

 

With the generous support from UBC Department of Asian Studies for providing the venue for the Symposium

 

Keynote speaker bios

 

Dr. Judith F. Kroll is Distinguished Professor of Psychology, Linguistics, and Women’s Studies and Director of the Center for Language Science at Pennsylvania State University. The research that she and her students conduct concerns the way that bilinguals juggle the presence of two languages in one mind and brain. Their work, supported by grants from NSF and NIH, shows that bilingualism provides a tool for revealing the interplay between language and cognition that is otherwise obscure in speakers of one language alone. She is a Fellow of the AAAS, the APA, the APS, the Psychonomic Society, and the Society of Experimental Psychologists. She was one of the founding editors of the journal Bilingualism: Language and Cognition (Cambridge University Press), and one of the founding organizers of Women in Cognitive Science, a group developed to promote the advancement of women in the cognitive sciences and supported by NSF (http://womenincogsci.org/). She has published extensively in her area and has received numerous awards and honours; most recently she was the recipient of the Faculty Scholar Medal in the Social and Behavioral Sciences, Pennsylvania State University, 2013 and the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellow, 2013-2014.

 Dr. Fred Genesee is a Professor Emeritus of Psychology at McGill University and an international leading expert on bilingualism and bilingual education. His work has sought to debunk persistent myths surrounding bilingualism and second language acquisition in early childhood. He was awarded the 2014 gold medal for distinguished and enduring lifetime contributions at the annual meeting at the Canadian Psychological Association. Dr. Genesee is the author of numerous professional and scientific research reports and books, including Learning Through Two Languages: Studies of Immersion and Bilingual Education (1987), Educating Second Language Children (1994), Classroom Based Evaluation in Second Language Education (1996), Beyond Bilingualism: Multilingualism and Multilingual Education (1998), Trends in Bilingual Acquisition (2000), and Dual Language Development and Disorders (2011). He has served on the TESOL Board of Directors for 7 years, including as President, and has been a member of the Executive Committee of AAAL among others. He has served as a consultant on second/foreign language and bilingual education in countries around the world, including Japan, Spain, Germany, Estonia, Hong Kong, Latvia, Switzerland