Current PhD Projects in Neurolinguistics & Language Development

Early detection of speech impairments in children with posterior fossa tumours

Rida Ahmed (supervised by Vania de Aguiar)

My project aims to study speech difficulties in children with a tumour in the posterior fossa region of the brain. Surgical removal of these tumours can sometimes be followed by a temporary phase of mutism or severely reduced speech. This is called postoperative speech impairment. However, our understanding of why some children develop this condition, while others do not, remains limited. One of the determining factors may be the presence of speech impairment before surgery. I look at the preoperative perceptual as well as acoustic speech features of the patients who develop this postoperative impairment and compare them to patients who undergo surgery for the same kind of tumour but do not develop this condition afterwards, and to healthy controls. Moreover, I will correlate these speech features with the precise tumour location using MRI scans from the patients. To collect more fine-grained information on the evolution of speech from before to after surgery, I plan to collect daylong audio recordings from upcoming patients. Overall, this project will contribute to better risk assessment before surgery and provide a fine-grained evaluation of speech output after surgery.

Developing pragmatic competence in L2 German: The effect of context and individual differences

Iryna Bazhutkina (supervised by Marije Michel at the University of Groningen & Griet Boone at the University of Antwerp)

In today's multilingual world, one of the main goals of learning a foreign language is no longer to become 'nativelike', but to become an intercultural speaker – a person who is sensitive to other cultures and aware of her own cultural position to mediate across linguistic and cultural boundaries. L2 pragmatic competence can serve as a resource that helps in this process of mediation, and as a tool to interact with people of different cultural and linguistic backgrounds. However, the acquisition of L2 pragmatic competence has shown to be a complex and challenging process for L2 learners. It is not only affected by individual difference factors, but also by the context. In this mixed method research project, we focus on a variety of learning contexts (i.e., the classroom, study abroad, and technology mediated contexts) and investigate how pragmatic development in L2 German is affected by individual differences.

The Sociolinguistic Dimension of Care in Latin-American Transnational Communities in the Kingdom of the Netherlands

Merijn Benning (supervised by Josh Prada, Hadi Mirvahedi & Janet Fuller)

I investigate the sociolinguistic dimension of transnational care within Latin-American communities in the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The project concerns multi-sited linguistic ethnography in the multilingual contexts of the Netherlands and Curaçao. I will conduct in-depth interviews and social network mapping sessions with Spanish-speaking migrant participants, to look at the role of language in the establishment and maintenance of their (informal) care networks. This research explores language as an institutional barrier and a social resource; as a communicative tool for caregiving and as a form of (affective) care itself.

Eye-catching: Salience in L2 morphology acquisition

Saioa Cipitria (supervised by Marije Michel & Alex House, Ludovic DeCuypere & Esli Struys of VUB)

Certain linguistic features are consistently more challenging to learn than others. My PhD project examines the role of salience –to what extent a feature stands out– in the second language acquisition of morphology, tracing the pathway from attention to awareness to intake. Five empirical studies employ Englishti, an English-based semi-artificial language designed to manipulate perceptual, psycholinguistic, and experiential dimensions of salience through contrasting morphemes (high-salient -ulp; low-salient -o). Participants completed a text-based eye-tracking task while reading 240 sentences in Englishti. The task consisted of two phases: a learning phase involving input flooding of the target morphemes followed by content-related questions, and a testing phase with a grammaticality judgment task on familiar and novel Englishti sentences. In addition, we consider the influence of individual learner variables (English proficiency, implicit learning ability, working memory) and learning contexts (intentional vs. incidental).

When words are hard to find: Lexical impairments in children with posterior fossa tumors

Elisa Gottardi (Supervised by Vania de Aguiar)

My PhD project focuses on language difficulties in children with brain tumors located in the posterior fossa region, such as the cerebellum. In particular, I examine word retrieval abilities in spontaneous language contexts (e.g., narrating a story) and time-constrained tasks (e.g., naming pictures as quickly as possible), and their relation to tumor size and location. Additionally, I investigate the potential link between preoperative difficulties and the development of postoperative complete or partial mutism, a temporary condition affecting about 25% of patients. Furthermore, I plan to collect data from extended naturalistic conversations and language comprehension tasks, comparing performance before and after surgery and in relation to mutism outcomes. Overall, this project aims to improve our understanding of these lexical impairments and support more targeted interventions.

The longitudinal development of L2 writing processes and their relationship with task, writing product, and individual differences

Zhixing Han (supervised by Marije Michel & Rasmus Steinkrauss)

Writing is a complex process through which writers deploy linguistic and extralinguistic resources to achieve communicative goals. In second language research, the written product has received considerably more attention than the writing process itself — yet understanding how learners manage cognitive resources in real time is equally important. This project addresses that gap by examining L2 writing processes both longitudinally and cross-sectionally. Using keystroke logging, we capture moment-by-moment behavioral data — including fluency, pausing, and revision patterns — and explore how these are shaped by task type, writing quality, linguistic complexity, and individual differences such as working memory, motivation, and engagement. We also trace how writing processes develop over time, a dimension largely absent from existing research. By combining individual process variables, aggregated features, and state-transition modeling, this project aims to advance theoretical understanding of L2 writing development and inform pedagogical feedback on writing process organization.

Syntax-Vision Interface: The Impact of Visual Cues in Real-time Ellipsis Resolution

Kohei Haneda (supervised by Anja Schüppert and Roel Jonkers at the University of Groningen, and Anita Szakay at Macquarie University)

Comprehenders can capitalize on non-linguistic visual information to maneuver their way through online sentence comprehension. But can they use such visual cues to resolve an elliptical gap? Processing ellipsis generally requires that a linguistic antecedent be retrieved at the time of encountering an elliptical gap. When one says, “Last Friday, Joanna was knitting a scarf. Elise was too”. The verb phrase from the first sentence serves as the antecedent, which is later retrieved when a parser encounters “was too”. What if this linguistic antecedent is replaced with a visual cue, such as an image depicting an action? What would happen if, instead of reading, “Joanna was knitting a scarf”, a comprehender viewed an equivalent image of a woman knitting a scarf, and then read “Elise was too”? Using the Self-paced Reading, Eye-tracking while reading, and EEG techniques, this project attempts to shed light on the flexible, dynamic, and multimodal nature of the human sentence comprehension mechanism and its intricate interactions with other cognitive processes. 

L1 Dutch and L2 English writing development in DMI and EMI programmes

Penny Heisterkamp ((supervised by Anja Schüppert, Veerle Baaijen & Marije Michel)

My PhD project concerns the writing development of Dutch students in programmes with Dutch as medium of instruction (DMI) and English as medium of instruction (EMI). A lot of universities offer courses and programmes in English, yet we know little about how studying in a second language affects students' ability to express their thoughts in writing. I will investigate how the Dutch and English writing skills of DMI and EMI students develop in the first and second year and how DMI students handle writing in their first language (Dutch) about material presented in their second language (English). In my analyses, I will include process-based features (such as pausing and revision behaviour) as well as product-based features (such as sentence complexity).

Pre-service teachers’ identities and cognitions of multilingual education: examining multilingual speakers in the Netherlands and Australia using visual and digital approaches

Alison Henehan (supervised by Josh Prada and Joana Duarte) 

Alison Henehan is studying a joint PhD in applied linguistics and teacher education at the University of Groningen and Macquarie University, under the supervision of Prof Dr Joana Duarte and Dr Josh Prada (RUG) and Prof Dr Matt Bower and Dr Alice Chik (MQ). Her research focuses on pre-service teachers’ multilingual identities and cognitions of multilingualism using arts-based approaches and AI

Characterizing aphasia language symptoms in Akan - speaking adults with aphasia

Abena Asiedua Owusu Antwi (supervised by Dörte de Kok, Frank Tsiwah, Christos Salis and Janet Webster)

My PhD project focuses on characterising aphasia language symptoms in Akan-speaking adults with aphasia. Empirical studies carried out with people with aphasia in Akan have relied on the adaptation of aphasia batteries in conducting background aphasia language assessments. Thus, for this project and research purposes, a contextual and culturally relevant background language assessment tool in Akan has been developed and piloted to conduct background aphasia assessments in Akan research.  The project also examines the comprehension and production of verb tense forms in (Past, Present and Future) in Akan. We will then further explore the spontaneous speech of Akan-speaking adults with aphasia through structured testing. The analysis of spontaneous language will give a general idea of the linguistic features of aphasia in Akan-speaking adults with aphasia and will become the basis for creating a fluent and non-fluent grouping in Akan. This will further provide understanding into their pattern of impairments which will enable researchers and clinicians in Ghana design and develop tailored interventions in the clinical work of Akan speakers with aphasia. Overall, our project aims to examine how aphasia presents itself in Akan speakers with aphasia.

Facilitating EFL education of ethnic minority students in China through translanguaging

Jingyi Qian (supervised by Josh Prada & Marije Michel)Zhixing Han (supervised by Marije Michel & Rasmus Steinkrauss)

Drawing on the theoretical framework of translanguaging, this project examines how teachers and students mobilize their multilingual repertoires (e.g., minority languages, Mandarin Chinese, regional dialects, and English) within classroom interaction. It explores how translanguaging practices can make students’ linguistic and cultural resources visible and pedagogically valuable, rather than marginalized. By analyzing pedagogical practices, this study seeks to understand how the strategic integration of multiple languages can support their language learning while simultaneously affirming ethnic linguistic identities. Additionally, the project investigates ethnic minority students’ multilingual learning trajectories and their identity negotiation as they transition from ethnically homogeneous communities to linguistically and culturally diverse university settings. By examining the relationship between language use and identity construction, the study aspires to contribute to more equitable language education, promote culturally responsive pedagogy, and support the long-term development of ethnic minority languages in China.

Writing as a Bridge to Speaking: Effects of Writing and Speaking Tasks in German

Fred Sikkens (supervised by Marije Michel and Audrey Rousse-Malpat)

This longitudinal mixed-methods study examines the relationship between writing and speaking in German and investigates the effects of writing and speaking tasks on pre-university (VWO-4) students’ writing and speaking proficiency. The research comprises a systematic literature review, a pilot study, and a main study with four sub-studies.

The study involves 111 students from four secondary schools. In four experimental groups, an innovative instructional programma, Schreib-Sprechbrücke Deutsch, was implemented. The programme includes authentic tasks related to language and culture, aiming to enhance students’ linguistic proficiency and their awareness of language and culture.

Over six months, students in the experimental groups worked on a range of tasks varying in complexity, while a control group completed only pre-, post-, and delayed post-tests. The study examines both longitudinal quantitative effects and qualitative outcomes, focusing on affective factors such as anxiety and self-efficacy in language learning contexts.

Word relations in the mental lexicon: A network science approach to disentangle morphology, semantics, and orthography

Jo-Anne van der Sluijs (supervised by Adrià Rofes and Roel Jonkers at the University of Groningen, and Lisi Beyersmann at Macquarie University)

Words are stored in the mind in relation to each other, by sharing semantics (e.g., dog and cat), phonology or orthography (e.g., dog and log), or by belonging to the same morphological word family (e.g., dog and dogs or doghouse). In my PhD project, I aim to better understand how these word relations are reflected in networks constructed from Dutch language tasks. I create a novel task in which people generate words within a word family, a word relation that has not been explored extensively with word networks before. Using various analyses, I aim to contribute to our understanding of morphological word relations in the mind. Furthermore, I construct a task in which people rate how related two words seem to them, with participant groups focusing on distinct word relations. This task allows to distinguish between different word relations in single networks, for which the relatedness ratings are converted to reflect connections between words. Finally, a comparison between word networks of people with and without aphasia provide new insights into how the storage of or access to words in the mind changes with language impairments.