Research

My research revolves around how our multilingual minds work.

How Multilinguals process and learn their languages?

The multilingual system is not simply a combination of L1 and L2 (and additional languages). The traditional view portrays each language we know as independent systems in our mind. However, numerous studies suggest that languages in our mind actually interact with one another. The learning of words in one language has an impact on all other languages as well as the language system itself. This new perspective originates from the Dynamic Systems Theory (de Bot, 2008; Larsen-Freeman & Cameron, 2008) and Translanguaging (Wei, 2018).

In my research, I have explored how our dynamic multilingual systems respond to the task of deriving the meaning of novel words during reading and the resulting learning gains achieved through significant cognitive efforts.

As I delved into related papers, particularly those rooted in cognitive linguistics, I began to question the validity of the concept of the ‘word’.

A highly relevant line of research that caught my attention is formulaic language. It encompasses units ranging from components of words to syntactically complete phrases. The flexibility of such language units offers an opportunity to re-evaluate the concept of the word.

Consequently, my future focus will be on how formulaic language is processed and acquired in our multilingual minds.