Embedded Files
Studying the Language of Young Learners
Workshop at the University of Bamberg, Germany, 17 to 18 September 2025.
Location: Room U11/00.16
In research on Second Language Acquisition (SLA), and in the domain of Learner Corpus Research (LCR) specifically, there has been a tendency to rely on material from advanced learners, often university students, given their comparatively easy accessibility for researchers (Gilquin, 2015; Plonsky, 2017). In consequence, young second language (L2) learners, typically found within institutional (secondary school) contexts, are severely underrepresented (Tracy-Ventura et al., 2021). However, this underrepresented group is of great theoretical significance (Myles, 2015, 2021), as these learners exemplify foundational learning stages. They are also of applied interest in language education, as vastly more monetary and personnel resources are devoted to teaching languages in schools than at universities. As a consequence, improvements in teacher education and teaching practices drawing on insights from SLA and LCR could yield substantial benefits to society.
In the broader context of calls for more diversity in LCR and SLA (e.g. Paquot, 2024), this workshop is intended as a meeting ground for researchers who engage with young learner (inter-)language to share insights from their current projects. We invite single- or multiple-authored papers on relevant empirical research and encourage contributions that, for instance,
analyze and interpret patterns found in young learner (inter-)language;
illustrate (young) learner trajectories;
compare and contrast data from L1 and L2 learners;
work with innovative tasks for data elicitation;
triangulate approaches (e.g. corpus-based and experimental or questionnaire-based ones).
The workshop will feature two keynotes by
Shin’ichiro Ishikawa (University of Kobe, Japan), leader of the ICNALE project
Olga Lopopolo (University of Hamburg, Germany), researcher in multilingualism and project coordinator of the CODILAC researcher group
Moreover, all participants will be invited to interact in a collaborative breakout session on future challenges and trends in research on young learners.
Keynote speakers
Dr. Shin’ichiro (Shin) Ishikawa is Professor of Applied Linguistics at the School of Languages and Communication, Kobe University, Japan. He specialises in corpus linguistics, applied linguistics, and statistical linguistics. He is currently Vice President of the Mathematical Linguistic Society of Japan, board member of the Japan Association of College English Teachers, and former president of the Japan Association for English Corpus Studies. He is also a member of the Japanese government’s Council for Cultural Affairs and deputy chair of its language resources committee. He has published extensively in several branches of applied linguistics and is also known as a leader of the ICNALE learner corpus project.
Olga Lopopolo is project coordinator at the University of Hamburg, Germany, for the CODILAC project. Previously, she was PhD student at Eurac Research, researching multilingualism and language learning in South Tyrolean schools. She is particularly interested in how multilingual speakers navigate their language use and the broader implications for individuals and society. With a background in language teaching, she has experience with various methods and data, including learner corpus data, interview data and ethnographic materials.
References
Gilquin, G. (2015). From design to collection of learner corpora. In S. Granger, G. Gilquin & F. Meunier (Eds.), The Cambridge Handbook of Learner Corpus Research (pp. 9–34). Cambridge University Press.
Myles, F. (2015). SLA theory and Learner Corpus Research. In S. Granger, G. Gilquin & F. Meunier (Eds.), The Cambridge Handbook of Learner Corpus Research (pp. 309–331). Cambridge University Press.
Myles, F. (2021). Commentary: An SLA perspective on Learner Corpus Research. In B. Le Bruyn & M. Paquot (Eds.), Learner Corpus Research Meets Second Language Acquisition (pp. 258–273). Cambridge University Press.
Paquot, M. (2024). Learner corpus research: A critical appraisal and roadmap for contributing (more) to SLA research agendas. Corpus Linguistics and Linguistic Theory, 20(3), 567–590.
Plonsky, L. (2017). Quantitative research methods in instructed SLA. In S. Loewen & M. Sato (Eds.), The Routledge Handbook of Instructed Second Language Acquisition (pp. 505–521). Routledge.
Tracy-Ventura, N., Paquot, M. & Myles, F. (2021). The future of corpora in SLA. In N. Tracy-Ventura & M. Paquot (Eds.), The Routledge Handbook of Second Language Acquisition and Corpora (pp. 409–424). Routledge.
Google Sites
Report abuse