Heather Marsden

Heather Marsden is a Professor in the Department of Language and Linguistic Science at the University of York, where she has been a faculty member since 2007, promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2016 and currently holds the rank of Professor. She is actively involved in research, teaching, and external academic engagement, with a strong focus on second language acquisition from a generative linguistic perspective.

Her educational background includes a BA in Japanese Studies from the University of Cambridge, an MA and PhD in Linguistics from the University of Durham, and a Diploma in Translation from the Chartered Institute of Linguists. She also held an ESRC Postdoctoral Research Fellowship at Newcastle University before joining York.

Her research centers on the L2 acquisition of linguistic structures at the syntax–semantics and syntax–discourse interfaces, with special emphasis on Japanese and other East Asian languages, as well as Spanish, German, and French taught in UK schools. She uses psycholinguistic methods such as acceptability judgments and sentence processing tasks to explore cross-linguistic influence, the role of input (ambient, instructed, or absent), and the impact of explicit grammar instruction on acquisition. Her work bridges theoretical generative SLA and practical language teaching, advocating for collaborative research and knowledge exchange.

Her recent publications show a consistent focus on quantifier scope, definiteness, polarity items, filler-gap dependencies, and prosody in L2 and L3 acquisition, particularly involving Japanese, Korean, and English. She frequently collaborates with international researchers and presents at major conferences such as EuroSLA and LAGB.

• Ambient input, instructed input, and absent input: A reflection on L2 acquisition in different input conditions (2021, Plenary, Japan Second Language Association)
• Using Case to predict in the German language classroom: a pilot study (2018, UiT The Arctic University of Norway)
• Insights for teacher-researcher collaboration from theoretical SLA research (2018, UiT)
• Searching for a common language: where do GenSLA research and the language classroom meet? (2017, GASLA 14)

She is an active supervisor of PhD students, welcoming projects grounded in linguistic theory that investigate non-native language acquisition, especially involving Japanese or East Asian languages, or the application of generative SLA findings to pedagogy. She leads and participates in externally funded research projects, including those funded by the British Academy and ESRC, such as Interpreting prosody in a second language and Psycholinguistic methods in the language classroom. She is also a co-investigator in the OASIS project focused on open-access research summaries in language studies. She is involved in lab-based psycholinguistic research and collaborates with teams across Europe and Asia, contributing to a vibrant research network in generative SLA and classroom applications.