معرفی
Leah Roberts is a Professor in the Department of Education at the University of York, leading the Centre for Advanced Studies in Language and Education. With prior research scientist roles at the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics (2003-2011) and University of Essex (2000-2003), her academic journey bridges theoretical and applied research in second language processing.
- Education: PhD in Syntactic Processing in Second Language Learners (University of Essex, 2003), MA in Language Acquisition (University of Essex, 1999), BA in Linguistics with Education Studies (University of East London, 1997)
Her research focuses on second language acquisition and bilingual processing, spanning word-, sentence-, and discourse-levels. Key areas include cross-linguistic influences in SLA, classroom intervention studies, and real-time processing mechanisms in adult vs. child language learners. Recent work examines article acquisition in L2 English, prosody's role in syntactic ambiguity resolution, and visual processing asymmetries in motion event analysis.
Collaborations include institutions across Europe (University of Osnabruck, Lund University, Utrecht University) and North America (Penn State University). She contributes to journals as Managing Editor of the EUROSLA Yearbook and Co-Editor of IRAL, with editorial board memberships spanning five international publications.
- Key Research Trends:
- Temporal and referential processing in bilingual discourse
- Classroom vs. naturalistic language learning mechanisms
- Information structure acquisition in multilingual contexts
- Prosodic and syntactic cue integration in real-time comprehension
- Cross-linguistic influences on morphosyntactic development
- Visual-spatial cognition in language processing
She teaches MA modules including Cross-linguistic Influences in SLA, Developmental Psycholinguistics, and Research Methods for Applied Linguistics, emphasizing methodological rigor in both experimental and classroom-based studies.
