Leena Maria Heikkola

Leena Maria Heikkola is a Professor of Kven and Finnish linguistics at the Department of Language and Culture, UiT The Arctic University of Norway. Her work centers on multilingualism, linguistically responsive teaching, and the intersection of language and cognition, particularly in neurological contexts.

Current research includes collaboration with PhD Antti Saloranta (visiting researcher in Kven language) to analyze the Kven phonetic system using archival and collected speech data, alongside psychophysiological measurements comparing Kven and Finnish language processing. She is a member of research groups MultiNor and C-LaBL, focusing on Nordic multilingualism and language learning.

Her recent publications explore Finnish teachers’ practices in multilingual classrooms, pedagogical responses to linguistic diversity, and the role of music in L2 fluency. Articles emphasize themes like educational equity, language ideologies, and cognitive fatigue in neurological disorders. She holds ORCID 0000-0002-1795-7656 and contributes to Nordic language policy networks.