معرفی
Dr. Marco Bril is an Assistant Professor in Psycholinguistics and French Linguistics at Utrecht University's Faculty of Humanities, affiliated with the Department of Languages, Literature and Communication and the Institute for Language Sciences. His research focuses on grammatical development in second language learners, examining how cognitive, linguistic, and educational factors influence language acquisition. He teaches BA and MA courses in language acquisition theory and experimental research methodologies, and supervises student research projects across multiple programs including the Educational Master and Multilingualism & Language Acquisition.
Education
- PhD Psycholinguistics (VU Amsterdam, 2013-2017)
- Master French: Education and Communication (Utrecht University, 2012-2013)
- Master French Linguistics (University of Amsterdam, 2009-2011)
- Bachelor French Language and Culture (University of Amsterdam, 2008-2009)
- Bachelor Education of French Language (Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences, 2005-2008)
Research Focus
Bril's work centers on the psycholinguistic mechanisms of second language acquisition, particularly grammatical development in French learners. He investigates the relationship between grammatical knowledge and language production/comprehension, leveraging interdisciplinary methods from linguistics and social sciences. His research themes include the effects of syntactic complexity, working memory, and social factors on language processing, with applications to foreign language pedagogy and educational policy.
Recent publications demonstrate a strong emphasis on experimental approaches to language acquisition, including self-paced listening/reading experiments and meta-analyses. His work consistently explores cognitive-linguistic interfaces, with recurring investigations into gender agreement processing, vocabulary acquisition, and the impact of multilingualism on learning outcomes.
Projects & Advising
Bril leads several funded research initiatives including an NWO project (2025-2026) examining multilingual pedagogy for AI literacy development, and a community-engaged study connecting university students with secondary school teachers. He supervises BA, MA, and PhD research related to his core interests and serves as MA thesis coordinator for the Educational Master program.
Professional Engagement
Bril holds multiple institutional roles: Ethics Assessment Committee member for Linguistics, steering board member for the Going Romance Conference, and board member for Dutch/international linguistics associations. He actively reviews for journals including Language Acquisition and International Journal of Listening.
