Language and Learning was founded as a research unit under the Department of Language and Communication at the University of Southern Denmark on February 1st, 2017. The center is an interdisciplinary research center focusing on different aspects within the areas of L1 and L2 acquisition and use (including bilingualism and multilingualism) by both children and adults, and by typical and atypical populations. Language and Learning covers both basic and applied research within the aforementioned research areas using a wide variety of research methods – qualitative as well as quantitative. The research at the center draws on theories and methods, and includes different practices from a range of different perspectives, such as: linguistics (including psycholinguistics, sociolinguistics), medicine, psychology, sociology, pedagogy, and teaching and education research.
We focus on the following topics:
- Language development and factors which have an impact on language development in different populations (e.g., mono-, bi- and multilingual children, foreign language learners, and hearing impaired children)
- Atypical language development, including language impairment in mono-, bi- and multilingual children and in hearing impaired children (e.g. phonological, grammatical, pragmatic)
- Identification of language impaired children
- Intervention for language impaired children
- Audiological practice
- Logopedics/speech and language therapy practice
- Language pedagogical practice
- Parental guidance and collaboration
- Language and communication with and among children