‘How can learning a language be made effortless?’
This ‘moonshot’ question was the focus of this year’s Language Sciences Annual Symposium which took place on 21 November at Cripps Court, Magdalene College.
The moonshots are ambitious questions of societal importance developed as part of Cambridge Language Sciences’ strategy to address large-scale challenges relating to language research.
The symposium, now in its tenth year, is an annual meeting of minds, bringing together language scientists of all disciplines from the University of Cambridge for talks, poster presentations and informal networking.
Research dialogues
The research dialogue format adopted at the Symposium pairs researchers from different disciplines to share their ideas and discuss topics of mutual interest.
Research Dialogue 1: Differences Between Child and Adult Language Learning
Chaired by Jenny Gibson (Faculty of Education)
Dr Emma James (Dept. of Psychology, University of York) opened with Slow and steady wins the race? Consolidating new vocabulary in childhood and adulthood, in which she compared the underlying neural processes for vocabulary acquisition and consolidation in both childhood and adulthood, including the role of sleep-associated mechanisms.
Professor Henriëtte Hendriks (Dept. of Theoretical and Applied Linguistics, University of Cambridge) followed with a presentation on Discourse-pragmatic principles and their acquisition in childhood and adulthood, considering the different developmental routes for L1 and L2 acquisition and what the implications of them might be for language learning in adulthood.
Research Dialogue 2: Positive Learner Emotions, Motivation, and Reward in Language Learning
Chaired by Mirjana Bozic (Dept. of Psychology, University of Cambridge)
Professor Jean-Marc Dewaele, Emeritus Professor in Applied Linguistics & Multilingualism (Birkbeck, University of London) gave the first presentation, How learners’ positive emotions and motivation can make the effort in foreign language learning worthwhile, making the case for how Foreign Language Enjoyment, Peace of Mind, and other positive emotions, are factors which contribute to successful language learning.
Dr Saloni Krishnan, Associate Professor in Developmental Language Sciences (UCL Language and Cognition) gave the final presentation, Can reward drive language learning?, in which she explored both intrinsic and extrinsic reward mechanisms and considered how these might be harnessed to enhance learning (for example, through gamification).
Poster presentations
The poster slam is a highlight of the event and a chance for presenters to pitch their research on any topic within language sciences. Presenters have one slide and one minute to give an overview their research and encourage delegates to visit their poster.
The posters are available to view on Cambridge Open Engage and a full list of poster presenters is available on the Language Sciences Annual Symposium 2024 event page.
We are very grateful to the poster session organisers Sammy Weiss-Cowie, Mila Marcheva and Shanshan Hu and would like to thank all the researchers who gave their time to review the posters.
We would also like to thank Cambridge University Press and Assessment for sponsoring the evening drinks reception. This was a great opportunity for networking and to view the posters again at the end of a packed afternoon.
View recordings
Previous events
Films of most of these talks are available on Cambridge Open Engage or via the Video and Audio link on the Cambridge Language Sciences homepage.
2023: Language and Mental Wellbeing
‘Language in its own right: boundaries with thought and communication’, Prof. Ianthi Tsimpli, Department of Theoretical and Applied Linguistics, University of Cambridge.
‘Language and thought: residual thought in global aphasia’, Prof. Rosemary Varley, Department of Language and Communication, University College London (UCL)
‘Conversations with robots and AIs - Can foundation models support human wellbeing?’, Prof. Oliver Lemon, Department of Computer Science, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh.
‘Taking affective robots into the real world: challenges and opportunities’, Micol Spitale, Department of Computer Science & Technology, University of Cambridge.
2022: What does language diversity mean for the past, present and future of humankind?
‘'Aloof's Ramp', 'Jardin de Glynn': Gibraltar's street names and an eighteenth-century Western Mediterranean spatial practice’, Prof. Laura Wright (Faculty of English) & Dr Daniel Weston (University of Hong Kong)
‘Defining boundaries and creating commonalities: the case of Jewish Arabic’, Dr Esther-Miriam Wagner (The Woolf Institute)
‘Could a parrot build a spaceship? Evolutionary constraints on the language of a space-faring species’, Dr Arik Kershenbaum (Dept. of Zoology)
‘Life and Language Beyond Earth: Could we communicate with exobeings?’, Prof. Raymond Hickey (University of Limerick)
The Symposium posters and recordings of presentations are available on Cambridge Open Engage: Cambridge Language Sciences Symposium 2022.
‘Documenting the endangered Neo-Aramaic dialects of Iraq and Iran’, Geoffrey Khan, Faculty of Asian & Middle Eastern Studies, University of Cambridge
'Language under the shadow of another language: implications and revitalisation strategies for Runyakitara and So languages', Fridah Katushemererwe (Makerere University, Uganda)
'Dyslexia as a Window into Language', Maria Teresa Guasti Università di Milano-Bicocca
'Beyond the label: A transdiagnostic approach to understanding cognitive difficulties in childhood', Duncan Astle, Programme Leader at MRC Cognition & Brain Sciences Unit and leader of the 4D Research Group
'Re-understanding speech understanding: Closing the cohort loop', William D Marslen-Wilson, Centre for Speech, Language, and the Brain, Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge
2020: What Next? Future Directions in Language Research
‘Cognitive and computational building blocks for more human-like language in machines’, Prof. Josh Tenenbaum, Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
‘Social Signalling and Social Change: Inclusive Writing in French’, Dr Heather Burnett, Laboratoire de Linguistique Formelle, CNRS and Université de Paris
‘Tudor Networks of Power’, Dr Sebastian Ahnert, Deptartment of Chemical Engineering & Biotechnology, University of Cambridge & Alan Turing Institute
‘Native language identification from L2 Speech Using Neural Spectrogram Analysis’, Dr Calbert Graham, Phonetics Laboratory, University of Cambridge
2019: Perspectives on Language Change
‘Change and stability in the native language of migrants’, Prof. Monika S. Schmid, Dept. of Language & Linguistics, University of Essex
‘Darling, dukeling, duckling: how historical corpora can verify predicted pathways of language change’, Dr Marieke Meelen, Dept. of Theoretical & Applied Linguistics, University of Cambridge
‘Language change as a (random?) walk in entropy space’, Dr Christian Bentz, Dept. of General Linguistics, University of Tübingen
‘The acquisition and evolution of linguistic variation’, Prof. Kenny Smith, Centre for Language Evolution, University of Edinburgh
2018: Language Sciences and Health
‘Language acquisition, neural entrainment, phonology and dyslexia’, Prof. Usha Goswami, Professor of Cognitive Developmental Neuroscience, Centre for Neuroscience and Education, University of Cambridge
‘Health crises, digital media and community voices: utilising interactive radio for rapid social research to improve outbreak preparedness and response’, Dr Claudia Abreu Lopes, Senior Advisor - Research & Innovation, Africa's Voices Foundation
‘Using NLP and heterogenous user generated content to sense mental well-being’, Dr Maria Liakata (Dept. of Computer Science, University of Warwick)
‘The effect of early language and communication environment on social outcomes for primary school aged children with language difficulties’, Dr Jenny Gibson, Faculty of Education
‘Stability and change in child language’, Prof. Courtenay Norbury, Professor of Developmental Language & Communication Disorders, Literacy Language and Communication Lab, UCL
2017: Language Sciences and Tech Innovation
‘The Use of Deep Learning in Spoken Dialogue Systems’, Professor Steve Young, Dept. of Engineering/ Siri Development Team
‘Individualised Language in the Big Data Era’, Dr Paula Buttery, Dept. of Computer Science & Technology
‘Using Social Media to Investigate Linguistic Variation and Change’, Dr David Willis, Theoretical & Applied Linguistics
‘Linguistic Yardsticks: Evaluating Language Technology Using Insightsfrom Linguistic Theory’, Dr Laura Rimell, DeepMind
‘Powered by Cambridge: Devices, Data and InterDisciplinarity’, Saul Nassé, CEO Cambridge Assessment, English
2016: Exploring the Borders of Language and Science
‘Language dynamics: a neurocognitive approach to incremental interpretation’, Professor Lorraine Tyler, Dept. of Psychology
‘Natural Language Processing and online health reports (or OMG U got flu?)’, Dr Nigel Collier & Dr Anna Korhonen, Dept. of Theoretical & Applied Linguistics
‘Does natural language understanding have anything to do with understanding natural language?’ Professor Ann Copestake, Computer Laboratory (Chair: Professor Ted Briscoe, Computer Laboratory)
‘A molecular genetic perspective on speech and language’, Professor Simon Fisher, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen