Online Dating Favors Bilinguals
Poll reveals 66% of US singles would “swipe right” on someone who claims to be multilingual, but nearly half of users admit to lying about fluency
Being bilingual can make you more attractive to others...
Genes and Languages Don’t Always Sync
An interdisciplinary team from the University of Zurich and the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig (Germany) has been investigating if language and genes evolved in tandem over the last few thousand...
Brain Acts the Same Whatever the Language
Over decades, neuroscientists have created a well-defined map of the brain’s “language network,” or the regions of the brain that are specialized for processing language. Found primarily in the left hemisphere, this network includes...
Researchers Tackle Universal Grammar
In their new book The Language Game, cognitive scientists Morten H. Christiansen and Nick Chater set out to identify the origins of human language—and the pair’s findings deviate from the traditionally accepted schools of...
Potential Genetic Factor in Specific Language Impairment
A team of researchers at the University of Kansas has identified a possible genetic factor underlying specific language impairment (SLI), a communication disorder whose cause has long stumped researchers. SLI typically entails delayed language...
English Learners Slide More During Summer
For many students—particularly those that are historically underserved—the summer break from learning perpetuates inequitable achievement gaps, according to an overview of current research studies...
Naps May Boost Early Literacy
The ability to map letters to sounds is considered an important indicator of early literacy skills. Previous research shows that letter sound mappings in kindergarten is...
New National Effort to Address Effective Literacy for Multilingual Learners
Researchers, educators, teachers, administrators, school board members, and advocates with expertise in literacy and the education of English learner/emergent bilingual students have come together to form the National Committee for Effective Literacy (NCEL), with...
Increasing Space Between Letters Could Help Dyslexic Readers
A study recently published in Research in Developmental Disabilities has shown that dyslexic children may be able to improve their reading speed with increased spacing in between the letters printed on the page.
The...
Bilingual Ed Boosts English Writing
A first-of-its-kind study from the University of Kansas (KU), examining three key cognitive functions and their role in learning to write, suggests that insufficient focus on bilingual education has hindered the progress of Hispanic...