Excellence in graduate education and research in the cognitive and neural underpinnings of (typical and atypical) language development

Formålet med prosjektet, og i tråd med INTPART programmet, har vært å utvikle samarbeid gjennom gode koblinger mellom høyere utdanning og forskning. Vårt hovedmål har vært å styrke master- og phd-utdanningen på området avansert forskning om språkutvikling gjennom aktiv student deltakelse i PI-ledet forksningsprosjekter og intensiv kursing. Samarbeid under prosjektet har ført til nye tilnærminger til språktilegnelsesforskning og økt interesse blant humaniora/språk-studentene i relevant empirisk og eksperimentel forskning, og har bidratt til å bygge opp deres forskningsferdigheter, forsknings tankegang og til økt "exchange of ideas" mellom 2 studentkulturer - norske studenter på HF/NTNU og amerikanske studenter ved University of Connecticut.

This partnership has enabled the growth of long-term collaboration within the fields of language development and computational modelling between two leading academic institutions in Norway (NTNU) and the United States (UConn). Focusing this collaboration on modelling the developmental trajectories of typical and atypical language learning has maximized the points of contact between NTNU and UConn, thus building on existing centers of excellence at both institutions. In education, this collaboration has provided critical development opportunities for graduate students at both NTNU and UConn, enabling them to participate in multidisciplinary teams and prepping them for future positions in high-level research institutions. The EDULANG training programme has recruited over 30 junior researchers (graduate/doctoral students/postdocs) and has provided them with excellent educational and dissemination opportunities. In research, this collaboration has led to novel research projects between NTNU and UConn, among which collaboration with UConn graduates and senior faculty in a newly awarded ERC Synergy grant. The project has fully addressed the objectives and met the expectations of the INTPART program.

EDULANG takes a radical interdisciplinary approach to language learning research strategies by combining psychological and linguistic theory with advanced computational methods. In particular, EDULANG focuses on (1) investigating the trajectories and mechanisms involved in language development across typical and atypical learners, (2) developing novel computational and statistical methods for analyzing developmental language data, (3) offering early-stage graduate students high-level training in advanced computational modelling, statistical techniques, and psycholinguistic theory, and (4) fostering cross-talk between related disciplines with a focus on human development and cognition. We build on and strengthen relationships between leading research groups in Norway (LALP Lab at NTNU) and the United States (University of Connecticut) in the fields of psycholinguistics, neuroscience of language, and computational modeling, focusing on language development trajectories in typical and atypical language learners.