Assistant Professor
Director, Center for Second Language Research
I am in the Department of Second Language Studies
at the University of Hawaii, and affilated faculty in the Linguistics Department.
My research program aims to unveil basic mechanisms of human learning. This knowledge can become instrumental in informing practices for better learning and teaching languages.
Research in my lab combines methods of behavioral experimentation, computational analyses of large corpora of language, computer modeling, and a wee bit of brain methods (electrophysiology, functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging - with collaborators). Research projects focus on similarities and differences between child and adult language learning.
I currently serve as Director of the Center for Second Language Research (CSLR). Students interested in ongoing or prospective projects can contact me directly. I teach these courses .
Check out this project that tracks the development of bilingualism in infants as young as 6 months!
With Michael Spivey we have edited a special issue on Cognition and Communication in the open access journal Information:
Onnis, L. & Spivey, M.J. (2012) (Eds.) Cognition and Communication, Special Issue of Information.
