Good afternoon all,

Next Friday, October 28th McGill's own Dr. Fred Genesee will be delivering the Homecoming Hebb Lecture at 3:30pm in the McIntyre Medical Building, Rm. 522.

Dr. Genesee is a Professor Emeritus in the Department of Psychology. He specializes in second-language acquisition and bilingualism; in particular, his research examines the early stages of the acquisition of two languages in order to better understand this form of language acquisition and ascertain the neurocognitive limits of a child's ability to acquire language. He has carried out extensive research on alternative approaches to bilingual education, including second/foreign language immersion programs for language majority students and alternative forms of bilingual education for language minority students. In addition to his excellence in research, Dr. Genesee has also served as a consultant to parent, educational, and policy groups on issues related to second language learning in school-age children, bilingual education, and dual language learning during the preschool years, in a number of countries around the world.

We are fortunate and proud to have Dr. Genesee delivering the Homecoming Hebb Lecture next Friday. We look forward to seeing you all at his talk and for the Wine & Cheese Reception following the lecture (8th floor, Stewart Biology Building).

About: https://www.mcgill.ca/psychology/fred-h-genesee https://psychology.stanford.edu/igotlib

Title: Early experience and language development: Lessons from studies of internationally-adopted children

Abstract: The language development of internationally-adopted children is of theoretical interest because they are unique language learners. Like typical L2 learners, they have delayed exposure to their adopted language. In contrast to typical L2 learners who continue to learn and use their birth language, IA children cease exposure to the birth language upon adoption. These early language experiences raise a number of important issues about the importance of early language experiences. Do these children really lose their birth language? Does early delay in exposure to the adopted language affect competence in the adopted language? Is the pattern of acquisition of the birth language like that of first language learners, second language learners, or a hybrid pattern. If their language development deviates from native speakers, how can we explain this? This presentation will review behavioral and neuro-imaging results from a longitudinal study of the language development of internationally-adopted children from China. These results provide unique insights into the linguistic and neuro-cognitive consequences of early language learning experiences and can inform our thinking about language learning in general.

Please feel free to circulate this announcement widely, and apologies for any cross-posting!

Kind regards,

Kayleigh

Student Chair

Hebb Lecture Series Committee