We are delighted to announce the following keynote speakers for ISBPAC 2026.
ISBPAC 2026 Keynote Speakers
Kate Messenger, Lancaster University.
What Syntactic Priming Can Reveal About L2 Learners – and What L2 Learners Can Reveal About Syntactic Priming
Twenty years of syntactic priming research in L2 learners have revealed much about L2 speakers’ representational knowledge of syntax and what may be acquired when and how. But the mechanisms by which such priming occurs, both in general and within L2 speakers specifically, remain the subject of debate. Of particular relevance to L2 learning, most accounts propose that syntactic priming effects reflect implicit learning mechanisms such that syntactic priming effects in learners are indicative of both their representational knowledge of the L2 and their learning processes. As such, it is important to better understand the contexts, learner-, linguistic- and task-related, in which priming occurs. In this talk I will consider what syntactic priming can tell us about L2 learning. Moreover, I will consider what studies of priming effects in L2 learners can tell us about the mechanisms on which priming is based; do priming effects vary across populations of speakers in ways that reflect different predicted mechanisms and processes? I will review our recent studies that investigate whether, and in what contexts, immediate priming effects occur and result in long-term priming in L2 learners and whether the patterns of effects are consistent with the predictions of different mechanistic accounts of priming.
Elma Blom, Utrecht University.
Language Mixing and Developmental Language Disorder: Effects and Patterns
Children with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) encounter distinct challenges in both processing and producing language, particularly in multilingual settings. Among the most debated aspects of multilingualism is language mixing, which is a phenomenon that frequently raises concerns. Some fear that exposure to mixed language input may hinder children’s language development, while others interpret mixed language output as a sign of underlying language difficulties. In this keynote, I will present research on the intersection of DLD and multilingualism, focusing specifically on language mixing: a natural yet often misunderstood feature of multilingual communication.
The talk opens with a brief overview of current research on the intersection of DLD and multilingualism. From there, it narrows to language mixing, starting with key insights from studies of typically developing (TD) children before turning to recent findings on DLD. Two central questions guide my presentation: first, how does mixed language input influence children’s language outcomes? And second, what individual differences account for the variation observed in children’s mixed language production?
Individual studies suggest that processing mixed language input may be more cognitively demanding than processing single-language input potentially leading to comprehension challenges and lower language outcomes. In this presentation, I will summarize key findings from studies examining the relationship between parental language mixing and child language development. I will compare child language outcomes for the societal versus home language and contrast results between TD children and those with DLD.
Research on mixed language production indicates that while all children engage in language mixing, there is substantial individual variation in both the frequency and types of mixing observed. In this talk, I adopt a multi-factorial framework to examine how social, linguistic, and cognitive factors, and their interactions, shape patterns of language mixing. After reviewing insights from TD, I will turn to children with DLD, exploring whether and how linguistic and cognitive challenges may give rise to distinct or more pronounced patterns of language mixing.
Throughout this talk, I examine the strengths and limitations of studying language mixing in controlled experimental settings relative to more naturalistic contexts, and highlight open questions and promising directions for future research.
Edith Kaan, University of Florida and Souad Kheder, University of Algiers 2.
Code-Switching and Cognitive Control
Code-switching, that is, the alternation between different languages in a single conversation or utterance, provides a unique window into how the mind controls two or more languages. Code-switching is not just a social or communicative tool, but also a cognitive exercise that may engage and affect general cognitive functions such as attention and inhibition.
In this talk, we will discuss some hypothesized connections between code-switching and domain-general cognitive control. This connection has been investigated through conflict adaptation paradigms, in which sentences are mixed with non-linguistic cognitive control trials (Flanker trials). The assumption is that processing a code-switch intensifies cognitive control, which then impacts the processing of a following non-linguistic task. Cognitive control is thus viewed as a dynamic state that fluctuates according to immediate demands. Results from prior studies using this method suggest that bilinguals dynamically adjust their cognitive control depending on the language context and that cognitive control is enhanced while reading sentences that start in one language and end in another (e.g., Adler et al. 2020).
In this talk, we will present data from behavioral and EEG studies on conflict adaptation, testing various types of code-switches in various modalities. We will scrutinize the use of cross-task adaptation paradigms, and highlight the role of bilingual language experience and the function of code-switching in shaping and recruiting control processes.
Denis Drieghe, University of Southampton.
Reading in Different Languages: An Analysis of Eye Movement Corpora
In this keynote talk, I will introduce the research field of eye movements during reading before focusing on two large projects of cross-linguistic research, including reading in English as a second language.
Eye movement research has played a crucial role in advancing our understanding of reading, but much of the research has focused on reading in a participant’s native language, even though 65% of adults in the European Union speak more than one language. Studying bilingual and multilingual reading is essential to understanding how language processing during reading transfers across languages and how linguistic background influences cognitive processing. In this talk, I will present findings from two large-scale cross-linguistic eye-tracking projects:
The Ghent Eye Movement Corpus (GECO; Cop et al., 2015) examined eye movements of unbalanced bilinguals who read half a novel in their first language (L1, Dutch) and the other half in their second language (L2, English). The study also included a control group of monolingual English readers. Beyond comparing reading behaviour in L1 versus L2, GECO also allowed us to explore whether reading patterns differed between monolinguals and bilinguals reading in their first language, addressing theoretical claims that proficiency in the first language may be lower when additional languages are known. The findings provided valuable insights into how linguistic experience and exposure shape reading patterns.
The Multilingual Eye Movement Corpus (MECO; Siegelman et al., 2022) is a large-scale initiative that builds upon earlier work, like GECO, to investigate reading behaviour across multiple languages. MECO collects data from unbalanced bilinguals reading in their native language (L1) and in English as a second language (L2), covering a wide range of typologically diverse languages. By analysing fixation durations, saccade lengths, and word-skipping rates, MECO examines how reading strategies transfer between languages and how L2 proficiency affects reading efficiency. One key finding from MECO is the role of individual differences in reading behaviour. In one of our studies, we showed for instance that word skipping behaviour in L2 is strongly predicted by skipping tendencies in L1, even when controlling for L2 proficiency. This suggests that skipping behaviour is a relatively stable individual characteristic, independent of language ability.
The research from GECO and MECO enhances our understanding of universal versus language-specific reading processes.