Professor Patrick Rebuschat

Professor of Linguistics and Cognitive Science

Profile

Olá! Hallo! I am Professor of Linguistics and Cognitive Science and the Camões Institute Chair for Multilingualism and Diversity at Lancaster University.

My research examines the cognitive mechanisms that underpin language learning and processing. I investigate how learners acquire vocabulary, grammar, and speech sounds in additional languages, with particular emphasis on implicit and statistical learning, cross-situational learning, and the relationship between implicit and explicit knowledge.

A central strand of my work concerns the factors that shape language learning. These include individual differences—such as memory, auditory and phonological abilities, and musical aptitude—as well as age, language experience, instruction, and properties of linguistic input, including frequency, variability, and salience. My research also addresses bilingual language processing and heritage-language development. I use experimental methods alongside computational and corpus-based approaches where appropriate.

At Lancaster, I have co-directed the Lancaster Language Learning Lab (4L) since 2021 and have co-directed the Multilingualism and Cognition Research Group since 2024. Earlier leadership roles include Coordinator of the Second Language Learning and Teaching (SLLAT) Research Group (2014–2024); Co-Director of the NOVA Lancaster Partnership (2018–2022); and Director of the Heritage Language 2 Consortium (HL2C) (2018–2020), a strategic partnership between the Camões Institute and six European universities dedicated to research, teaching, and outreach on Portuguese as a heritage and additional language.

I am equally committed to ensuring that research informs public discussion, policy, and practice. For more than a decade, I have led impact, engagement, and knowledge-exchange activity with policy makers, educators, schools, parents, and multilingual communities. This work brings research on multilingualism and language learning into dialogue with those who shape and experience language education through public lectures, workshops, round tables, outreach programs, and partnerships. It also creates opportunities for community and practitioner perspectives to inform research questions and their real-world application.

My wider leadership and service include Director of Internationalization in Lancaster University’s Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (2018–2023); Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Portuguese Association of Researchers and Students in the UK (PARSUK) (2019–2023), supporting scientific diplomacy and collaboration between Portuguese researchers in the UK and institutions in Portugal; and Advisory Board Member of Native Scientist since 2019.

I received my PhD from the University of Cambridge and my BA from the University of Lisbon. Before joining Lancaster, I taught at Georgetown University, Harvard University, the University of California, Santa Barbara, and the University of Göttingen, and was a Visiting Researcher at the University of Auckland. From 2018 to 2021, I was Distinguished International Professor at the LEAD Graduate School at the University of Tübingen.

Selected Publications

Learning vocabulary and grammar from cross-situational statistics
Rebuschat, P., Monaghan, P., Schoetensack, C. 1/01/2021 In: Cognition. 206, 10 p.
Journal article

Implicit learning and language acquisition: Three approaches, one phenomenon
Rebuschat, P. 1/08/2022 In: The cognitive unconscious. Oxford : Oxford University Press ISBN: 9780197501573. Electronic ISBN: 9780197650332.
Chapter

Implicit learning and SLA: A cognitive psychology perspective
Williams, J., Rebuschat, P. 21/12/2022 In: The Routledge Handbook of Second Language Acquisition and Psycholinguistics. London : Routledge ISBN: 9780367893767. Electronic ISBN: 9781003018872.
Chapter

The role of feedback and instruction on the cross-situational learning of vocabulary and morphosyntax: Mixed effects models reveal local and global effects on acquisition
Monaghan, P., Ruiz, S., Rebuschat, P. 30/03/2021 In: Second Language Research. 37, 2, p. 261-289. 29 p.
Journal article

Distinctions in the acquisition of vocabulary and grammar: An individual differences approach
Walker, N., Monaghan, P., Schoetensack, C., Rebuschat, P. 15/06/2020 In: Language Learning. 70, S2, p. 221-254. 34 p.
Journal article

Measuring implicit and explicit knowledge in second language research
Rebuschat, P. 09/2013 In: Language Learning. 63, 3, p. 595–626. 32 p.
Journal article

Implicit and explicit knowledge in second language acquisition
Rebuschat, P., Williams, J.N. 10/2012 In: Applied Psycholinguistics. 33, 4, p. 829-856. 28 p.
Journal article