Around the world in 50 years: Pragmatics and language structure in typical and atypical language development

Wednesday 12 February 2025, 1:00pm to 2:00pm

Venue

B89 County South

Open to

Postgraduates, Staff, Undergraduates

Registration

Registration not required - just turn up

Event Details

In the Linguistics Department’s 50th anniversary year, we are very pleased to welcome one of our first alumni! Dr Susan Foster-Cohen will talk about her life in child language acquisition research, what you can do with a degree in Linguistics, and what a career in research and academia might look like.

Around the world in 50 years: Pragmatics and language structure in typical and atypical language development

Dr. Susan Foster-Cohen

Lecturer in Speech and Language Therapy, University of Manchester, UK

Adjunct Associate Professor in Linguistics, University of Canterbury, NZ

Research Associate, New Zealand Institute of Language, Brain & Behaviour

Dr. Susan Foster-Cohen was one of the first graduates in Linguistics from Lancaster University in 1975. Following her B.A. (Hons) she went on to gain a Lancaster PhD in Linguistics and Psychology before heading overseas to teach, research, and administer academic programmes in the USA, France and New Zealand. In this talk she will outline a series of research studies on the relationships between language use and language structure in child language development, both typical and atypical, that reflect a trajectory from her earliest experiences at Lancaster. These studies have used both qualitative and quantitative methods; represent both theoretical and applied perspectives; and have involved children with their parents and, most recently, children with their peers. She will also suggest that finding a career path with a degree in linguistics calls for flexibility, creativity and an ability to use the transferable analytical and interpersonal skills that a degree in linguistics provides.

Contact Details

Name Karin Tusting
Email

k.tusting@lancaster.ac.uk