Bilingual sentence processing
We study how Vietnamese-English bilinguals build syntactic and semantic interpretations in real time, and how second-language experience shapes comprehension.
Our Research
Research themes
Syntactic dependencies and locality
Our work examines long-distance dependencies, syntactic islands, relative clauses, resumptive pronouns, and related constraints on sentence comprehension and acceptability.
Working memory and individual differences
We investigate whether differences in working-memory capacity, proficiency, and language experience explain variation in bilingual language processing.
Vietnamese and English relativization
We compare gap and resumptive-pronoun strategies across Vietnamese and English to understand cross-linguistic influence and the representation of grammatical dependencies.
Experimental psycholinguistics and web-based methods
The lab develops reusable online paradigms for judgment, self-paced reading, language production, listening, and working-memory research, with reproducible stimulus and data workflows.
Experimental research platform
SP
Sentence Processing
How readers and listeners build syntactic and semantic structure in real time — studied here via grammaticality judgment and self-paced reading, below.
GJT
Grammaticality / Acceptability Judgment
Participants judge whether a sentence is grammatically acceptable, with reaction time recorded alongside the judgment.
SPR
Self-Paced Reading
Sentences are revealed word-by-word or region-by-region, measuring reading time as a window into real-time comprehension.
CP
Language Production
Participants produce sentences under controlled prompts, capturing spontaneous but constrained language production.
INT
Language Learning & Intervention
Experimental intervention studies examine how structured practice shapes the learning and production of complex English syntax. INT01 compares blocked and interleaved training for nested relative clauses across pre-test, training, immediate post-test and delayed post-test.
WM
Working Memory & Individual Differences
A battery of span and updating tasks (operation span, n-back, reading span, and others) measuring working-memory capacity and its relationship to language processing.
Interested in taking part? See Participate.