Lab Director
Dr. Jennifer Zapf - For some time now I have been conducting research on how children
learn
the
meaning of words. I began studying young children's language
acquisition
in
1998 as an undergraduate student at the University of
Illinois and continued this
line of research as a graduate student at
Indiana University. Now, as an
Assistant Professor at UWGB, I am
opening the doors of the first language lab
on campus to investigate
questions surrounding young children's
language learning.
Whenever I think about children's language abilities, I am amazed! At
birth,
babies neither understand nor produce language, but yet within
three years they
are nearly proficient in their native language! How does
this happen? The goal
of my research is to understand how language
knowledge in the child is
created through their experiences with that language and with the world.
I sincerely
hope you and your child will be interested in participating in studies at the Language Learning Lab. We would
be unable to make progress in the understanding of how children develop and learn without the help of
parents like you!
Research Assistants
Each semester, three to five undergraduates serve as research assistants in the lab. These students are selected based on their dedication to academics and desire to work with children in a lab setting. This semester's research assistants include:
Summer 2008 RA's:
Robyn Gabel - graduated from UWGB in May 2008 with a B.S. in Psychology
Kacy Urban - Psychology major
