CI hold the 11th Lunchtime Forum

The Confucius Institute (CI) at the University of Southampton held its 11th lunchtime webinar on 26th April 2023. Professor Roumyana Slabakova, the Head of Research in the Modern Languages and Linguistics department, gave a presentation titled ‘Why Do We Need a Native Speaker Control Group in Second Language Acquisition Studies?’

Against the backdrop of the current debate on native speaker (NS) judgments and their role in second language acquisition (SLA) studies, Professor Roumyana Slabakova presented an experimental study on L2 Mandarin. The study demonstrated that testing a significant number of NSs was crucial to validating true native interpretations, focused on the interpretation of null elements and overt pronouns in Mandarin resultative constructions. Professor Roumyana Slabakova also described the learner results, which closely mirrored those of the control group.

During the presentation, the audience inquired about the sample features in the study and future research directions. Professor Roumyana Slabakova patiently answered each question. At the end of the webinar, Professor Roumyana Slabakova expressed her gratitude to other research members who contributed to the study.