Research Laboratories
Language Acquisition & Linguistics Research (LALR) Lab
Location: Psychology 201 E
People:
- Co-Director: Dr. Natalia Mazzaro nmazzaro@utep.edu, 747-7040, Graham Hall 304
- Co-Director: Dr. Carla Contemori, ccontemori@utep.edu, 747-5934, Graham Hall 106
The UTEP Language Acquisition and Language Research (LALR) laboratory is a departmental resource forinvestigation of topics in a variety of subfields of linguistics: first, second and multilingual language acquisition,language variation, corpus linguistics, bilingual language use, and experimental work related to issues in theoreticallinguistics. The Lab contains computer and other equipment such as audio/video recording, experimental software,copying/printing, as well as meeting and work space. The Lab also contains archives of research materials. The Lab objectives are to facilitate and support significant research and to train students in the practice of research.
Many projects are directed by a faculty member and include teams of graduate and undergraduate students. Studentshave opportunities to participate in research in the lab from beginning to end, including project creation (finding aproblem, thinking about the relevant questions, hypothesis creation, development of testing materials), testing(recording and interviewing children and adults using different methodologies) and analysis (transcribing and analyzing the data, writing results and project papers). They are also encouraged to create and develop their own research and thesis projects with the help of lab directors and associated faculty. All faculty and students who use the Lab receive human subjects training and certification.
Bilingual Speech Lab
Location: Prospect 124
People:
- Director: Dr. Annie Tremblay, actremblay@utep.edu, 747-6803, Graham Hall 203
- Affiliate: Dr. Caitlin Coughlin, cecoughlin@utep.edu, 747-7028, Graham Hall 308
In the Bilingual Speech Lab, we use a wide range of methodologies to investigate how adult bilinguals process and produce phonetic, phonological, and morphological aspects of their two languages. The lab has two eye tracking stations, a soundproof recording station, and eight regular computer stations that can be used to test research participants’ processing and/or production of language. Through student-led and faculty-led projects, student researchers receive training in how to create an experimental study on bilingualism—from its inception (e.g., research questions, hypotheses, predictions, experimental design) to its completion (e.g., experiment creation and administration, data analysis) and dissemination (e.g., conference presentation, manuscript submission).