Elisabet Garcia Gonzalez
Academic interests
My interests lay within the cognitive science of bilingualism. In particular, I’m interested in the cognitive processes involved in the use of two or more languages, and the overall development of language and cognition.
My PhD project deals with one of the hottest topics in bilingualism: the relationship between bilingualism and Executive Function. While a lot of research has found that bilingualism generally improves EF, these findings are increasingly controversial. I approach this question differently: could individual differences in EF affect the acquisition and development of bilingualism in young children? I tackle this question by looking at how code-switching in children is influenced by both individual and environment factors. My goal is to better understand this relationship and hopefully make an impact in the lives of multilingual speakers, their families and educators.
More broadly, my project tackles various factors that influence language and cognitive development in young children and adolescents. In the midst of the global Covid-19 pandemic, we investigated how social distancing measures and homeschooling had affected the use of minority languages in Norway. Among other findings, we observed that parents' linguistic practices and views on multilingualism had an effect in children's use of their home languages during the lockdown.
Currently, I'm working together with Alicia Luque and Jason Rothman at UiT to investigate neurocognitive processes and linguistic variation in heritage speakers of Spanish in Norway.
I am a member of the forum for clinical linguistics and language acquisition, which I coordinated from Oct 2019 to June 2021.
Background
I earned my BA’s degree on Spanish Language and Literature (2014) by the Autonomous University of Madrid. Later I obtained a MA in General Linguistics (2015) and a research MA in Linguistics (2017) with a focus on language acquisition, both at the University of Amsterdam. I have worked as a teacher of Spanish as a second language and assisted in various projects related to bilingualism.
I am also an avid reader and enjoy wirting from time to time (see links below if interested). My topics of interest are usually related to language and society or life in a foreign country. I have a great interest in history and the diaspora of communities. I enjoy my free time connecting to diverse groups of people through literature, language and culture. When I'm not working on my research, you can find me on a café reading a book, and probably starting a conversation with a stranger about some random thing.
I manage a book club for international women in Oslo, I am a member of the Society for Spanish researchers in Norway (Spanske Forskere i Norge) and also one of the cofounders of the Asociation for Spanish speakers in Oslo (Asociación de Hispanohablantes en Oslo). I was deputy representative for fixed-term academic staff at the University Board for the period 1 August, 2020, to 31 July, 2021; I am the current representative for the period 1 August, 2021, to 31 July, 2022