Elisabet Garcia Gonzalez

Stipendiat - Center for Multilingualism in Society across the Lifespan

Norwegian version of this page

Email e.g.gonzalez@iln.uio.no

Phone +47 22854043

Room 433

Username

Visiting address Niels Henrik Abels vei 36 Henrik Wergelands hus 0313 Oslo

Postal address Postboks 1102 Blindern 0316 Oslo

Other affiliations Faculty of Humanities (Student)

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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 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. I am a member of the Society for Spanish researchers in Norway (Spanske Forskere i Norge), with whom I collaborate on science dissemination activities. Lastly, I manage a book club for international women in Oslo.

Tags: Code-switching, Multilingualism, Psycholinguistics, Multilingual competence, Bilingualism and cognition, Executive functions, Neurolinguistics

van Osch, Brechje; Gonzalez, Elisabet Garcia; Hulk, Aafke; Sleeman, Petra & Aalberse, Suzanne (2019). The Development of Subject Position in Dutch-Dominant Heritage Speakers of Spanish: From Age 9 to Adulthood. Languages. ISSN 2226-471X. doi: 10.3390/languages3030025.

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García González, Elisabet ; Liu, Liquan & Lanza, Elizabeth (2021). Multilingual Families during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Parental beliefs, practices and opportunities for increased minority language use.
García González, Elisabet (2021). Homecoming: Multilingualism as a source of family wellbeing amidst the global pandemic .
García González, Elisabet & Lanza, Elizabeth (2021). Languages in Lockdown. Show summary
Over the last year, measures to contain the COVID-19 pandemic have affected our lives in unprecedented ways. One notable change has been the amount of time children have spent at home during repeated lockdowns and school closures. In families where more than one language is spoken, this new situation had the potential to change patterns of language use. In the spring and summer of 2020, a team of researchers in the UK and one in Norway came together to get a snapshot of language use in multilingual families during the first lockdown through a survey. In this webinar researchers from the Centre for Literacy and Multilingualism (UK), UCL (UK), and MultiLing (Norway) will share some of the insights from this work, and they will be joined on the panel by parents who took part in the research. We welcome audience participation, and there will be ample opportunity to engage with questions from participants.
García González, Elisabet (2020). The Cognition behind Language Switching. ¿Qué pasa en nuestra mente?
García González, Elisabet (2020). Punto de enlace - Elisabet García, investigadora en noruega del multilingüismo -. [Radio]. RTVE - Radio Exterior - Punto de enlace.
García González, Elisabet (2020). Growing up Multilingual: The Advantages of Language Switching.
García González, Elisabet (2020). Found in translation: Towards a multilingual world.
Lanza, Elizabeth; Hardach, Sophie & García González, Elisabet (2020). In Quarantine, Kids Pick Up Parents’ Mother Tongues. [Internet]. The New York Times.

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Published Sep. 2, 2019 9:50 AM - Last modified Dec. 29, 2021 9:59 AM

Projects

Research groups

Clinical Linguistics and Language Acquisition