Latest news

May 2019

Liverpool Language Lab's Dr Michelle Peter features in BBC Learning's Language and Literacy Campaign
​

BBC Learning has launched a 10 year campaign to halve the

language gap among children aged under 5 across the UK. At the

heart of their plan is encouraging parents to talk to their children from

an early age, and Liverpool Language Lab's Dr Michelle Peter has

been involved!


In a series of short films called, "Babies Discover...", Michelle provides

practical advice and tips about the ways in which you can make

talking to your baby fun!


Take a look at how Peek-a-Boo can help with young babies'

understanding here!

February 2019

Study shows that babies can pick out individual words from speech at only 3 days old!

Learning your native language is a lot more tricky than you may think, and the fact that

children do this with no formal teaching of the rules that make up our language is amazing!
 
One of the many early skills necessary for learning language is the ability to identify

individual words in speech.  This isn't nearly as easy as it sounds because spoken speech

doesn't contain the spaces or pauses present in written speech. In spoken speech, there

aren't many obvious clues about where one word ends and another begins, so babies have

the difficult task of figuring this out.



Fascinatingly, a new study by Liverpool Language Lab's Dr Perrine Brusini and colleagues

has found that, babies have the skills needed to do this from as early as three

days old!


In the study, three-day old babies heard a continuous stream of four nonsense words for

three and a half minutes during which time, a technique called Near-Infrared Spectroscopy,

(in which a red light is shined into the brain), was used to measure which parts of the brain

were active. 

The researchers discovered two mechanisms that babies use to be successful at picking out the individual words: prosody (the

​rhythm of speech) and statistics (the likelihood ​with which sounds in words co-occur). ​



These results show just how receptive newborns are to language - a finding that is important for new parents who may not

be aware of just how amazing babies are!
​

November 2018
​

Liverpool Language Lab to feature in a BBC documentary about children's early development

In a 3-part documentary on BBC 2, called “Babies: Their Wonderful World”,

​researchers from around the world gather to look at the science and psychology

behind children’s development over the first two years of life.


Watch as Liverpool Language Lab's Dr Michelle Peter runs language experiments

(with very cute kids) to unpick what we know about how babies learn the tricky

business of learning language.


The first of the three episodes airs on BBC 2 on Monday 26th November at 9pm -

​make sure to watch if you can! 


​

July 2018

​Off on our travels to fabulous France!

Conference on Learning Language in Humans and in Machines

5th-6th July, Paris

Michelle and Sam presenting work from the Language 0-5 Project

In July, researchers Dr Michelle Peter, Dr Samantha Durrant, and Dr Rebecca Frost headed to

​Paris to show off some of the latest results from the Liverpool Language Lab.


This conference was unlike many others that have been attended by Liverpool Language Lab

members - the focus wasn't only on language learning in humans, but also on how we can

use artificial intelligence (or machine learning) to gain more insight into the cognitive

processes involved in various aspects of language acquisition.



Michelle presented the findings from a task investigating the relationship between the speed

of online processing and later vocabulary - a study that forms part of the longitudinal

Language 0-5 Project (find out more about the project here). If you want to take a look at the

poster that was presented, click here!


There were some really great talks - a highlight was a keynote given by Susan Goldin-

Meadow who spoke about how the gestures developed by congenitally deaf individuals

(who cannot learn the spoken language that surrounds them and who have not been exposed

to sign language) take on many of the forms and functions of languages that have been

​handed down from generation to generation.  

It wasn't all work of course - ​we managed to squeeze in some time to explore the sights that ​Paris had to offer!

Paris in the sunshine!

Great talk by Susan Goldin-Meadow

Rebecca and Sam enjoying Paris after a busy day conferencing!

June 2018

​

Meet the Scientists - Language special event

Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool

Saturday 16th June, 2018

​

​We had a great time at the Walker Art Gallery

chatting to all of you about language development!

You really had some great questions and we were

happy to answer them.


We also really enjoyed playing our language games

with you and your little ones - we hope that we were

able to give you a little insight into what is is that

we do here at the Liverpool Language Lab.

​April 2018

​Meet the Scientists - Language special event

Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool

Saturday 16th June, 2018

Join us on Saturday 16th June for our Meet the Scientists event at the

Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool.
 

This event is a hands-on day for all of the family, and a fantastic

opportunity for you to meet scientists from the Universities of

Liverpool, Manchester, and Lancaster who specialise in child language

research.


There will be lots of language activities suitable for children of all ages--

and plenty to do for adults too!


Come and find out how it is that children learn new words when a new

word could refer to almost anything they can see. Or, why not play 

some mind-reading and perspective-taking games with us? You could even see how we use state of the art eye-

tracking equipment to measure exactly what babies look at and how they use this information to learn language.


We’re also very excited that there will be an area dedicated to the Language 0-5 Project. Not only will you be able to learn

more about the different tasks that the children involved in this 5-year study have taken part in since it began in 2014, but you

can also take a look what we've found out so far!
 

We’d love to see you there, so if you’ve nothing booked in your diary yet, please pay us a visit! 

January 2018

Be a part of one of our many studies!

​Here at the Liverpool Language Lab, we are run lots of different studies that use a range of techniques to learn about how

young children learn to communicate using language. 


We know that keeping young children entertained can be tricky, so we design our studies to be fun and engaging. For

instance, on some occasions, our studies involve children playing a series of games where they point at pictures, name objects

or copy words said by one of our researchers. Other times, children might take part in a study that relies on them looking at

images on a screen whilst we track their eye-movements. 


Right now, we have four different studies taking place in our lab! If you have a child that fits the age of any of

​these studies, and you'd like to be involved, then click one of the buttons below for more information. Or, sign up to our

​database by clicking Take part at the top of this page!
​

​June 2017
​

Pop in to the Story Starter Drop-in Day

Liverpool Central Library, 4th floor

Monday 26th June, 11am - 1pm

​The early stages of a child’s life are an exciting opportunity.

With the right support, a child can reach for the stars. Sadly,

far too many young children are starting primary school

without the basic language and literacy skills to succeed.


Story Starters is a new, exciting charity programme which will

change this and ensure young children have the skills,

support, and confidence to enjoy the perfect first chapter in

​their lives. If you volunteer as a Story Starter, you’ll use

stories, play and conversation to give a child the positive

​support they need to start school ready to read.

How does Story Starters work?

​You’ll support three children aged 3-5 years' old on a one-to-one basis, using play and stories to develop and enrich their use

of language.

You’ll need to commit to volunteering at a local nursery for one hour, twice a week during nursery hours.

You’ll receive professional training and support to ensure that you are best able to support young children and feel

comfortable in a modern nursery setting.


How can I find out more?

Come to the Story Starter Drop-in on Monday 26th June between 11am and 1pm at Liverpool Central Library (4th Floor).

There, you can meet the friendly Story Starters team to discover the difference you can make to a child’s life!


Find out more information by visiting the Story Starters Website or by contacting Alexia on 0845 450 0301.

May 2017
​

Take part in our studies!
​

Are you interested in your child's language development?


Here at the Liverpool Language Lab, we want to find out more about

how children learn to talk. We have lots of interesting projects that you

and your child might be able to help us with.


We run studies with babies, toddlers and pre-schoolers. Some studies

take place at the University of Liverpool and some you can do at home.

Others might be in your child's school or at your local children's centre.


If you're interested in taking part, then click here. We'll contact you

when we have a suitable study for you and your child. You can decide

​at the time whether or not you'd like to take part.



​
 

May 2017

Become a Story Starter
​

Our partners Beanstalk had a great day at Liverpool Central

Library on 16th May telling people how they could help nursery

children become ready to read by volunteering as a Story

Starter.


If you weren't able to come along, but would like to find out

more about how to get involved, call them on 0845 450

0301, email storystarters@beanstalkcharity.org.uk or apply

at https://www.beanstalkcharity.org.uk/become-a-story-

​starter and they'll be in touch.













​

August 2016

Check out our wonderful Language 0-5 families having a whale of a time at our Picnic in the Park!

A few weeks ago, the sun was kind to us and allowed us to have a lovely time at our summer picnic. The only sad thing is that

​we have to wait until next year to do it all again! Check out what we got up to...

August 2016

Come and join us for a Picnic in the Park!

Sefton Park (opposite the bandstand)

Saturday 6th August, 1pm-4pm

To celebrate the fact that it's summer (kind of!), and that the Language 0-5

families have been a part of the project for 18 months (and also because we

really ​like cake), we'll be holding another Picnic in the Park this August.


Last year, lots of you turned up with picnic blankets, food, and children in

hand, helping to make our picnic a truly wonderful event. It was so lovely to

meet all of you, but also for you to meet each other. We know that it can

probably feel like you and your little ones are just another participant in a

massive study, but we assure you that you aren't!


The fact that each and every one of you regularly gives up your time to come

in to the lab, be filmed, fill out many (many) questionnaires, and be generally

amazing all in the name of science is very much appreciated. All of this

makes ​what we are trying to achieve so very worth it!

 

July 2016
​

Spotlight on research: There's a lot more to your baby's babbling than you may have previously thought...
​

Before babies say their first words, they already know a lot about how language

words. Research has shown that babies as young as 6 months understand words

for some common objects, for example. Babies often use gestures

to communicate what they want (e.g. pointing or reaching) and to tell us what

they’re interested in (e.g. holding out objects). Babies also practice saying the

sounds they’ll need to say their first words by ​babbling.


Researchers are interested in babble for various reasons. First of all, the

sounds that babies babble with are also the sounds that will be in their first

words. Secondly, starting to babble with more consonants actually changes

the way that babies listen to words. Finally, babies who babble earlier tend to say their first words earlier, and also tend to

have bigger vocabularies by the ​time they’re 18 months old. 


Traditionally, to find out about babies’ babble, researchers have needed to record and transcribe what babies say. This is time-

consuming for parents and researchers alike. It also takes specialist, high-quality recording equipment and researchers who

have training in phonetics. Here in the Liverpool Language Lab, we have developed a questionnaire, the Babble Checklist, that

asks parents about the sounds their baby babbles with, and how often they say these sounds. Hopefully, this will save

everyone a lot of time! However, we first need to check that it works.

 
This summer, our intern Helen will be helping us to test our Babble Checklist. She will be recording and phonetically

transcribing everything the babies who come into the lab say. Parents will also fill in the Babble Checklist. We’ll then be able

to compare what the babies say in the lab with what their parents tell us they usually say at home. If the transcripts and the

checklists match up, we’ll know that, in the future, we can simply ask parents what sounds their child is saying when they

​babble.

​June 2016
​

Bringing the latest in language research to Bradford - A Better Start, Bradford

Tuesday 14th and Wednesday 15th June, 2016

In June, Caroline and Michelle spoke at the second ​A Better Start Learning

and Development event.


Funded by Big Lottery Fund (who have invested £215m), A Better Start (ABS) is a

programme designed to understand the effectiveness of interventions during early

​​childhood. The project runs across five areas across England: Blackpool, Bradford, Lambeth, Nottingham and ​Southend.


This year's event was held in Bradford and was a wonderful opportunity for experts in research, policy and practice in the field

of speech and language to share their knowledge and ideas about how to promote a culture of talking to babies. 


As much as we enjoyed presenting the latest in child language research to the ABS audience, we also learned a lot from the

practitioners across the different sites - in particular, it was great to find out what language interventions are currently

​underway and how these interventions will be evaluated in the future.
​

If you'd like to take a look at what Caroline and Michelle spoke about, you can do so quite easily - just click here! 
​

​May 2016
​

The Language 0-5 Team spread the word Stateside!

The International Conference on Infant Studies, New Orleans

Thursday 26th May 2016 to Saturday 28th May 2016
​

Colourul decor in the French Quarter, New Orleans

​
This conference gathers together researchers working on many different

aspects of child   development and is a great place to tell everyone about our

work as well as getting lots of new ideas for studies we could do with your

children as part of the project. These conferences are a really important part

of Language 0-5's work; sharing what we are doing and learning about the

work of others is necessary to piece together the puzzle of how children are

developing language.


Amy talked about how the gestures children use and the sound they make

when they babble link to their vocabulary development. Sam presented a

poster about the data we collected when babies involved the Language 0-5

​Project were 9 months old. 

Lots of people were interested in these studies and how they link to children’s language development. 
​

It wasn’t all work though - we all managed to spend a bit of time exploring the city. The French Quarter was a particular

highlight for us all; the balconies were decorated beautifully and there were some great places to eat. Amy and Caroline also

​managed to do a bit of alligator spotting (eek!).
​

​January 2016
​

We're packing our bags again...The Language 0-5 team are heading to New Orleans!

We're so excited that the studies that our Language 0-5 families have taken part in have attracted the attention of our

colleagues across the pond.


This May, we're off to the International Conference on Infant Studies which will be held in New Orleans. We'll be presenting

our findings from three of the project's early studies: a conceptual knowledge task that children took part in when they were

9-months old, a study that looked at the gestures that children use to communicate when they were 11- and 12-months old,

and an artificial grammar learning task that was run when children were 16-months old.


We're keen to spread the 0-5 word and, of course, to get some feedback about our results.


Look out for pictures and updates of ​what we got up to later in May!
​

December 2015​
​

Christmas time at the Liverpool Language Lab!
​

It's the most wonderful time of the year, and here at the Liverpool Language

​Lab, we are really enjoying seeing the Language 0-5 children coming in for their

lab sessions in their festive attire!


Last week, 18-month old Iris (below) came in to take part in a word learning

study using eye-tracking technology. For language researchers, eye-tracking

really is like a window into the mind - it's a great way to learn about what

children's understanding of language is like before they reach an age at which

they can reliably tell us! We all make eye movements -  most of the time without

even ​thinking about it. By tracking where, how long for, and how quickly

children look at pictures on a screen whilst they hear different sentences,

we can begin to build a picture of what young children's linguistic knowledge is

​like, as well as how this ​changes at they get older.

The lovely Iris having fun in our lab!

​
​When Iris came in, she saw a pair of objects on a ​screen and at the same time

heard a sentence that encouraged her to look at one of those objects. We were testing

whether Iris would look longer at the picture that matched the sentence that she heard.


Sometimes the pair of objects that Iris saw were ones that were familiar to her (e.g., a car

and a book), but at other times one (or both) of the objects were completely new to her

and had a made-up name (e.g., a ​dax and a blickett).  By pairing a familiar object with a

completely novel ​object, we can see whether children are able to use their knowledge of

familiar words (like car) to rule out that the novel name in the sentence, "Where's the

dax? Can you see it?", must therefore ​refer to the unfamiliar object.


We use these types of studies to learn what types of skills children might be exploiting

when they face the task of learning the names for new objects - something they

are having to do a lot at the beginning of their language-learning journey!

​November 2015
​

Liverpool Language Lab in Boston!

​Friday 13th November - Sunday 15th November 2015
​

This week, the Language 0-5 Project team and other members of LuCiD travelled all the way to the States to present the

latest findings in child language research.


​We attended the Boston University Conference on Language Development where we delivered talks and presented posters

​about the work that we are doing. 

Michelle (above left) gave a talk about how children's ability to be

primed (i.e., the tendency to copy the structure of a recently-

encountered ​sentence) is linked to their vocabulary level.

Amy (above right) presented a poster based on a study from her PhD

which looks at what young children know about passive sentences (e.g.,

​Wendy was helped by Bob). 

Sam (above left) presented a poster on a

study that looked at whether children

can distinguish between words

​pronounced in different regional accents

Coralie and Ludo (above middle) presented a

poster on a study that encouraged French-

English bilingual children to produce left-

dislocations  - a particular type of sentence

structure that is common in French but less so

​in English (e.g., The boy, he stole my apple). 

Tomoko (above right) gave a talk about the

types of errors that Japanese children make

​when using different types of verbs.

​September 2015

Congratulations to Sam on graduating this month!

This month, Language 0-5 Project researcher, Sam, celebrated completing her PhD. Although Sam officially completed her

PhD in September 2014, she had to wait until this year to graduate​from the University of Plymouth.

​

August 2015

Surprisingly, the weather was good to us (it must 

have been all of that finger-crossing we were doing!) 

which made for a wonderful afternoon. 

It was lovely to see you all, and also to meet some of 

the members of your families that we don't usually 

get to see. We were so pleased to see everyone 

sharing stories, and to see the little ones making 

some new friends.

Summer fun at the Language 0-5 Picnic in the Park

Sunday 8th August 2015

A few weeks ago - with picnic blankets and tasty snacks at the ready 

- we spent a sunny afternoon in Sefton Park with

​some of our Language 0-5 families.

We know that some of you really wanted to come, but simply were unable to make it this time. Don't worry though, as we're 

hoping to hold another event around Christmas time!

July 2015

Congratulations to Michelle on graduating this month!

Last week, Michelle officially celebrated the completion of her PhD at her 

graduation ceremony at the the Liverpool Philharmonic Hall. 


Over the last 3 years, she has used a method called structural priming to look at 

what children's grammatical knowledge is like early on, and how it develops as 

they grow older. She says, "To make it fun, the studies took the form of a bingo 

game. This involved me taking it in turns with the children to describe cartoon 

animations on a computer. Sometimes we would win counters to go on our 

respective bingo boards, but sometimes not. The first person to fill up their board 

with counters was the winner. This type of game is great because we can really 

control the type of sentence that the children hear and this helps us learn

what type of language they will and will not produce. The kids are having to 

produce lots and lots of sentences which, otherwise, would be pretty boring. But, 

because it's in the guise of an interactive game - and because they always win (I 

secretly let them!), they don't get bored!".


Michelle's work has shown that although young children are able to represent 

certain types of sentences in an abstract way like adults can,  the language that 

they produce is also determined by the way that they've heard certain verbs (e.g., 

action words like give and hug) being used.  In other words, children's 

grammatical knowledge is sensitive to their language environment.  

The Language 0-5 team will be running a similar type of study when the children involved in the Language 0-5 Project are a 

little older, so sadly for Michelle, she'll have to get used to losing again!

July 2015

Our first article for Nursery World Magazine is available now!

Check out the first article in a series on language and 

communication written by Caroline and Michelle for Nursery 

World Magazine. 



The article, Up to speed?, focuses on how a "language-rich" 

environment, both at home and in the nursery, is vital if a child is to 

progress easily through the many stages of early speech development.



If you'd like to read the full article, then click here!

June 2015

Webinar-filming for Pearson Assessment and the 

Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists

People often wonder exactly what goes on when we run 

child language studies here in our lab.  Well, wonder no more! 



This month, Pearson Assessment and the Royal College of 

Speech and Language Therapists asked us to film some short 

videos showing the different types of studies that we use to 

learn about children's language development.


As researchers, we use a variety of methods to look at how 

children's knowledge about language changes as they get 

older. Often, we use "describing games" because they 

can help us to learn the types of things that children say. 

For example, young children tend to over-apply certain 

rules about language, and this leads to errors in their 

speech.  A prime example of this is when they want to 

talk about events that have happened in the past. 


You may have heard a young child say such things as "I 

drawed" instead of "I drew", and "he runned" instead of 

"he ran". This is because they know a general rule about 

adding "-ed" to the end of regular verbs (like cook and 

wash), and mistakenly add -ed to irregular verbs that 

don't actually take this ending! 


Games that involve children having to describe "what 

happened yesterday" can help us to understand when 

and how children learn to stop making these kinds of 

errors.

May 2015

Would you like to find out how children learn to talk?


If so, you can sign-up to a five-week classroom-based course at the 

University of Liverpool beginning 13th October 2015. 



The course will explore how children learn language: how they 

pronounce words, how their vocabulary develops, and how they learn 

grammar. If you're curious about linguistics or developmental 

psychology, and/or are a parent, then this course could be just for you! 

It will also also appeal to those working in education and with 

young children, and may count towards CPD. 



More information about how to sign-up will be available here 

soon!

May 2015

The British-style Acorns Nursery (fondly referred to by

staff simply as "Acorns") was set up 10 years ago by

Romanian-born Valentina Secară (second from right in the

picture above this text). After struggling to find a

nursery for her son that offered the educational

principles of the British curriculum, Valentina decided

to set up her own! 

British-style Acorns Nursery Conference, Bucharest

Thursday 7th and Friday 8th May 2015

In May, Michelle flew over to Bucharest in Romania

to speak at the British-style Acorns Nursery Conference.

Along with early years adviser Dr Cathy Hamer, and

parent support adviser for North Craven children's

centre (North Yorkshire) Gill Osmond, she spoke to

Romanian early years professionals about the

importance of talking to your baby.


The conference was attended by early years professionals

from nurseries all over Romania, all with one aim: to

learn more about how best to support the language and

communication skills of the children in their care.

Now with 80 children registered, Acorns is considered one

of the best private nurseries in Romania. Children are

taught exclusively in English, and are taught based on the

requirements of the UK's Early Years Foundation Stage.



You can find out more about Acorns here.

April 2015

Wirral Tea and Cake morning, Neston Community Youth Centre

Monday 27th April 2015

Our Wirral Tea and Cake morning on Monday 27th April was a fantastic opportunity for some of our families to get to know

each other, and for them to meet the whole Language 0-5 team.

All of the families in the Language 0-5 Project are contributing so much of their time to help us to answer our questions

about children's language development - we are so grateful to all of you. We hope that everyone was able to share with others

their experience of being involved in the project and, of course, that you all enjoyed the cake!


The next Tea and Cake morning will be held in South Liverpool on Monday 18th May - we can't wait!

January 2015

Catch us at the UK Baby and Toddler Show in February!

When: Saturday  14th and Sunday 15th February 2015

Where: Echo Arena, Liverpool

Time: 10am - 4pm

We'll be at the UK Baby and Toddler Show in February where we'll be talking all about our research, 

and how to sign up for more information. Tickets to the show are just £7.50, so if you haven't got 

yours yet, click here to grab some while you still can!

December 2014

Season's greetings to all of our Language 0-5 families!

It's that time of year again, and we really can't believe how quickly it has come around! But, even 

more astonishing, is how keen you all were to be a part of the Language 0-5 Project. We are so 

grateful for all of the interest that we received.  So, here at Language 0-5 HQ, we've been busily 


preparing for the first visits to our families. We've had lots of fun getting to know our 0-5 babies, and 

are very excited to follow them on their language adventure!

October 2014

Catch us at the NCT Nearly New Sale!

When: Saturday 4th October 2014

Where: Old Christ Church, Waterloo Road, Waterloo, Liverpool, L22 1RE

Time: 11am - 1pm


NCT Nearly New Sales are a great place to find good quality babies' and children's clothes at a

bargain price, and this Saturday, we'll be there too! We'll be talking all about the Language 0-5

Project and how you can be involved. Did you know that we still need families to take part? Why not 


pop along this weekend; you'll find us in the café! 

Professor Caroline Rowland, team Lead on the Language 0-5 Project, talks at the Talk

to Your Baby Conference 2014, National Literacy Trust

When: Monday 6th October 2014

Where: The Galleon Suite at The Royal National Hotel, 38-51 Bedford Way, London, WC1H 0DG

Time: 9.30am - 4pm


How children’s brains learn language: What we know (and what we don’t know) about language

development in the pre-school years"


Why do children learn so much more effectively from some early language activities than others? In

order to answer this question, we need to know about uptake (which bits of language do children take

in and analyse). And for this, we need to know how the brain’s language learning mechanisms work. In

this talk, Professor Rowland will discuss some of the latest research on how different cognitive

mechanisms within children’s brains work together to learn sounds, words and grammar from the

input that they hear. She will discuss how the new ESRC Centre for Language and Communicative

Development (LuCiD) proposes to tackle some of the most important unanswered questions.

July 2014

Michelle Peter, researcher on the Language 0-5 Project, discusses why talking to your

baby early on could help them do better at school


You might be surprised to learn that it's not just the amount of language that children hear during

their early years that is linked to their language skills later on; the type of language that they hear

matters too! Find out more in this article published via The Conversation.

March 2014

Read about how the Language 0-5 Project will study how babies and young children

learn to talk and communicate effectively


Experts from the Universities of Liverpool, Manchester, and Lancaster have been awarded £9m to

improve understanding of how babies and young children learn to talk and communicate with others.

You can read more here about how this funding will support the ESRC International Centre for

Language and Communicative Development (LuCiD).