Simone E. Pfenninger

My principal research areas are multilingualism, psycholinguistics and individual learner differences in SLA, especially in regard to quantitative approaches and statistical methods and techniques for language application in education. My research sheds light on the effectiveness of early vs. late foreign language instruction, the difference between cognitive decline (as a function of ageing) vs. the cumulative experience of learning, bilingual education in school contexts (with a focus on time and timing and intra-learner variability), language learners with specific learning differences (e.g. dyslexics), as well the question of how good older adults are at additional language learning - and how language learning benefits them.

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In our SLA lab at the University of Zurich, we are interested in the impact of occupational and educational life-course transitions on patterns in English language use and learning, e.g. the transition from early English-as-a-Foreign-Language (EFL) l learning in primary school to EFL in secondary school; from EFL in secondary school to studying English at university; from pre-service to in-service EFL teaching; from L1 and L2 use in the labor force to retirement; from language learning difficulties to intervention.