The Inaugural Lectures of Professor Emma Marsden and Professor Sophie von Stumm.

'Improving the understanding of learning'

Professor Emma Marsden

A foot in two camps? Working at the research-practice interface in foreign language education.

We all remember our foreign language lessons. But what determines how foreign languages are taught? What do children pay attention to and learn? And what could we do differently? This talk will review some of the laboratory and classroom-based research carried out by Emma and her colleagues and students, in contexts where exposure to the foreign language is limited to a few hours in classrooms. The aim will be to reflect on the trajectory of this kind of research making its way into the hearts, minds, and classrooms of teachers and reaching the desks of policy-makers.

Professor Sophie von Stumm

Tales from the Hungry Mind.

Why do some children perform better in school than others? Understanding why some children thrive while others struggle in school is the greatest challenge for and responsibility of psychological science. In her inaugural lecture, Professor Sophie von Stumm will tackle this deceivingly simple question and review the plethora of ideas and approaches that drive her research. Her findings shed light on the interplay between personality traits and ability factors in the prediction of learning; the importance of early life experiences and family background for cognitive development; and the powerful effect of genetic factors on school performance.