Queen's University Belfast | Claire Stephens, Postgraduate Research Student

Claire Stephens, Postgraduate Research Student

Contact Details

Email: cstephens01@qub.ac.uk

Office: LG. 551

Phone: 4558

PhD Details

First Supervisor: Dr. Judith Wylie

Second Supervisor: Professor Carol McGuinness

PhD Title: The Cognitive Effects of Immersion Education: A Longitudinal Study

Summary of Project: Our research aims to investigate the influence of Irish immersion education on children’s cognitive development. More specifically, the research focuses on an area believed to be most affected by the bilingual experience, the executive function (EF; Adesope et al., 2010; Bialystok, 2011). There are three main studies as part of this research. The first two longitudinal studies aim to compare children educated in distinct linguistic environments. Children’s results on a range of cognitive tasks were assessed over a three-year period. The second of these two studies examined, rather than controlled for, the influence of socio-economic status (SES) on bilingual and monolingual children’s development. Developmental trends indicated group differences on a number of executive functions and that a bilingual advantage may emerge over time. Recently, researchers have found levels of proficiency in the second language (L2) to be strongly predictive of bilingual outcomes on a range of cognitive measures (Bialystok & Feng, 2009). Therefore, the final study aimed to compare a third linguistic group, age-matched children from native-Irish speaking areas of Ireland (or Gaeltacht areas) to the children assessed in the final phase of the longitudinal study. Results for this study are awaiting further analysis.

Research Cluster: Cognition, Development and Education

Research Interests

Developmental Psychology
Cognitive Psychology
Educational Psychology
Psycholinguistics
Clinical Psychology: involved in research evaluating the effectiveness of group treatment (cognitive behavioural therapy/acceptance and commitment therapy) for obsessive compulsive disorder and chronic pain.

Conferences

The Effects of Immersion Education on Children’s Cognitive Development: A Longitudinal Study (Stephens & Wylie, 2012). Presented at the American Educational Research Association’s Annual Conference, Canada, 2012.

(Awarded the Emily Sarah Montgomery Travel Scholarship to attend)

The Influence of Immersion Education on Children’s Cognitive Development
Queen’s University School of Psychology Seminar 2012

The Effect of Bilingualism on Children’s Executive Functioning: A Longitudinal Study (Stephens, Wylie, & Mulhern, 2011). Presented at the International Symposium for Bilingualism, Oslo, 2011.

The Cognitive Influence of Immersion Education: A Longitudinal Approach (Stephens, Wylie, & Mulhern, 2011). Presented at the Queen’s International Linguistics Conference, 2011.