Dr Sun He Publishes a Paper and Gives Two Presentations on Early Language Learning

Dr Sun He, Education Research Scientist at the Centre for Research in Child Development, has published a paper and given two presentations on early language learning.

On 10 December 2021, Dr Sun presented a keynote titled “Multimedia Exposure in Early Second and Foreign Language Learning” at the Research Colloquium on “Advances in Language Research in an Interconnected World: Sustaining Vitality, Relevance and Rigor”, organised by the Mindanao State University, Philippines.

On 16 February 2022, she gave an invited speech on “Promoting Early Mandarin Learning with Paper Book and eBook Reading: Insights from Three Projects” at an online workshop on “Current and future research directions in Singapore Mandarin”, jointly organised by the Faculty of Arts and Social Science, NUS, and the Brain, Language and Intersensory Perception Lab, NTU.

Dr Sun has also published a paper in the Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, titled “Bilingual children’s visual attention while reading digital picture books and story retelling”. The paper details a study examining Mandarin–English bilingual children’s visual attention over repetitive readings of Mandarin enhanced digital books and static books as well as the effects visual attention has on story retelling. Findings suggested that digital books with visual and auditory enhancements maintained greater visual attention from children, who were then able to retell the stories better, indicating that influencing visual attention helps to improve story comprehension.

NIE staff/students can access the journal for free through the LIBRIS portal at https://library.nie.edu.sg.