People

Concepción Soto García-Meléndez

Postgraduate Research Student
Department of Language and Linguistics
 Concepción Soto García-Meléndez

Profile

Ask me about
  • Language Attrition
  • Eye-tracking technology

Biography

PhD candidate in Applied Linguistics. I'm currently working on bilingual lexical processing at the word level via an eye-tracking paradigm. Research member of the EMOTRA2 project (University of Murcia, Spain), which investigates the role of attention and emotion during translation. Lab member at the L+PLUS Lab. My other research interests include bilingual processing within all the areas in the bilingual development spectrum (language attrition, heritage languages, bilingualism), eye-tracking technology, code-switching, psycholinguistics, and statistics in general. Current employment: -Research Assistant, Vulnerable Native Grammars Project (University of Southampton). -Spanish Language Teacher (Languages for All, University of Essex) -Reviewer - Essex Student Journal.

Qualifications

  • BA English Studies University of Murcia (2015)

  • MA Applied Linguistics University of Essex (2017)

  • MA Teaching English as a Foreign Language UCAM (2018)

  • Associate Fellow (AFHEA) University of Essex (2021)

Research and professional activities

Thesis

Interactions of the L1 and L2 in bilingual development

Little is known about how languages interact during online lexical processing at the word level in the bilingual’s linguistic system. This project aims to shed light on this question by comparing the selective attention mechanisms that take place when diverse groups of Spanish-English bilinguals – sequential bilinguals living in their home country, bilinguals with a long term exposure to the L2, and heritage language speakers - process competing L1 lexical items via eye-tracking technology.

Supervisor: Prof Monika Schmid , Dr. Laurel Lawyer

Research interests

Bilingual lexical processing

Language Attrition and Heritage languages

Eye-tracking technology in Applied Linguistics

Cross-linguistic interactions and Code-Switching

Contact

csotog@essex.ac.uk

Location:

Colchester Campus