This page provides an overview of the research expertise of all tenure track and tenured GaP members.

For an overview of our current PhD students and their expertise, see Current PhD students.

Boone Griet

My primary research areas include second/foreign language acquisition and development (with a special focus on L2 German and formulaic language), study abroad, L2 pragmatics, intercultural pragmatics, and professional communication.

Technique

I use both quantitative and qualitative research methods.

Users

language teachers, researchers, journalists

Keywords

Applied linguistics, German, Pragmatics

Brisard Frank

My research is primarily informed by a cognitive-functional and usage-based approach to language, combined with a pragmatic focus on the analysis of actual language in use, mainly via the use of corpora. My main interests include tense/aspect/modality (in a variety of languages), the interface between grammatical constructions and pragmatics, and cognitive and “constructional” theories of grammar.

Technique

I have experience in the analysis of (written/spoken) corpora, including in languages other than English (e.g., pidgins/creoles), for the purpose of extracting meaningful patterns of use, in particular with regard to the use of grammatical constructions. I am also familiar with semantic analyses in a variety of linguistic frameworks, including Cognitive Grammar and Construction Grammar.

Users

Researchers in (applied) linguistics, including in such domains as language acquisition and learning, language disorders, anthropology/ethnography, organization studies, forensic linguistics, etc.

Keywords

Cognitive grammar, Tense/aspect, Semantic change, General linguistics, English language, Pragmatics, Corpus linguistics

De Mulder Walter

The central question of my research is how language users can constitute a representation of the world (or other fictive worlds) in and through their use of language, how they can refer to elements of the world (or fictive worlds) and how they can communicate about it. To answer these questions, I conduct or (mainly with respect to (iv)) develop research into (i) the meaning and use of expressions that contribute to reference or (as I prefer to call it) to the constitution of the world (or fictive worlds): - (mainly) French definite articles and demonstratives - (mainly) French markers of tense, aspect and mood - (mainly) French spatial prepositions (ii) theories of meaning and reference and on the relationship between the two, and more in particular on cognitive and semantic/pragmatic theories about - the “flexibility” of meaning - metaphor - implicatures (iii) the historical development of the expressions referred to under (i), amongst others within the framework of approaches to grammaticalization and theories of historical semantics (Blank, Koch, Geeraerts, etc.) (iv) more concrete applications, amongst others by looking into - the “framing” of messages - contextualisation and intertextuality - the application of (cognitive/usage-based) linguistics in teaching language (and linguistics)

Technique

Standard research methods in linguistics

Users

Linguists and other uses who are professionally or by their research interested in language and meaning.

Keywords

General linguistics, French language, Semantic change, Linguistic meaning and interpretation

Dendale Patrick

1) Linguistic (distributional, semantic, pragmatic) analysis of mainly French data : evidential and epistemico-modal markers (tenses, verbs, prepositions, adverbs, ...), reported speech markers, tenses (modal-evidential uses of the conditional, futur tense), spatial prepositions, pairs of synonyms. 2) Epistemological and methodological study of linguistic notions (and there mutual relations) like : evidentiality and epistemic modality (notional differences, identification criteria for markers), enunciative commitment (conceptions), dialogism or linguistics polyphony (theories).

Technique

Corpusanalysis

Users

French linguists, journalists, students

Keywords

Evidentiality, Polyphony, Commitment, French language, Modality, Prepositions, French linguistics

De Wit Astrid

I am a cognitive linguist with a keen interest in the semantics of grammatical constructions, primarily within the domain of tense, aspect and modality. Why, for instance, do speakers of Dutch prefer to say "Zit niet zo te zeuren" rather than "Zeur niet"? Or how come McDonald's chose "I'm loving it" as a slogan rather than "I love it"? What do these observations reveal about the function of language as a social and communicative toolkit? What is their cross-linguistic relevance? And in what way do our grammatical choices reflect general cognitive principles? In order to address these questions, I study natural-language data from a variety of languages, including (varieties of) English, Dutch, French and Slavic languages, both from a contemporary and a historical perspective. I model my analyses within a cognitive-semantic and cross-linguistically informed theoretical framework.

Technique

Corpus linguistics Native speaker surveys Fieldwork

Users

Students Language teachers Researchers

Keywords

Tense and aspect, General linguistics, English linguistics

Gras Pedro

1. Linguistics Analysis Analysis and description of grammatical phenomena, especially in the grammar/discourse interface (discourse markers, reference markers, conversation structure). 2. Foreign language teaching Syllabi and curriculum design of Spanish as a foreign language courses. Creation of Spanish as a foreign language learning materials, both textbooks and audiovisual materials (Difusión, SGEL). Creation of reference grammars for specific language users (Difusión). 3. Academic and Professional discourse Syllabi design of Academic and Professional Spanish courses (legal, tecnological, business). Creation of Academic and Professional Spanish learning materials (Ariel, Edicions UOC). Diagnose of discourse pathologies for specific professional groups (legal, tecnological). 4. Critical Discourse Analysis Linguistic analysis of socially relevant phenomena, with special interest in sex and gender.

Technique

Qualitative corpus analysis (written, spoken, learners corpus, professional discourse corpus).

Users

Researchers in different areas (especially Social Studies) in which discourse analysis can be an analytical tool. Professionals of different areas who need assistance on writing skills. Professionals of foreign language teaching (publishers, language schools, teachers).

Keywords

Discourse, Discourse analysis, Language teaching, Language acquisition, Communication skills training, Language for specific purposes, Grammar, Discourse particles

Mortelmans Tanja

- Corpus linguistic expertise with respect to the use of modal verbs, future auxiliaries and aspectual markers in German, English an Dutch. - Various aspects of German grammar (from a descriptive perspective) - German grammar teaching - Gender (in its different meanings: Genus, Sexus and social gender) and language

Technique

Corpus linguistics

Users

Journalists, other researchers, students of German

Keywords

Corpus linguistics, Modality, Linguistics, Teaching, Corpus-research, Modal verbs, Aspect, German linguistics

Nuyts Jan

Diachrony of Dutch and other Germanic languages, with main focus on semantic change in the domain of modal exspressions. Semantic analysis of modality and related categories.

Technique

Corpus analysis.

Users

Researchers.

Keywords

Semantic change, Dutch linguistics, General linguistics

Pérez Fernández Sofia

My primary focus in research revolves around a functional and usage-based perspective on language. I am particularly interested in variation across geographical regions and the interaction between grammatical and pragmatics.

Technique

Corpus analysis

Users

Researchers

Keywords

Language acquisition, Language courses, Spanish as a foreign language, Spanish language, Spanish, Language contact

Petré Peter

Language change. Broad expertise on, mostly, English (all periods, both at the aggregate level and that of individual mental grammars), but also (selectively) Dutch, German, French, and language change generally. Quantitative and qualitative corpus methods, including scripting (Perl), concordancing software, statistics (R), best practices.

Technique

Language change is researched by processing and analyzing actual language use: compilation of balanced/representative corpora, retrieval of data by means of regular expressions or parsing, analysis of retrieved data along various functional/semantic and formal parameters (both manual and automated), development of customized research to answer specific theoretical challenges.

Users

Linguists, members of the Digital Humanities community, historians, literary scholars.

Keywords

Grammaticalisation, English language, Historical linguistics, Cognitive grammar, Cognition, Philology, Corpus linguistics

Smits Tom

I. Educational Sciences (1) German and English Teaching Methodology: German and English as a Foreign Language (DaF, TEFL), CALL (2) General pedagogy: urban education, multiple perspective learning, differentiated instruction II. Linguistics (1) Applied linguistics (cf I.) (2) Variational linguistics of German

Technique

Research methods in Education and Applied Linguistics: - qualitative and ethnographic research (observation, interview, CA, grounded theory) - case studies - (quasi-)experiments - meta-analysis and reviews - action research - mixed methods Research Methods in Variational Linguistics: - Empirical Research: survey, interview - Corpus Analysis

Users

- Teacher Educators - Language Teachers and Learners - (Applied and variational) Linguists

Keywords

Language variation, Foreign language learning, Applied linguistics

Thewissen Jennifer

Jennifer Thewissen specialises in learner corpus research and second language acquisition. She actively researches the concept of accuracy and its development across proficiency levels (https://uclouvain.be/fr/instituts-recherche/ilc/accuracy-across-proficiency-levels-a-learner-corpus-approach.html). Using error-annotated learner corpus data from different mother tongue groups at different proficiency levels (from B1 to C2), she has shown that learners' errors do not de facto necessarily decrease as proficiency increases but that different error types develop differently across the proficiency groups. This research has concrete implications for the language teaching and testing fields as empirical findings about accuracy profiles at different levels can be fed into the current Common European Framework descriptors of language competence which are labelled as overly vague. To gain further insight into learner language development, Jennifer Thewissen is currently investigating the development of syntactic and lexical complexity across proficiency levels to (1) determine whether these constructs help discriminate between learner writing at different levels and (2) analyse how they interact with the construct of accuracy.

Technique

Techniques associated with corpus linguistics: - learner corpus compilation - learner corpus analysis - learer corpus annotation - error annotation

Users

Target groups: - Language teachers - Language testers - Second language acquisition experts - NLP specialists - Textbook developers - Language learners

Keywords

Accuracy, Learner corpus research, Proficiency levels

Vandenbroucke Mieke

De omgang met (stedelijke) meertaligheid in institutionele contexten, met een empirische focus op communicatieve en talige processes (i.e. gesproken interacties, taalbeleid, vertaling/tolkpraktijk, entekstualisering en categoriseringsprocessen). Institutionele contexten binnen de expertise zijn: gemeentelijke diensten, juridische contexten, maatschappelijk werk, onderwijs, bedrijven.

Technique

Linguistic ethnography Interactional analysis / conversation analysis Institutional discourse analysis

Users

Linguists Stakeholders in the respective context topicalised in the research

Keywords

Language policy, Categorization, Institutional contexts, Multilingualism

Van De Poel Kris

I have engaged with applied linguistic questions for the past forty years, following Alan Davies (Edinburgh) who defines applied linguistics as a discipline ‘to propose a solution to social problems involving language’. I am still intrigued by a wide array of topics in foreign language learning for academic and professional purposes and carry out studies on the development of communication awareness, knowledge and skills. In my research I use mixed methods and strive for applicability (R&D).

Technique

The research unit for Applied Language Studies ranges over the following research techniques: Online and offline questionnaires, empirical research (data collection) with control groups, interviews (face-to-face, telephone, focus group, etc.), error analyses, introspection, pre- and posttesting, statistical analyses and reporting.

Users

The expertise is available for institutions/individuals with research interests in the area of language skills and language pedagogics for adult educated learners. The users are mainly language centres, teaching institutions and language policy makers. However, this expertise is also often required in language skills research and language methodology by a broad range of institutions, e.g. tertiary education, the service sector, governmental departments, the European Commission.

Keywords

Foreign language learning, Autonomous learning, Language multimedia, Dutch for non-natives, Computer assisted language learning, Foreign language and academic context, Effectiveness of language learning, Academic literacy

van der Auwera Johan

Description and explanation of elements of grammar (English, Germanic languages, European languages, all languages)

Technique

Grammar mining, close reading, elicitation, questionnaires, corpus analysis

Users

Linguists

Keywords

Grammar

Vangehuchten Lieve

Discourse analys, Material development, second/foreign language development, land and culture studies, intercultural business communication, professional communication

Technique

Corpus linguistics, qualitative research

Users

Applied linguists

Keywords

Linguistics

Van Hout Tom

My work focuses on the circulation and articulation of expert knowledge in society. That means I study language, discourse, and communication in a range of contexts from the perspective of participants to grasp how expertise is performed, audiences are anticipated, and social events get represented. My work has been published in scientific journals, edited volumes, digital media outlets and popular media.

Technique

Discourse analysis, linguistic ethnography

Users

Knowledge workers such as journalists, consultants, entrepreneurs, politicians, and scientists

Keywords

Expertise, Media studies, Journalism, Discourse analysis, Identity, Professional communication, Knowledge society

Vermandere Dieter

Multilingualism and intercultural interactions on the work floor. Research can be developed as specific case studies as well as global evaluations of language policies and language management strategies

Technique

ethnographic analysis; qualitative research (interview); quantitative research (survey)

Users

companies, policy makers

Keywords

Multilingualism, Sociolinguistics

Verschueren Jef

Expertise can be provided for the analysis and evaluation of communicative processes in any institutional context (education, business, social service centers, courtroom proceedings), in particular when an intercultural dimension is involved.

Technique

- Documentation center is accessible for research purposes - Conceptual analysis.

Users

- Education - Business - Social service centers - Courtroom proceedings

Keywords

Intercultural communication competence, Language and ideology, International communication, Sociolinguistics