Research Opportunities for UIUC Undergraduates

We regularly recruit new undergraduate assistants in the Language Acquisition Lab for the Fall and Spring semesters and for Summer Session II. Getting involved in research is great preparation for students interested in attending graduate school.

For now, we have finished recruiting for Summer Session II and for Fall 2022. We hope you'll apply in a future semester! The best time to apply for Summer and Fall is mid-April (of the preceding semester), and the best time to apply for Spring is in November.

We do experiments on word learning and sentence processing in toddlers, preschoolers, and adults. Students can learn about and participate in many aspects of this research, including any of the following:

• helping to design materials for experiments
• testing toddlers, preschoolers, and adults in experiments
• transcription and coding of children's speech
• coding visual fixations from video recordings
• learning to use an automatic eye-tracker

We seek responsible, highly motivated students with an interest in language, learning, and children to assist with both online (by scheduled Zoom appointments with participants) and in-lab research projects. Previous experience with children, and prior coursework in cognitive psychology, speech & hearing, or linguistics are very helpful. New students in the lab sign up for 3 credit hours of PSYC 290, and work 3 3-hour lab shifts; experienced students continuing in the lab may sign up for 2 credit hours, and work 2 3-hour shifts. Note that the weekly time commitments are different for the 8-week Summer Session II (see the application form linked below for more information).

If this sounds interesting to you, and you think you have room in your schedule for a Psych 290, we hope you'll apply. Please fill out an application HERE. If you have questions about the application or our lab you can contact us at lalab@illinois.edu.