Author Archives: Gisela Granena

About Gisela Granena

I am a lecturer at the Centre for Modern Languages at the UOC. I hold a PhD in Second Language Acquisition from the University of Maryland (USA), an MA in Intercultural Communication from the same university, and a Postgraduate degree in teaching English as a foreign language from the University of Barcelona. My areas of expertise include language acquisition, cognitive psychology and measurement/statistics. I have published research on individual cognitive differences in both instructed and naturalistic SLA contexts; aptitude-treatment interactions; task-based language teaching (TBLT); measures of implicit and explicit language knowledge, and the effects of early and late bilingualism on long-term L2 achievement.

A critical period to learn a second language?

Posted on 03.12.2018 by Gisela Granena

Research findings on the critical period may influence educational policy and practice. Over recent years, many Catalan primary schools have lowered the starting age of foreign language learning and start teaching English in early childhood education (1). However, making pedagogical … Continue reading →

Posted in Language learning, Profession | 1 Comment

Growing up with languages

Posted on 01.06.2017 by Gisela Granena

There are increasingly more language schools offering language classes for children starting as early as ages 2 and 3. The school system has also increasingly advanced the starting age of foreign language learning (from ages 11-12 to 7-8 and even … Continue reading →