The CCERBAL develops and disseminates knowledge, nationally and internationally.

Meet our research chairs

Christopher Fennel

Christopher Fennel

OLBI Faculty of Arts Chair in Language Learning and Acquisition

Babies learn languages at a fantastic rate, due in part to the implicit nature of early language acquisition (i.e., they do “overthink” language). Yet, relatively little is known about the learning processes involved in the early acquisition of sounds and words across two languages, as the overwhelming majority of relevant research has involved monolinguals. My research focuses on the issues surrounding early speech perception and word learning in infants raised in bilingual environments – a familiar phenomenon due to immigration, official language policies, and Canadian cultural preferences. As the OLBI Research Chair in Language Learning and Acquisition, I will be sharing and advancing knowledge of how bilingualism from birth unfurls across the lifespan. I will also be applying my focus on testing the basic perception/refinement of language sounds and the implicit learning of new words to adults learning a second language to examine if implicit learning similarly aids older populations.

Marie-Josée Hamel

Marie-Josée Hamel

OLBI University Chair in New Technologies and Computer Assisted Language Learning

Dr. Hamel's research looks at interface ergonomics in the context of Computer Assisted Language Learning. She seeks to describe the use by language learners of online resources such as dictionaries and translation aids and in particular, to measure the usability of these resources for various types of language tasks. The aim of her research is increase knowledge about the language learner-task-tool interaction at the computer, to find ways to improve the overall quality of this interaction and as a result, its language learning outcome.

Beverly Baker

Beverly Baker

Beverly Baker is Associate Professor and Director of Language Assessment at OLBI.  She works and publishes widely in the areas of second language writing, language test validation, language teacher development, multilingual assessment and language assessment competency development. She also consults widely with professional organisations and governments and has offered workshops on language assessment topics to more than 1000 teachers worldwide. In 2018, she was named Young Researcher of the Year from uOttawa's Office of the Vice President, and in 2019 received the Emerging Researcher Award from uOttawa's Faculty of Arts and the International Assessment Award from the British Council. She is currently Treasurer of the International Language Testing Association and a founding member of its Language Assessment Literacy Special Interest Group.

Forthcoming research chairs

  • OLBI Faculty of Arts Mobility Research Chair in Bilingualism