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Eva Commissaire

ecommissaire

Contact Details:
Telephone: (+44)(1382) 386754
Email: Eva Commissaire

Postal Address:
School of Psychology
The University of Dundee
Dundee
DD1 4HN
Scotland, UK

 

I started my PhD in October 2008 at the University of Lille 3, France, and am currently attending the University of Dundee for my 2nd year of PhD studies as part of a Joint PhD agreement between both Universities. My supervisors are Pr. Séverine Casalis and Dr. Lynne Duncan respectively in Lille and Dundee.

Research Interests


My thesis focuses on second language orthographic representations in children and adult learners. I approach this issue from the bilingual version of the Interactive Activation theoretical framework.

I aim to investigate how L2 orthographic representations develop during L2 acquisition (looking at the tuning in the coding mechanism and the emergence of lexical competition within the L2), and how these L2 orthographic representations interact with L1 representations (to which extent do L2 learners show a language nonselective lexical access and activate both L1 and L2 orthographic codes during visual word recognition).

Our project in Dundee aim to extend this research by examining phonological activation in L2 visual word recognition.

I also look at the links within L2 orthographic processing skills (1) between the orthographic lexical and sublexical component – or called sensitivity to the regularities of a language (2) between orthographic processing skills and L2 phonological awareness; and across languages.

In France, participants are French speakers learning English as a L2 and it will be the reverse pattern in Scotland. I combine the use of on-line measures of visual word recognition such as the masked priming paradigm and pen-and-paper tests.

Conference Papers


–- Commissaire, E., & Casalis, S. (2008). Orthographic skills in French 8th grade children learning English as a second language: Exploring orthographic transfer.

Poster presented at the Sixth International Conference on the Mental Lexicon, October 7-10, Banff, Alberta, Canada.

–- Commissaire, E., & Casalis, S. (2009). Second language orthographic representations in children learners. Masked priming paradigm: a good tool for investigating L1-L2 lexicon?

Poster presented at the Sixteenth Annual Meeting Society for the Scientific Study of Reading, June 25-27, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
–- Commissaire, E., & Casalis, S. (2009). Is there a connection between cross-language orthographic representations in beginning bilinguals? Effect of neighbourhood frequency in a masked priming study.

Poster presented at the Sixteenth European Society for Cognitive Psychology Conference, September 2-5, Krakow, Poland.

Funding


French government PhD studentship, October 2008 to October 2011. [Allocation ministérielle de recherche sur sujet stratégique, Ministére de l’Enseignement et de la Recherche]

Teaching


Academic year of 2008-2009, at the University of Lille 3, France. [Monitrice de l’enseignement]

Membership of Scientific Societies


SSSR, Society for the Scientific Study of Reading.