UNB Research

Among the most recent cycle of new and renewed Canada Research Chairs announced by the Government of Canada are two UNB researchers. One of them is Dr. Veronica Whitford, whose research in language acquisition has been recognized and supported by Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) funding for a second term as Canada Research Chair (CRC) in Cognitive Neuroscience of Bilingual Reading Across the Lifespan.

We spoke with Dr. Whitford about her work, her story and how she is looking to make life better for new Canadians, as well as Canadians experiencing differences in neurocognitive processing.

Who are you?

My name is Dr. Veronica Whitford, and I am an associate professor of psychology and NSERC Canada Research Chair.

I obtained my PhD in experimental psychology (cognitive science) from McGill University.

Afterward, I completed two postdoctoral fellowships in developmental cognitive neuroscience. The first was at Western University’s Brain and Mind Institute and department of psychology, funded by the Fonds de recherche du Québec – Nature et technologies . The second was at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s McGovern Institute for Brain Research and department of brain and cognitive sciences, funded by NSERC.

I then joined the University of Texas at El Paso as an assistant professor of psychology for two years, before coming to UNB as an assistant professor of psychology in the summer of 2019.

I grew up in a bilingual context in Montréal, where I learned both English and French simultaneously. As a result, I have long been interested in how people acquire multiple languages, including the linguistic, neurocognitive and experiential factors that shape their learning.

So far, most empirical and theoretical research on language has focused on monolingual young adults from what we call WEIRD societies—that is, Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich and Democratic societies. To help shift this bias, my research centres on developing a more diverse and inclusive account of language by focusing on linguistically and neurocognitively diverse groups across the lifespan.

Tell us about your research and your chair.

Canada has experienced a surge in population growth, with Statistics Canada reporting more than 1.3 million newcomers arriving between 2016 and 2022.

Nearly one-third of these newcomers are children and young adults, many of whom speak a home language other than English or French. As these are Canada’s official languages, newcomers must generally learn one or both in order to navigate their new environment. Given their developing English and/or French language and literacy skills, many young newcomers encounter academic, occupational and social challenges that can negatively impact their well-being—for example, lower educational attainment levels, higher rates of poverty, difficulty accessing supports and so on. Developing a better understanding of how English and/or French language is acquired by these individuals is paramount.

In support of this goal, my second-term CRC research will focus on language acquisition by young newcomers who arrived in Canada within the last five years, relative to their Canadian-born, native English and/or French speaker peers. My research will include questionnaires, standardized assessments, oculomotor measures (eye-tracking) and neurophysiological measures (electroencephalography) to examine reading and reading-related processes in these two populations.

By using a wide range of techniques and combining behavioural and neuroscientific approaches, we can better understand the cognitive processes related to language and reading, such as phonological processing, vocabulary and executive functioning. We can see how someone’s eyes move and how their brain cells—neurons—respond at a millisecond level, while also understanding how people act in, and think about, their learning.

In addition to my CRC research, my research lab investigates the intersection of language, reading and neurocognition in people with different neurodevelopmental conditions, such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, autism spectrum disorder and dyslexia; in people with different mental health conditions, including bipolar disorder and schizophrenia; in people experiencing accelerated cognitive aging, such as mild cognitive impairment and early-stage Alzheimer’s disease; and in people experiencing neurological autoimmune disorders like multiple sclerosis.

UNB offers me particular benefits in conducting this research and transforming the resulting knowledge into positive change in our communities. As Canada’s only officially bilingual province, New Brunswick’s unique linguistic landscape, coupled with its significant growth in immigration over the last decade, make it an exciting location for research on language, culture and immigration dynamics.

Why is it important?

Understanding how young newcomers acquire English and/or French reading and language skills that are needed to navigate in their new environments is a critical yet understudied issue in education and society. As Canada’s newcomer population continues to grow and diversify, developing a better understanding of the unique language learning challenges they may face and the implications of language acquisition on their long-term educational, economic and social outcomes is crucial.

The results of this research could be very helpful in informing evidence-based policies and practices that promote functional literacy, socioeconomic integration and wellbeing among newcomers—all of which have important consequences for Canada’s current and future socioeconomic success.

More information

Dr. Veronica Whitford (ORCID)| Department of Psychology| Faculty of Arts

Research at UNB | Graduate Studies at UNB | Postdoctoral fellowships