Biography:
Hello, my name is Akeena Lofters and I am fifth year student majoring in Asian Studies with minors in Korean and Linguistics. I joined CLS as a research assistant in Fall 2014 when I returned from studying abroad in South Korea. It was there, that my interest in bilingualism began. Through my numerous encounters with multilinguals, I became interested in the effects bilingualism has on cognitive functioning.
This summer I traveled to Tarragona, Spain to examine whether the age of acquisition or the number of languages known is essential to language learning. To determine this, I taught trilingual participants Dutch novel words followed by a lexical decision task. There were various other measures used in the study as well, these include working memory (OSPAN), inhibitory control (AXCPT), picture naming and verbal fluency.
Apart from research, in my spare time, I practice taekwondo and compete in collegiate tournaments. I intend to go to graduate school with a focus on sociolinguistics or applied linguistics.