In the News
Feel free to explore some of our appearances in the media!
In the news
Why are babies and toddlers so obsessed with your eyes? - Montreal Gazette
(February 10, 2024)
Lab director Krista Byers-Heinlein discusses how babies are born being able to detect faces, and eyes are one of the first signals they learn to read. Read the Montreal Gazette article here.
"Babies can distinguish languages from each other," Krista Byers-Heinlein - Bugali
(October 19, 2023)
Lab director Krista Byers-Heinlein was interviewed by Bugali about babies’ ability to distinguish foreign languages. Read the article here (in French).
A guide to Big Team Science creates a blueprint for research collaboration on a large scale - Concordia News
(September 6, 2023)
Postdoctoral fellow Nicolás Alessandroni and Professor Krista Byers-Heinlein co-author a how-to paper on managing Big Team Science research projects which was published in Royal Society Open Science and featured on 12 news outlets. Read the Concordia News article about it here.
Multilingual Mama in Montréal - Multilingual Mamas Podcast
(2023)
In this episode, Sara Fernández Cuenca and Lauren Miller sit down with Dr. Krista Byers-Heinlein, Professor of Developmental Psychology at Concordia University, who specializes in infant development with a focus on language acquisition. Dr. Byers-Heinlein talks about her personal experiences growing up bilingual in Canada, as well as raising a bilingual child in Montréal, the largest metropolitan French-speaking area in the province of Québec. They also discuss how bilingualism researchers are able to study infants long before they’re talking and why that research is important. Listen to the podcast here.
Open Science and Mentoring in STEM with Krista Byers-Heinlein - 4TH SPACE Concordia University
(September 28, 2022)
Krista Byers-Heinlein discusses open science and mentoring in STEM as part of the "Research in Conversation in the Faculty of Arts and Science" series. Watch the presentation here.
The youngest Canadian bilinguals are not a monolithic group - Concordia News
(June 28, 2022)
A new Concordia study by Esther Schott, Lena V. Kremin, and Krista Byers-Heinlein looking at children aged zero to nine reveals a large and diverse cohort varying along linguistic, urban–rural and geographic lines. Find the story here.
Bilingual Babies - Klets Heads Podcast (Season 2, Episode 1)
(February 18, 2022)
Children start talking when they are around one year old. However, we know from research that they are already working on language before that. In this episode, we learn what exactly babies know about language. And we hear about the ingenious ways scientists have developed to figure this out. For example, they measure how fast babies suck on a fake teat, or measure the activity in their brains. Listen at Klets Heads.
The Benefits of Growing Up Bilingual - The Walrus Talks: Living Better
(November 19, 2019)
Krista Byers-Heinlein of Concordia University discusses raising bilingual children at the Walrus Talks: Living Better series at the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa, Ontario. Are bilingual babies confused by hearing 2 languages? Should parents stick to the one-parent-one-language approach? Watch this short talk to find out!
What's The Hardest Part About Learning Another Language? - Radio Noon Montreal
(November 5, 2019)
A new joint study by researchers at Concordia and Princeton Universities will investigate the language exposure of toddlers growing up in bilingual households. The study will use full-day recordings of what toddlers actually hear—for example, which languages they are exposed to, in what proportions, do parents mix two or more languages in the same sentence—and track children over two years, to see how this exposure might change over time and how it might influence development. Listen to Dr. Krista Byers-Heinlein discuss this research and more on bilingualism as the main guest on Radio Noon Montreal. Find the interview here.
Bilinguals hear sound differently - Global News Morning
(February 19, 2019)
A new Concordia study shows that bilinguals hear sounds differently based on the language that they think they’re listening to. Co-author of the study Krista Byers-Heinlein joins Global’s Laura Casella to tell us what sounds are heard differently by a native English speaker versus a native French speaker. Find the interview here.
Q&A: Do bilinguals process sounds differently? - CTV News Montreal
(February 7, 2019)
Different languages have different sounds- how do bilinguals navigate this? Dr. Byers-Heinlein talks about a study investigating how “bah” and “pah” sounds are interpreted depending on what language participants thought they were hearing. Find the interview here.
« Bonjour, Hi » le bilinguisme chez les enfants - L’œuf ou la poule
(November 12, 2018)
What does it mean to be bilingual? Can a newborn be bilingual? Is there an advantage to learning a language earlier? Does daily bilingual exposure affect children? What are good strategies to raise a bilingual or trilingual child? Does early bilingualism affect other skills? How do you know a baby is bilingual if they can’t speak yet? Does bilingualism influence how children think? Why do some people speak with an accent and others not? What kind of research do we see in the lab’s future? What does a typical day look like in a researcher’s life? Carine Monat-Reliat interviews Dr. Byers-Heinlein (interview from 16:30 to 33:35).
Deux in one! Krista Byers-Heinlein on how bilingual babies comprehend two languages - Journal Coverage Podcast
(September 4, 2017)
Sumeet Pal Singh interviews Dr. Byers-Heinlein on how kids make sense of a bilingual world. They discuss how she found 'an expectation' for one language within a single sentence, suggesting that kids efficiently parse information that helps them comprehend and learn multiple languages at the same time. Find the story here.
Bilingual Infants Learning New Words - Princeton University News
(August 7, 2017)
Princeton University News takes a look at a Dr. Byers-Heinlein, Elizabeth Morin-Lessard, & Dr. Lew-William's new article published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Find the story here.
Bilingual Infants Learning New Words - Psychology Today
(August 2, 2017)
Dr. François Grosjean interviews Dr. Byers-Heinlein on how bilingual infants manage to learn similar-sounding words. Find the story here.
One, dos, drei: Why speaking more than one language is good for the brain - Deutsche Welle
(August 1, 2016)
There are benefits to being multilingual beyond being able to communication with more people. Find the story here.
Bilingual education changes kids’ beliefs - Mountain Lake PBS
(March 20, 2015)
Where does somebody’s native language come from? New research suggests that kids answer differently depending on their language environment. Find the story here.
Learning language, easier or harder in a bilingual environment? - Radio Canada International
(June 4, 2014)
Dr. Krista Byers-Heinlein debunks a few myths concerning infants who grow up bilingual. “We found that both monolingual and bilingual children could learn the words, but only from a speaker who matched their language-learning environment.” says Krista Byers-Heinlein. Find the story here.
For more stories on this subject:
A Lesson in Language: Dossier on Multilingualism - Panoram Italia (February 10, 2014)
Bambins bilingues, enfants brillants - La Presse (May 13, 2013)
Bilingual babies - Global Montreal (January 31, 2013)
Est-ce que les nouveau-nées peuvent être bilingue? - Tam Tam, Radio Canada International (March 10, 2010)
Learning a Second Language - Today’s Parent (April, 2009)
Dual-language babies may be smarter - Montreal Gazette
(January 17, 2013)
Bilinguals infants who are exposed to “language mixing” may start off with smaller vocabularies than monolinguals. However, that temporary drawback is offset by the “cognitive advantages” that come with bilingualism. Find the story here.
For more stories on this subject:
Growing up bilingual: Dual-language upbringing reflected in young children's vocabulary - Medical Xpress (January 16, 2013)
Milieu bilingue: amoindrissement temporaire du vocabulaire - Journal de Montréal (January 16, 2013)
A dual-language upbringing reflected in young children's vocabulary, Concordia study shows - Concordia NOW (January 15, 2013)
Babies are naturally bilingual! - Le Devoir
(October 22, 2011)
"Among other things, I studied mothers who spoke two languages during their pregnancy,” she says. “The fetus’ hearing is already highly developed in the last months of pregnancy, and they are listening to everything their mother is saying.” View the PDF here.
For more stories on this subject:
Bilingual Babies: The Roots of Bilingualism in Newborns - APS Observer (March 2010)
Two languages in the womb - The Link, Radio Canada International (February 22, 2010)
Hearing two languages in womb puts babies on bilingual path - Vancouver Sun (February 19, 2010)
Bilinguisme prénatal - Radio Canada (February 17, 2010)
Bilingual babies in utero - As It Happens, CBC Radio (February 17, 2010)
Bilingual acquisition begins in utero, study finds - The Globe and Mail (February 17, 2010)
Living language laboratory - Concordia NOW magazine (November 22, 2010)
Star researcher: Krista Byers-Heinlein wins the competition, "Ça mérite d'être reconnu!" - Concordia NOW
(October 12, 2011)
Dr. Krista Byers-Heinlein is named star researcher as one of the four winners of the "Ça mérite d’être reconnu!" competition. Find the story here.
What happens when a baby learns two languages at the same time - Ready, Set, Grow, KTCS Television, PBS
(May 27, 2009)
Bilingual babies are able to discriminate their two languages when they hear them. Study shows they also keep the capacity of using visual cues to distinguish between languages longer than monolinguals.
Bébé speaks deux langues - L’Express du Pacifique
(November 28, 2005)
Dr. Janet Werker and Dr. Krista Byers-Heinlein discuss their research with bilinguals in British Columbia. Find the PDF here.