Prof. Dr. Pascale Engel de Abreu
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| Faculty or Centre | Faculty of Humanities, Education and Social Sciences | ||||||||
| Department | Department of Humanities | ||||||||
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Université du Luxembourg Maison des Sciences Humaines 11, Porte des Sciences L-4366 Esch-sur-Alzette |
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| Campus Office | MSH, E03 15-020 | ||||||||
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Meet the scientists: Psychologist - Pascale Engel de Abreu
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| Speaks | English, French, German, Luxembourgish, Portuguese, Spanish | ||||||||
Head of the Language and Cognitive Development Group
About me
I am Associate Professor in multilingual cognitive development.
I specialised in cognitive development in my PhD from the University of York (UK) and hold master's degrees in developmental psychology from the University of Durham (UK) and the Université Louis Pasteur (France). I have postdoctoral research experience from the University of Oxford (UK), the University of Princeton (US), and York University (Canada). I am also a registered child psychologist in Luxembourg and have worked with disadvantaged children in Africa, Bolivia, and Brazil.
My research
I am interested in understanding how children learn, why some children can have “specific learning disorders” (such as dyslexia) and how we can help children achieve their full potential at school. I study important cognitive processes that children need to learn to speak, read and write such as working memory, executive functions and phonological awareness. I am particularly interested in exploring these processes in multilingual speakers.
Most of my research is conducted in schools using diverse methodologies, including longitudinal, cross-sectional and intervention research. I often work with kids individually and use simple (and fun) games to find out more about how they think and learn.
My research has important theoretical but also practical implications. One of the major aims is to develop theoretically-driven assessment instruments and intervention programs that will help to alleviate children's learning difficulties and might prevent a downward spiral towards poor educational progress and its associated social problems.
Further information
- Language and Cognitive Development Group
- ResearchGate: Profile
- Academia: Profile
Last updated on: Friday, 16 September 2022
I study questions such as:
- How does a child’s environment influence his language and cognitive development?
- How can a “specific learning disorder” be detected in a multilingual child?
- What are the optimal conditions for becoming perfectly multilingual?
- How do children learn to read in a second language and how can this be made easier?
- Why do language-minority children struggle in the Luxembourgish educational system and what can we do to best support their learning?
- What are the effects of multilingualism on brain development?
Below is a short description of some of my recent projects:
- Preschool Oral Language Intervention for Language-Minority Children: The aim is to develop and evaluate the effectiveness of a mother-tongue based preschool language intervention program on the language and literacy outcomes for language-minority children growing up in Luxembourg using a randomised controlled study design. The program will run for 30 weeks in preschool across Year 1 (C1.1) and Year 2 (C1.2) and will mainly focus on developing children’s vocabulary knowledge as well as their narrative, listening and phonological skills.
- The Effects of Multilingualism and Socioeconomic Status on Children’s Cognitive Development: Executive functions - the set of cognitive processes that underpin our ability to control our thoughts, actions and emotions - are crucial for educational progress and success in later life. The major aim of this project is to advance the understanding of the extrinsic factors that can have an impact on children’s executive function development. The study is multinational involving Universities from Brazil (USP, UNIFESP), Germany (Universität des Saarlandes) and Portugal (University of Minho).
- Early Literacy Instruction in a Multilingual Setting: This project plans to foster the development of pre-literacy skills in young children in order to build a strong foundation for their subsequent reading development. We are developing a theoretically motivated language and pre-literacy program for children in Luxembourg. The program will systematically build up children’s phonological awareness, letter-sound knowledge and broader oral language skills. It will be in Luxembourgish and will be multisensory.
- Language Development in Exceptional Circumstances: A Longitudinal Study of Children with Specific Language Impairment: Specific language impairment (SLI) is a clinical condition that is diagnosed when a child fails to acquire language normally, despite apparently typical development in other areas. The diagnosis of SLI in multilingual speakers is difficult because there is often a confusion between language “disorders” and “disadvantages”. The aim of this research is to identify markers for the early identification of SLI in multilingual children. We are exploring the hypothesis that tests of executive functions might distinguish typical from impaired language development in the context of multilingualism.
- The Development of Culture-Fair Assessment Tools for Testing Language and Cognition in Children: There is a need for unbiased tools for assessing language and cognition in multilingual children. The aim of this project is to develop phonological processing, lexical processing, working memory and general cognitive ability tasks that are not influenced by the cultural and linguistic elements that come with diverse populations.
Last updated on: 04 Sep 2014
2022
Preschool predictors of learning to read and spell in an additional language: a two-wave longitudinal study in a multilingual context.; ; ;
in Reading and Writing (2022)
Investigating mental health of children in out-of-home care during the COVID-19 pandemic; ;
Scientific Conference (2022, September 16)
Investigating subjective well-being and mental health of children in out-of-home care during the COVID-19 pandemic; ;
Scientific Conference (2022, September 15)
2021
Subjective Well-Being of Adolescents in Luxembourg, Germany, and Brazil During the COVID-19 Pandemic; ; ; ; ;
in Journal of Adolescent Health (2021)
D´Wuelbefanne vu Kanner a Pandemie-Zäiten. Resultater a Perspektiven;
Presentation (2021, November 18)
Présentation des résultats de l’étude COVID - KIDS menée par l’Université du Luxembourg et UNICEF Luxembourg;
Presentation (2021, May 05)
Practices and experiences of distant education during the COVID-19 pandemic: The perspectives of six- to sixteen-year-olds from three high-income countries; ; ;
in International Journal of Educational Research Open (2021), 2(2), 11
Covid-Kids II. Survey for children aged 6 to 16 about their experiences during the Covid-19 pandemic; ; ;
E-print/Working paper (2021)
Évaluation de la mémoire de travail : un outil de différenciation entre trouble du langage et différence du langage dans des contextes multilingues ?;
in ANAE: Approche Neuropsychologique des Apprentissages chez l'Enfant (2021), 33(171), 194-204
Assessments of working memory: a tool for differentiating between language disorder and language difference in multilingual contexts?;
in ANAE: Approche Neuropsychologique des Apprentissages chez l'Enfant (2021), 33(171), 194-204
2020
Cross national variation in the impact of COVID-19 on children and education; ; ;
Presentation (2020, July 07)
Effects of an Early Literacy Intervention for Linguistically Diverse Children: A Quasi-Experimental Study; ;
in Frontiers in Psychology (2020), 11
Understanding the influence of COVID-19 on children’s and adolescents’ school experience and subjective well-being; ;
Presentation (2020, December 13)
COVID-KIDS. Predictors of subjective well-being. Children’s and adolescents’ homeschooling experience.; ;
Presentation (2020, October 21)
School experiences of children and adolescents in Luxembourg, Germany and Switzerland during the first wave of the lockdown; ; ; ;
Presentation (2020, December 17)
2019
Promoting literacy development in linguistically diverse learners: an early-literacy intervention study; ;
Scientific Conference (2019, July)
2018
Developing literacy in language-minority children: a pre-literacy intervention study in Luxembourg; ;
Scientific Conference (2018)
2017
Learning to read in a foreign language - A longitudinal study of children from immigrant families; ;
Scientific Conference (2017, September 01)
2016
LESEN LERNEN IN EINER FREMDSPRACHE Prädiktoren des Lesens bei Kindern mit Migrationshintergrund; ;
Diverse speeches and writings (2016)
Aprendendo a ler em uma língua estrangeira - Preditores de leitura em crianças imigrantes de minoria linguística; ;
Diverse speeches and writings (2016)
Boosting Early Language as a Foundation for Literacy – Essential but neither Simple nor Easy;
E-print/Working paper (2016)
The Developing Child: Learning and Learning Difficulties in a Multilingual Context; ; ; ; ; ; ;
in The Developing Child: Learning and Learning Difficulties in a Multilingual Context (2016)
2015
Language promotion and language practices in early educational settings in Luxembourg: Research projects in the fields of non-formal and formal education; ;
Scientific Conference (2015, March 06)
2014
Multilingualism and Specific Language ImpairmentConference given outside the academic context (2014)
The Cross-Linguistic Lexical Task in bilingual children from Luxembourg. Psychometric properties and clinical implicationsScientific Conference (2014, July 17)
Executive functioning and reading achievement in school: a study of Brazilian children assessed by their teachers as “poor readers”; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;
in Frontiers in Psychology (2014), 5
Cross-Linguistic and Cross-Cultural Effects on Verbal Working Memory and Vocabulary: Testing Language Minority Children with an Immigrant Background; ; ;
Scientific Conference (2014, July 03)
Specific language impairment in language-minority children from low-income families; ;
in International Journal of Language and Communication Disorders (2014), 49(6), 736-747
Specific language impairment in language minority children from low-income families; ;
in Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology (2014, May), 56(S3), 7-23
Bilingualism Enriches the Poor: Enhanced Cognitive Control in Low-Income Minority Children; ; ; ;
Scientific Conference (2014, July 16)
Working memory screening, school context, and socioeconomic status: An analysis of the effectiveness of the Working Memory Rating Scale in Brazil; ; ; ; ; ;
in Journal of Attention Disorders (2014), 18(4), 301-311
Cross-linguistic Lexical Tasks (CLT) and word knowledge in monolingual children; ; ; ; ; ; ;
Scientific Conference (2014, July 17)
2013
Working memory and fluid intelligence; ;
in Alloway, T; Alloway, R. G. (Eds.) Working Memory the Connected Intelligence (2013)
D‘Exekutivfunktiounen a spezifesch SproochentwécklungsstéierungenConference given outside the academic context (2013)
Cross-linguistic and cross-cultural effects on verbal working memory and vocabulary: Testing minority-language children with an immigrant background; ; ;
in Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing research (2013), 56(2), 630-642
Executive functions in language-minority children with specific language impairment; ;
Poster (2013, May)
Bilingualism Enriches the Poor: Enhanced Cognitive Control in Low-Income Minority Children; ; ; ;
Poster (2013, June 24)
Bilingualism enriches the poor: Enhanced cognitive control in low-income minority children; ; ; ;
Scientific Conference (2013, September 04)
Poverty and executive functions A latent variable study of children growing up in enriched and deprived conditions in Brazil; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;
Poster (2013, April)
Can measures of executive function disentangle language disorder and disadvantage; ; ;
Scientific Conference (2013, June 27)
Effects of impoverished environmental conditions on working memory performance; ; ; ;
in Memory (2013), Mar 26. [Epub ahead of print]
2012
Bilingualism Enriches the Poor: Enhanced Cognitive Control in Low-Income Minority ChildrenPresentation (2012, April)
D’Exekutivfunktiounen an d’Sproochentwécklung bei jonken Immigrantekanner zu LëtzebuergConference given outside the academic context (2012)
Bilingualism Enriches the Poor: Enhanced Cognitive Control in Low-Income Minority Children; ; ; ;
in Psychological Science (2012), 23(11), 1364-1371
Language bias in nonword repetition: Towards a culture fair nonword repetition task;
Presentation (2012, May)
Executive and phonological processes in second language acquisition;
in Journal of Educational Psychology (2012), 104(4), 974-986
Working memory, executive functions, language, and socio-economical status: A latent variable study of children from Brazil; ; ; ; ; ; ;
Presentation (2012, June)
L'école luxembourgeoise: (quel) besoin de changement?;
Conference given outside the academic context (2012)
2011
O EFEITO DO NIVEL SOCIOECONÔMICO NO DESENVOLVIMENTO COGNITIVO INFANTIL; ; ; ; ; ;
Poster (2011, May)
Working memory and fluid intelligence: A multi-mechanism view; ; ;
in Sternberg, R; Kaufman, S (Eds.) Cambridge Handbook of Intelligence (2011)
The development of working memory and related cognitive abilities - Environmental and schooling effectsScientific Conference (2011, June)
Environmental effects on the development of crystallized and fluid cognitionPresentation (2011, February)
Working memory in multilingual children: Is there a bilingual effect?in Memory (2011), 19(5), 529-537
Cultural and language effects on measures of vocabulary and working memory;
Scientific Conference (2011, June)
Disentangling the relationship between working memory and language: the roles of short-term storage and cognitive control; ;
in Learning and Individual Differences (2011), 21
Executive functions, language, socio-economical status, and multilingualism: How does it all relate?;
Presentation (2011, September)
Working memory, executive functions, language, and socio-economic status - A Latent Variable Study of Children From Brazil; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;
Scientific Conference (2011, July)
Executive functions, language, and socio-economic status; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;
Scientific Conference (2011, June)
2010
The development of working memory capacity and fluid intelligence in children; ;
Scientific Conference (2010, December)
2009
WORKING MEMORY AND LEARNING: A LONGITUDINAL STUDY OF TRILINGUAL CHILDRENScientific Conference (2009, August)
Working memory and learning: Evidence from a population of trilingual children;
Poster (2009, April)
Adaptação Brasileira da AWMA, "Automated Working Memory Assessment";
in Ortiz; Zanotto de Mendonça; Foz; Batista Santos; Fuentes; Amaral de Azambuja (Eds.) Avaliação Neuropsicológica. Panorama interdisciplinar dos estudos atuais na normatização e validação de instrumentos no Brasil (2009)
2008
Are working memory measures free of socio-economic and cultural influence?; ; ;
Scientific Conference (2008, January)
Are working memory measures free of socio-economic influence?; ;
in Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing research (2008), 51(6), 1580-1587
2007
Path between working memory, phonological awareness, and language: Evidence from children in a multilingual society;
Scientific Conference (2007, August)
Links between working memory, phonological awareness, and language learning;
Scientific Conference (2007, September)
ARE WORKING MEMORY MEASURES FREE OF SOCIO-ECONOMIC AND CULTURAL INFLUENCES?; ; ;
Scientific Conference (2007, September)
