Dr C.E. Stoffelsma (Lieke)

My research expertise comprises language development of bilingual and multilingual learners in non-Western contexts. I am particularly interested in the interaction between learners’ mother-tongue (L1) and second language (L2) literacy development at primary and tertiary level. Within this field, I investigate the relations between the constructs of vocabulary, reading comprehension- and fluency, morphological awareness and cognitive abilities. I prefer combining quantitative measures (language testing; survey, corpus linguistics) with qualitative measures (discourse analysis; interviews, classroom observations) to enhance research outcomes. Valorisation of research outcomes is an important aspect of my work. For example, as a result of my Veni project, a series of bilingual children's books (Akan-English) will be developed in 2024 for use in primary schools in Ghana, with the aim of strengthening children's reading comprehension in both languages.