I am interested in people's, especially learners', ability to understand and produce sentences and how these abilities are acquired in monolingual and bilingual children. I am also interested in how individual differences in children and adults affect language processing and performance.
More recently I have begun research examining sentence processing and language learning from syntactic priming in second language learners, tying in my personal interests and experiences as a language learner with my research interests.
After completing my PhD at the University of Edinburgh, I worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Illinois and University of Edinburgh before moving to Warwick to take up a lectureship.
Representative publications:
Coumel, M., Ushioda, E., & Messenger, K. in press. Second language learning via syntactic priming: Investigating the role of modality, attention and motivation. Language Learning
Messenger, K. (Ed., 2022). Syntactic priming in language acquisition: Representations, mechanisms and applications. Trends in Language Acquisition Research, 31, John Benjamins.
Messenger, K. (2021). The persistence of priming: Exploring long-lasting syntactic priming effects in children and adults. Cognitive Science, 45: e13005.
Messenger, K., & Fisher, C. (2018). Mistakes weren't made: Three-year-olds' comprehension of novel-verb passives provides evidence for early abstract syntax. Cognition, 178, 118-132.
Branigan, H. P., & Messenger, K. (2016). Consistent and cumulative effects of syntactic experience in children's sentence production: Evidence for error-based implicit learning. Cognition, 157, 250-256.
Messenger, K., Branigan, H.P., McLean, J.F. & Sorace, A. (2012). Is young children's passive syntax semantically constrained? Evidence from syntactic priming. Journal of Memory and Language, 66(4), 568?587.
- Buckle, Leone, Branigan, Holly P., Lindsay, Laura, Messenger, Katherine, 2024. Now you see me, now you don?t : children learn grammatical choices during online socially contingent video and audio interactions. Language Learning and Development
- Wesierska, Marta, Serratrice, Ludovica, Cieplinska, Vanessa, Messenger, Katherine, 2024. Investigating crosslinguistic representations in Polish-English bilingual children : evidence from structural priming. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition
- Coumel, Marion, Muylle, Merel, Messenger, Katherine, Hartsuiker, Robert, 2023. The role of explicit memory across L2 syntactic development : a structural priming study. Language Learning. A Journal of Research in Language Studies
- Coumel, Marion, Ushioda, Ema, Messenger, Katherine, 2023. Second language learning via syntactic priming : investigating the role of modality, attention and motivation. Language Learning, 73 (1), pp. 231-265
- Darmasetiyawan, I Made Sena, Messenger, Katherine, Ambridge, Ben, Darmasetiyawan, I Made Sena, Messenger, Katherine, Ambridge, Ben, Darmasetiyawan, I Made Sena, Messenger, Katherine, Ambridge, Ben, Darmasetiyawan, I Made Sena, Messenger, Katherine, Ambridge, Ben, 2022. Is passive priming really impervious to verb semantics? a high-powered replication of Messenger Et al. (2012). Collabra: Psychology, 8 (1)
- Darmasetiyawan, I Made Sena, Messenger, Katherine, Ambridge, Ben, Darmasetiyawan, I Made Sena, Messenger, Katherine, Ambridge, Ben, Darmasetiyawan, I Made Sena, Messenger, Katherine, Ambridge, Ben, Darmasetiyawan, I Made Sena, Messenger, Katherine, Ambridge, Ben, 2022. Is passive priming really impervious to verb semantics? a high-powered replication of Messenger Et al. (2012). Collabra: Psychology, 8 (1)
- Darmasetiyawan, I Made Sena, Messenger, Katherine, Ambridge, Ben, Darmasetiyawan, I Made Sena, Messenger, Katherine, Ambridge, Ben, Darmasetiyawan, I Made Sena, Messenger, Katherine, Ambridge, Ben, Darmasetiyawan, I Made Sena, Messenger, Katherine, Ambridge, Ben, 2022. Is passive priming really impervious to verb semantics? a high-powered replication of Messenger Et al. (2012). Collabra: Psychology, 8 (1)
- Darmasetiyawan, I Made Sena, Messenger, Katherine, Ambridge, Ben, 2022. Is passive priming really impervious to verb semantics? a high-powered replication of Messenger Et al. (2012). Collabra: Psychology, 8 (1)
- Coumel, Marion, Ushioda, Ema, Messenger, Katherine, 2022. Learning multiple L2 syntactic structures via chat-based alignment : what is the role of learners? prior knowledge and conscious decisions?. System, 109
- Messenger, Katherine, 2021. The persistence of priming : exploring long-lasting syntactic priming effects in children and adults. Cognitive Science, 45 (6)
- Messenger, Katherine, Hardy, Sophie M., Coumel, Marion, 2020. An exemplar model should be able to explain all syntactic priming phenomena : a commentary on Ambridge (2020). First Language, 40 (5-6), pp. 616-620
- Messenger, Katherine, Fisher, Cynthia, 2018. Mistakes weren't made : three-year-olds' comprehension of novel-verb passives provides evidence for early abstract syntax. Cognition, 178, pp. 118-132
- Hardy, Sophie, Messenger, Katherine, Maylor, Elizabeth A., 2017. Aging and syntactic representations : evidence of preserved syntactic priming and lexical boost. Psychology and Aging, 32 (6), pp. 588-596
- Branigan, Holly, Messenger, Katherine, 2016. Consistent and cumulative effects of syntactic experience in children's sentence production : evidence for error-based implicit learning. Cognition, 157, pp. 250-256
- Messenger, Katherine, Yuan, Sylvia, Fisher, Cynthia, 2015. Learning verb syntax via listening : new evidence from 22-month-olds. Language Learning and Development, 11 (4), pp. 356-368
- Messenger, Katherine, Branigan, Holly P., McLean, Janet F., Sorace, Antonella, 2012. Is young children's passive syntax semantically constrained? Evidence from syntactic priming. Journal of Memory and Language, 66 (4), pp. 568-587
- Messenger, Katherine, Branigan, Holly P., Mclean, Janet F., 2012. Is children's acquisition of the passive a staged process? Evidence from six- and nine-year-olds' production of passives. Journal of Child Language, 39 (5), pp. 991-1016
- Messenger, Katherine, Branigan, Holly P., McLean, Janet F., 2011. Evidence for (shared) abstract structure underlying children's short and full passives. Cognition, 121 (2), pp. 268-274
- Messenger, Katherine, Branigan, Holly, Buckle, Leone, Lindsay, Laura, 2022. How does syntactic priming experience support language development?. In Messenger, Katherine (ed.), Syntactic Priming in Language Acquisition : Representations, mechanisms and applications, Amsterdam, John Benjamins Publishing Company, pp. 57-82
- Messenger, Katherine, 2022. Introduction to Syntactic priming in language acquisition : representations, mechanisms and applications. In Messenger, Katherine (ed.), Syntactic Priming in Language Acquisition : Representations, mechanisms and applications, Amsterdam, John Benjamins Publishing Company, pp. 1-14
| Title | Funder | Award start | Award end |
|---|---|---|---|
| The generality of expectation violation as a mechanism for language learning Full stage linked to 73584 | Leverhulme Trust | 01 Sep 2023 | 31 Aug 2026 |
| Cross-linguistic influence and shared syntax in bilingual language development | Leverhulme Trust | 01 Sep 2020 | 14 Aug 2023 |
| How does language experience support language development? Short-term priming and long-term learning | ESRC | 01 Aug 2018 | 28 Feb 2023 |
| The role of incorrect predictions in children's comprehension of structural alternations | British Academy | 03 Aug 2020 | 31 Dec 2022 |
| Syntactic priming as implicit learning: comparing second and first language speakers | Leverhulme Trust | 02 Oct 2017 | 02 Feb 2022 |
| CoA: How does language experience support language development? Short-term priming and long-term learning; linked to Ideate 54679 | UK Research and Innovation | 01 Jun 2021 | 31 Aug 2021 |
| Syntactic Priming in Children: Just Representations or Also Implicit Learning? Early Career Fellowship | Leverhulme Trust | 01 Oct 2013 | 31 Aug 2014 |