When & how do we recruit new students?
We recruit new undergraduate assistants in the Language Acquisition Lab every year, separately for the Fall and Spring semesters and for 8 weeks in the summer (Summer Session II). Getting involved in research is great preparation for students interested in attending graduate school.
Update: We are now taking applications for SPRING 2026!
The best time to apply for Summer and Fall is late March to early April (of the preceding semester), and the best time to apply for Spring is in early November.
What are the responsibilities & requirements?
We do experiments on word learning and sentence processing in toddlers, preschoolers, and adults. Students can learn about and participate in many aspects of this research, including any of the following:
- helping to design and construct materials for experiments
- testing toddlers, preschoolers, and adults in experiments
- transcribing and coding adults’ or children’s speech (recorded in some experiments)
- coding visual fixations from video recordings
- learning to use an automatic eye-tracker
We seek responsible, highly motivated students with an interest in language, learning, and children, to assist with both online (by scheduled Zoom appointments with participants) and in-lab research projects. Previous experience with children, and prior coursework in cognitive psychology, speech & hearing, or linguistics are very helpful. No prior research experience is required.
New students in the lab sign up for 3 credit hours of PSYC 290, and work 3 3-hour lab shifts; experienced students continuing in the lab may sign up for 2 credit hours, and work 2 3-hour shifts. Note that the weekly time commitments per credit hour are different for Summer Session II, because the lab is only set up for 8 weeks in the summer (see application for information about credit hours and schedule).
How to apply?
If this sounds interesting to you, and you think you have room in your schedule for a Psych 290, we hope you’ll apply. Please fill out an application form here. If you have questions about the application or our lab, you can contact us at lalab@illinois.edu.