Child Language and Speech Studies Lab
About Us
How do children master language so quickly and seemingly effortlessly, while adults often struggle for years to simply learn to order a meal in a new language? In Dr. Elizabeth Johnson’s Child Language and Speech Studies (CLASS) Lab at the University of Toronto Mississauga (UTM), we examine the perceptual, cognitive, and social factors that contribute to children’s rapid mastery of human language. Our approach is inherently interdisciplinary, bringing together insights and methodologies from developmental psychology, various branches of linguistics, and the speech sciences. Importantly, much of our research is inspired by the linguistic diversity in the community surrounding UTM.
Latest Lab News
The CLASS Lab has a fully funded PhD opening for September 2026. If you are interested, don't miss the department applications deadline in early December! Click here for more information.
September 2025
Congratulations to Julian Mobus (Leuphana University) and Lexie Chen (Nankai University) for winning Mitacs Globalink Reseach Internships to work in our lab this summer!
July 2025
Check out our latest paper in the Journal of Phonetics and read about our new framework for infant speech development called SLED (Speech and Language Enculturation and Development).
June 2025
Congratulations to Christopher Khalaf on being awarded the NSERC USRA and Gabriella Di Maio and Alexandra Maracz on being awarded the SSH UTEA to continue their research this summer.
May 2025
Congratulations to Priscilla Fung and Madeleine Yu on successfully defending their theses! This is a huge accomplishment, and we are so proud of you for your hard work and dedication.
April 2025