Dr Marta Wesierska
LECTURER IN DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY
Psychology
wesierm@hope.ac.uk
I completed my BSc in Psychology at the University of Warwick in 2013 and a MSc in Development, Disorders and Clinical Practice in the Department of Psychology at the University of York in 2014. I remained in York to complete my PhD (thesis title: The language and literacy profile of young Polish children learning English as an additional language in the UK school system.) under the supervision of Dr Emma Hayiou-Thomas and Dr Claudine Bowyer-Crane in 2018.
After completing my PhD I completed three postdocs at the University of Sheffield (Modality and Reading Comprehension in School Age Children), University of York (Mathematical Cognition in Primary School Children) and University of Warwick (Cross-linguistic influence and shared syntax in bilingual language development). I joined Liverpool Hope University in 2022 as a Lecturer in Psychology.
My research interests mainly focus on multilingual language and literacy development. I am interested in the similarities and differences in young multilingual children's school attainment in comparison to their monolingual peers as well as their development of phonology, grammar and reading abilities specifically. I also research multilingual teenagers' language abilities, in particular in relation to syntax. With regards to reading, I am interested in whether there are differences in comprehension based on the modality the text is presented in, as well as interventions to improve comprehension in multilingual pupils. My other area of research interest is in speech and language disorders, in particular in fluency. I research the knowledge of and attitudes towards fluency disorders such as stammering and cluttering in different groups such as teachers, students clinicians and the general public.
I teach on the Psychology in Globalisation first year module where the students learn about how constructs and theories in Psychology are influenced by culture and the globalising world. In the second year I teach the Developmental Psychology module. In 2023 I also started teaching on the new MSc in Applied Developmental Psychology course where I take on the relationships and belonging part of the Applied Development Science, Policy and Practice module as well as being responsible for the Placement module. I supervise both BSc and MSc dissertations