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 2027. If you are interested, don't miss the department applications deadline in early December! Click here for more information.
August 2026
Congratulations to graduate student Jade Fok for winning the SSHRC CGS-Doctoral Award, to fund her research on understanding the development of speech perception in children.
July 2026
Congratulations to our undergraduate students Semilore Olafare and Alexandra Maracz on winning best poster and best thesis, respectively, at the Psychology Undergraduate Research Fair.
May 2026
Dr. Elizabeth Johnson has been awarded a 5-year SSHRC Insight Grant entitled "Building a New Framework for Understanding Speech and Langauge Development."
April 2026
Our paper titled "Linking the depiction of accents in children's media to the development of language sterotypes" was accepted by the journal Child Development.
March 2026