Simon Fraser University
Engaging the World

Department of Linguistics

SFU student presenters share their experience at LSURC 2023

March 22, 2023

On February 17-18, four students from SFU’s Department of Linguistics presented their final papers at UBC’s 7th annual Language Sciences Undergraduate Research Conference (LSURC). This year, held both in-person and online, undergraduate students had the opportunity to explore language and communication research through the work of their peers, as well as hear from faculty guest speakers who presented their own research on the theme of “Mediums of Communication.”

Farzana Ali and Julianne Bittante—two of the student presenters and current research assistants at LangDev Lab—shared their experience presenting at this year’s conference.

Farzana Ali

Presentation: “Environmental Entropy as a Means to Further Explore Bilingualism”

Farzana won 2nd place in the “oral presentation” competition.

“My journey to presenting at LSURC actually started with me expressing my fears of presenting to my lab director, Dr. Henny Yeung. I am extremely grateful that he challenged me and encouraged me to present our research at LSURC because I was able to overcome my fears and get a better understanding of what presenting research entails. At the conference, I enjoyed watching the passion of other undergraduate students as they presented their research. There was so much variety in the topics that were presented, and I was able to learn about other areas of language that are currently being researched. I highly encourage anyone who is considering presenting at this conference to take the leap, you have nothing to lose and so much to gain from this experience! It sounds intimidating but LSURC provides a supportive environment for the presenters, and you are surrounded by other undergraduate students. Overall, being exposed to a research conference as an undergrad was a great learning experience and I now feel more confident in my ability to prepare and present research in the future. This experience is one I will always reflect on and has left me with such a fulfilling undergraduate experience. Thanks to the LSURC team and the LangDev team, especially Dr. Henny Yeung and Dr. Andrew Cheng who made this happen.”

Julianne Bittante

Presentation: “Metalinguistic Awareness in Young Children and Toddlers”

“I am so grateful that I received the opportunity to present at LSURC 2023 as it was an incredible learning experience for me. Although I was hesitant to submit a proposal at first, the support and encouragement from friends and the Language Learning and Development Lab at SFU helped me to overcome my nerves about presenting. I would encourage anyone who is interested in presenting at all to apply because it is an excellent opportunity to practice the entire presentation process. LSURC is also a very supportive environment and a great place to meet others who are interested in similar research topics as you.”

Other LSURC student presenters included Samel To and Ivan Fong, who presented their paper on “Reversing a Cantonese Tone-merger through Conversation Tasks.”

Congratulations to these students for being selected to present at this year’s conference! To learn more about LSURC and how you can get involved at the next conference, visit their website here.