Shawn Loewen
Professor; Associate Chair for Graduate Studies
Shawn Loewen's research includes instructed second language acquisition, second language interaction and quantitative research methodology.
Get in touchBiography
Shawn Loewen (MA, Temple University, PhD, University of Auckland) is Professor at Michigan State University in the MATESOL and Second Language Studies programs. He also serves as director of the Second Language Studies program. He teaches courses on second language acquisition and quantitative research methods, and his research interests include instructed second language acquisition, second language interaction and quantitative research methodology. In particular, his current interests include the ... link between SLA research and researchers, on the one hand, and second language teachers and pedagogy on the other. In addition to publishing in leading SLA journals, he has co-authored two books, Key Concepts in Second Language Acquisition (with Reinders, 2009), and An A-Z of Applied Linguistics Research Methods (with Plonsky, 2016). His sole authored book, Introduction to Instructed Second Language Acquisition, appeared in 2015, and the co-edited The Routledge Handbook of Instructed Second Language Acquisition (with Sato) was published in 2017. In 2018, he became the associate editor of The Modern Language Journal.
Read MoreEducation
University of Auckland: Ph.D.,
Temple University: M.A.,
Selected Press
Use Of Language-Learning Apps Spiked During The Pandemic. Will It Last?
Texas Public Radio - The Source | 2021-07-07
Guests:
Cindy Blanco, Ph.D., senior learning scientist for Duolingo and former college instructor of Spanish and linguistics
John Grundy, Ph.D., assistant professor of cognitive neuroscience at Iowa State specializing in bilingualism and the brain
Shawn Loewen, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Linguistics, Languages and Cultures and director of the Second Language Studies program at Michigan State University
Duolingo introduces true crime to its bilingual podcast
Marketplace | 2020-10-22
pay for it — but said there’s so much good free content on the internet already.
Shawn Loewen, professor of second language acquisition at Michigan State University, said language programs tend to overpromise, whether you’re paying or not, but the long-form narrative might work.
“Any exposure to the target language is good,” he said. “If you understand the larger sense of things because part of it has been told to you in English, and then you hear something in Spanish, you’re more likely to understand that because you’re able to kind of fill in with some of your other background knowledge.”
Can you actually learn a new language through an app?
WHYY | 2020-07-24
I started with Shawn Loewen, a professor at Michigan State University and head of the Second Language Studies Program, and asked him if language apps really work.
“Sort of?” he replied.
There hasn’t been a ton of research done, in part, Loewen said, because academics view apps as “gimmicky.” He’s done two small studies on the efficacy of language learning apps, one about Duolingo and another about Babbel.
How effective are language learning apps?
MSU Today | 2020-04-23
“Millions of people are studying languages on these apps, and as teachers and researchers of second language acquisition, we have no idea what’s really happening learning-wise,” Loewen said. “I wanted to find out and to gather some data.”
