Dr KAREN LUDKE

As a Senior Lecturer in English Language, my main teaching interests relate to first (L1) and additional (L2) language learning, bilingualism, and what we know about language learning and memory through psycholinguistic research studies. I teach various modules and I lead modules focused on child language development and language, mind and communication.

From 2016-2023 I served as the International Co-ordinator for English, supporting incoming students from other countries and our Edge Hill students who were taking part in study abroad opportunities. 

My research and publications focus on the inclusion of the arts to support language learning, particularly through musical activities and singing. My published work includes experimental studies designed to teach words and phrases in a new language, through the comparison of three ‘listen-and-repeat’ learning conditions: speaking, rhythmic speaking and singing; as well as classroom-based research with a language education focus.

In addition, I have developed pedagogical resources and articles for teachers related to the European Music Portfolio: A Creative Way into Languages project. Because of my involvement in the Advancing Interdisciplinary Research in Singing (AIRS) network, I co-edited and contributed chapters to The Routledge Companion to Interdisciplinary Studies in Singing, Volume II: Education with Helga R. Gudmundsdottir, Carol Beynon, & Annabel J. Cohen (March 2020). 

I am interested to hear proposals from potential MRes. and PhD students interested in conducting interdisciplinary research, particularly projects that combine first and additional language learning with the arts, music and popular culture.