This year, the REAL 2 Network summer school will focus on experimental methods in Second Language Acquisition. It will offer a non-exhaustive overview of some of the most commonly used contemporary experimental methods in SLA. It is aimed at PhD students, researchers and postdocs who would like to discover these methods or deepen their knowledge and practice in this area. The summer school programme includes presentations by several French, European and non-European researchers and expert engineers. Presentations will be given in French or English. The programme includes plenary lectures in the morning and practical workshops in the afternoon. There will also be opportunities for informal exchanges during lunches, dinners and evening events on site in a pleasant and relaxed setting.

It will take place from 5 to 10 July 2026 in St Malo, France.

Sandra Benazzo (SFL, Université Paris 8), Saveria Colonna (SFL, Université Paris 8), Annie Claude Demagny (SFL, Université Paris 8), Sarra El Ayari (SFL, Université Paris 8), Franziska Geringswald (SFL, Université Paris 8), Cyrille Granget (LNPL, Université Toulouse - Jean Jaurès), Cecilia Gunnarsson, (LNPL, Université Toulouse - Jean Jaurès), Martin Howard (Université de Cork), Pascale Leclercq (Université de Montpellier), Céline Pozniak (SFL, Université Paris 8), Fabian Santiago (SFL, Université Paris 8),  Jacopo Saturno (Université de Verone), Marzena Watorek (SFL, Université Paris 8) et Sophie Wauquier (SFL, Université Paris 8)

Sandra Benazzo (University of Paris 8)

David Birdsong (The University of Texas at Austin)

Nathalie Dherbey-Chapuis is an assistant professor at the University of Fribourg. She is involved in training future teachers of French as a Foreign Language (FLE) and French as a Second Language (FLS). Her research focuses on the phonological interface and its interaction with cognitive processes during second language acquisition, with a view to applying these findings to remedial instruction.

Paolo Della Putta (Università degli studi di Torino)

Dagmar Divjak & Petar Milin (University of Birmingham)

Dagmar Divjak holds a Chair in Cognitive Linguistics and Language Cognition at the University of Birmingham. Focused on the relation between language and cognition, her work combines corpus linguistic techniques with behavioural and physiological experimental methods. 

Petar Milin is a Professor of Psychology of Language and Language Learning at the University of Birmingham. Applying insights from learning, his work on language combines experimentation, computational modelling, and advanced statistical data analysis. 

Together they lead the interdisciplinary research group “Out of our Minds” [https://outofourminds.bham.ac.uk] which uses computational algorithms that mimic how humans learn from data to develop new ways of describing language and to transform how we learn and teach foreign languages.

Jonas Granfeldt is a professor of French linguistics at Lund University. His research focuses on language acquisition, the role of input, and language teaching. He has also worked in language acquisition, experimental psycholinguistics and early bilingualism. He leads the LAMiNATE platform and codirects the interdisciplinary TEAM project. His work reflects wide experience in language acquisition research, covering various theoretical frameworks and methodologies.

Martin Howard is a professor at the University of Cork in Ireland. His research focuses on the acquisition of French as a second language, (socio)linguistic variation, and the role of the acquisition environment. His recent publications include The Acquisition of French as a Second Language (Routledge), Approaches and Methods in French Second Language Acquisition Research (John Benjamins), and a special issue of Langue française co-edited with Amanda Edmonds on International Mobility and Language Learning: Socio-Acquisitionnal Perspectives.

Pascale Leclercq (Université Paul Valéry, Montpellier)

Maud Pélissier is an associate professor of psycholinguistics and second language acquisition at Paris Cité University. With a background in English linguistics and cognitive science, she studies the cognitive aspects of the acquisition and processing of English as a foreign language. Her work combines behavioral approaches and electroencephalography (EEG), using experimental paradigms to explore various aspects of language processing in L2.

Jacopo Saturno is currently a researcher in Slavic linguistics at the University of Verona, Italy. His expertise concerns the following two areas of applied linguistics:

- Acquisition of Slavic languages as L2 (nominal morphology, gender, input)

- Intercomprehension among Slavic and Romance languages and its applications

in language teaching.

Over time, he has developed an interest and some skills in various aspects of experimental linguistics, including the design of data collection protocols and inferential statistics (especially Bayesian).

Jeffrey Steele is a professor in the Department of Language Studies at the University of Toronto Mississauga and a faculty member in the graduate programs in French Studies and Language and Literacy Education (Ontario Institute for Studies in Education) at the University of Toronto. As a linguist, his research focuses on cognitive approaches to second- and third-language acquisition, experimental phonology, second-language assessment, and literacy acquisition among young students in French immersion programs.

Takeki Kamiyama is a Maître de conférences (Senior Lecturer / Associate Professor) at Paris 8 University Vincennes - Saint-Denis. He obtained his PhD in phonetics in 2009 from the Sorbonne Nouvelle University (Laboratory of Phonetics and Phonology). His research focuses on the acquisition of segmental and suprasegmental aspects of foreign, second and third languages (particularly French, English and Japanese).