STSM testimonial – Designing a cross-linguistic task of lingustic competence

Maja Stegenwallner-Schütz is currently a guest professor at the Institute of Rehabilitation Science at the Humboldt-University of Berlin. She contributes to the development and validation of the reading comprehension stimuli of the MultiplEYE data collection and oversees the translation process. She also participated in the selection of psychometric tests as well as in the development of the Data Management Plan. She completed a Short-Term Scientific Mission at the Language, Computation and Cognition Lab at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa. During this period, she worked on developing a task design to assess linguistic competence in adults as well as on validating the comprehension questions of the MultiplEYE reading experiment.

For two weeks in late March and early April this year, I visited the Language, Computation and Cognition Lab, led by Yevgeni Berzak, at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology. My main objective for the STSM was to develop a task design for assessing linguistic competence in adults, potentially serving as an add-on test for individual differences in the MultiplEYE data collection. The goal was to create parallel tasks for German, Hebrew, and English, in order to include a cross-linguistic use from the start. I was also eager to learn about the group’s work on predicting language comprehension from eye-movements and to see their newly established eye-tracking and EEG lab.

The team was incredibly welcoming, and I had plenty of opportunities to participate in lab meetings, focused discussions on the linguistic task, lab outings, and classes thought by Yevgeni. During my stay, I presented parts of my work on German language development, which led to discussions about potential extensions to Hebrew and Arabic.
The Technion is located on the Carmel mountains and offers stunning views overseeing down-town Haifa and the Mediterranean Sea. One unique experience was the 20-minute cable car ride from the nearest train station to the campus, providing extraordinary views. Haifa is well connected by train to the bustling city of Tel Aviv. The closed campus of the Technion has all necessary facilities in one location, and I enjoyed a very comfortable stay at the on-campus guesthouse with access to the nearby swimming pool of the sports facilities, which is regularly frequented by university members and their families.

During my stay, the political and military situation of the country was palpable, with the winter term nearing its end, delayed due to the war in Gaza; with conversations touching the conflict or the political situation in Israel, and posters commemorating the hostages who were abducted on October 7, 2023, that were visible on campus. There was also a noticeable absence of GPS signals (and thus no google maps navigation) in the Haifa area as a preventive means against rocket strikes.
Despite the challenges posed by the political and military situation, my time at the Technion was both academically enriching and personally memorable. The collaborative atmosphere made it a unique experience that deepened my perspective on cross-linguistic research.

Dr. Maja Stegenwallner-Schütz
Institute of Rehabilitation Science, Humboldt-University of Berlin