Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Cate Hamilton

Linguistic Discovery @linguisticdiscovery.com · 2d

The study found that when populations that speak unrelated languages have children together, their languages become 4 to 9 percent more likely to share linguistic features.

www.scientificamerican.com/article/gene...

Languages Have Mixed through History. Our Genes Can Reveal How

New research shows that wherever human populations mix, their languages blend as well

www.scientificamerican.com

1 5 3

Reposted by Cate Hamilton

Peter Tennant @pwgtennant.bsky.social · 2d

When is it appropriate to deviate from a pre-registration?"

WRONG ANSWERS ONLY

Cc @lakens.bsky.social

Jessie Baldwin @jessiebaldwin.bsky.social · 2d

When is it appropriate to deviate from a pre-registration, and how should this be done? 🧐

Join us to find out from Daniël Lakens @lakens.bsky.social at the next ReproducibiliTea!

October 28, 1pm GMT.

Sign up: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/when-and-h...

@tabeasch.bsky.social @reproducibilitea.org

When and How to Deviate From a Preregistration, with Prof Daniël Lakens

Prof Daniël Lakens will share guidance on appropriate circumstances and methods for deviating from a pre-registration

www.eventbrite.co.uk

10 4 12

Reposted by Cate Hamilton

Jed Brown @jedbrown.org · Aug 18

It is not "attribution and sourcing" to generate post-hoc citations that have not been read and did not inform the student's writing. Those should be regarded as fraudulent: artifacts testifying to human actions and thought that did not occur.
www.theverge.com/news/760508/...

For help with attribution and sourcing, Grammarly is releasing a citation finder agent that automatically generates correctly formatted citations backing up claims in a piece of writing, and an expert review agent that provides personalized, topic-specific feedback.

Screenshot from Grammarly's demo of inserting a post-hoc citation.
https://www.grammarly.com/ai-agents/citation-finder

6 74 230

Cate Hamilton @cateh.bsky.social · 7d

@heathrose.bsky.social @hwc001.bsky.social @robertwoore.bsky.social @faidra.bsky.social

Cate Hamilton @cateh.bsky.social · 7d

Our first #appliedlinguistics lunchtime seminar @education.ox.ac.uk is on 21st Oct, 1-2pm, with @dkcayado.bsky.social talking to us about morphology in Tagalog. Join us in person or online! Details ➡️ www.education.ox.ac.uk/event/tracki...

1 2 1

Cate Hamilton @cateh.bsky.social · 7d

We’re looking forward to your talk, @dkcayado.bsky.social - it will also be online, and there is a Teams link for people to join on the website you shared. 🙂

1

Cate Hamilton @cateh.bsky.social · 11d

Great to see this new work on Arabic learners’ motivation published in System by my colleagues Anna-Maria Ramezanzadeh, @robertwoore.bsky.social and Lars-Erik Malmberg. 🎉

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Imagining, believing and achieving in L2 Arabic: Motivational self-concepts and language outcomes in a multiglossic context

Drawing on Dörnyei's (2005) Second Language Motivational Self System and research on academic self-concept and achievement, this study explored curren…

www.sciencedirect.com

1

Cate Hamilton @cateh.bsky.social · 11d

This is a great read, thanks Hamish.

1

Cate Hamilton @cateh.bsky.social · 11d

Teaching is the best job in the world, especially with such amazing colleagues and students @education.ox.ac.uk 🥰 Honoured to have my teaching recognised with this award, and looking forward to the new term starting!

Oxford Social Sciences Division @socsci.ox.ac.uk · 13d

Congratulations Dr Catherine Hamilton @cateh.bsky.social @education.ox.ac.uk ) on receiving a #TeachingExcellence Award!

🌟Feedback from students highlights Dr Hamilton's engaging teaching style and the positive impact of her efforts on their learning outcomes.

www.socsci.ox.ac.uk/article/winn...

2

Reposted by Cate Hamilton

Health Nerd @gidmk.bsky.social · 14d

I have just left a lengthy Pubpeer comment on the autism/Tylenol study being cited by the Trump administration. There appear to be a number of fairly straightforward errors in the paper.

pubpeer.com/publications...

PubPeer - Evaluation of the evidence on acetaminophen use and neurodev...

There are comments on PubPeer for publication: Evaluation of the evidence on acetaminophen use and neurodevelopmental disorders using the Navigation Guide methodology (2025)

pubpeer.com

6 50 150

Reposted by Cate Hamilton

Thomas Lin Pedersen @thomasp85.com · Sep 11

I am beyond excited to announce that ggplot2 4.0.0 has just landed on CRAN.

It's not every day we have a new major #ggplot2 release but it is a fitting 18 year birthday present for the package.

Get an overview of the release in this blog post and be on the lookout for more in-depth posts #rstats

ggplot2 4.0.0

A new major version of ggplot2 has been released on CRAN. Find out what is new here.

www.tidyverse.org

9 280 850

Reposted by Cate Hamilton

Department of Education, University of Oxford @education.ox.ac.uk · Jul 30

How can we assess risk of bias in education research? ⚖️

Our free online course teaches all the basics of how to assess trustworthiness of experiments and quasi-experiments in education.

Start the free training ➡️ bit.ly/RoBTraining

#OxEdDeanery @theeef.bsky.social

2 6

Cate Hamilton @cateh.bsky.social · Jul 27

Ooof and again!! Amazing!

1

Reposted by Cate Hamilton

Department of Education, University of Oxford @education.ox.ac.uk · Jul 24

Elevate your education practice with our part-time courses 🧑‍🏫

Our courses in Educational Assessment, Learning and Teaching, Teacher Education, Early Childhood Education and English as an Additional Language are open for Autumn 2025 entry.

Apply now ➡️ www.education.ox.ac.uk/study/courses/

#Edusky

4 2

Cate Hamilton @cateh.bsky.social · Jul 22

“Perhaps the methods that work best are not always the ones that make us feel that they work.“ This article really chimed with what I have found in my research too. Just because we believe songs are super effective for learning languages, does not mean they actually are - we should check!

Carl Hendrick @carlhendrick.substack.com · Jul 20

*NEW POST* The Enduring Persistence of Neuromyths in Education
A new study surveying over 3,000 Spanish teachers provides one of the most detailed snapshots to date.
Fantastic work from @juanfernandez.bsky.social @ferreromar.bsky.social and colleagues

open.substack.com/pub/carlhend...

Beyond Neuromyths: Why Teachers Still Embrace Ideas That Don't Work

A new study surveying over 3,000 Spanish teachers, offers the most comprehensive picture yet of educational misconceptions in the wild.

open.substack.com

2 4

Cate Hamilton @cateh.bsky.social · Jul 22

It was INSANE right up to the last second!!! 😥🎉

1

Cate Hamilton @cateh.bsky.social · Jul 6

Yes indeed, there is lots of other research we can do about what types of songs are effective and for what purposes. Pretty sure if the song is enjoyed, it would be more effective than if not enjoyable…seems intuitive!

1

Cate Hamilton @cateh.bsky.social · Jul 6

Another side theory/hunch I have is that we don’t do enough listening as adults (perhaps spending more time on reading/writing). So if listening to songs encourages more time on the task of learning French sounds, that is good. It is bound to be better than less time on task.

1

Cate Hamilton @cateh.bsky.social · Jul 6

Cool. The evidence I’ve gathered (from 7yo total beginners) might not automatically apply to adult learners. But it seems reciting songs, chants and stories are all effective at helping learn French. Whatever you do on repeat will probably be helpful: repetition is pretty effective, so sing on!

1 1

Cate Hamilton @cateh.bsky.social · Jul 6

In this experiment (with 7yo beginners), songs, chants and stories all had a similarly positive effect on learning how to listen to and repeat French sentences. So yes, songs can help! Just no evidence here of them being superlatively effective in comparison to chants/stories. All groups improved.

1 1 2

Reposted by Cate Hamilton

Dr Kedi Simpson @kedisimpson.bsky.social · Jul 2

I wrote about dictation again, based on my year 10 Germanists in the classroom today. I hope it is useful to some - and it's not just relevant to those teaching or learning German! learninglisteninglanguages.blogspot.com/2025/07/gett...

Getting dictatorial about dictation

My year 10 Germanists have their listening mock exam tomorrow, so they wanted to ‘do listening’ today. Poor sods not knowing this is my abso...

learninglisteninglanguages.blogspot.com

2 5 6

Cate Hamilton @cateh.bsky.social · Jul 2

Do songs help primary school children learn French or are they just a bit of fun? Answers in a new Deanery Digest about my PhD project below! ⬇️

#primarymfl #songs #languagelearning

Department of Education, University of Oxford @education.ox.ac.uk · Jul 2

Can songs, stories and chants help children learn languages in primary school? 🎶

In this new Deanery Digest, Dr @cateh.bsky.social shares findings from a randomised controlled trial comparing the impact of songs, chants, and stories on French language development.

Read the digest ➡️ bit.ly/46oOC9H

Text: Comparing how songs, chants and stories contribute to Year 3 beginner French learners' oral language development in UK primary school lessons.
Image: Two children singing

2 2 3

Reposted by Cate Hamilton

Department of Education, University of Oxford @education.ox.ac.uk · Jun 11

Do you teach children with English as an Additional Language (EAL)? Join #OxfordEdDeanery's workshop on 10 July to explore the research evidence around EAL to inform policy and practice 💡

Get your ticket now (scholarships available) ➡️ bit.ly/OxEAL2025

#Edusky #TeachersofBluesky

1 1

Cate Hamilton @cateh.bsky.social · Jun 18

Thank you to my wonderful colleagues for the support and nomination, and to our incredible students for their tenacity and thirst for learning! What an honour it is to teach @education.ox.ac.uk 💙

Department of Education, University of Oxford @education.ox.ac.uk · Jun 17

Congratulations to Dr Nicole Dingwall, Dr Cate Hamilton, and Dr Lulu Shi on receiving @socsci.ox.ac.uk Teaching Excellence Awards today! 👏🎉

These awards celebrate outstanding contributions to education and teaching at @ox.ac.uk.

Read more on our website ➡️ www.education.ox.ac.uk/news/departm...

Photos of Nicole Dingwall, Cate Hamilton and Lulu Shi.
Text: 2025 Teaching Excellence Awards

2

Reposted by Cate Hamilton

Magdalena Skipper @magdalenaskipper.bsky.social · Jun 16

From today, every paper submitted to Nature -if published - will be accompanied by peer reviewers comments & authors rebuttal.

We started the trial in 2020; we now want to open up the review process & showcase its role in shaping & improving papers
🧪 #AcademicSky

www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Transparent peer review to be extended to all of Nature’s research papers

From today, all new submissions to Nature that are published will be accompanied by referees’ reports and author responses — to illuminate the process of producing rigorous science.

www.nature.com

8 68 220