Yeşim Sevinç is an Assistant Professor of Multilingual Language Acquisition. She obtained her PhD in Interdisciplinary Linguistics at  Center for Multilingualism in Society across the Lifespan (MultiLing), University of Oslo. Prior to University of Amsterdam, she worked as a postdoctoral researcher at  MultiLing, University of Oslo, and Norwegian University of Science and Technology.

Her main research interest lies in the topic of linguistic, social, psychological, pedagogical and physiological aspects of multilingualism with a special focus on minority contexts. Through an interdisciplinary approach, investigating multilingual language acquisition, language use and practices, and affective factors such as motivation and emotions, identity-based anxiety, beliefs, and attitudes, and how all these factors interact in influencing multilinguals’ daily lives has been the basis of her research thus far. 

Her recent publications address multilingualism and emotions both within and outside the family domain, including an edited Special Issue at the International Journal of Bilingualism (2022) and two handbook chapters in the Handbook on Language and Emotion (De Gruyter Mouton, 2022), and in the Handbook of Applied Linguistic Series: Social and affective factors in home language maintenance and development (De Gruyter Mouton, 2020). 

She is the co-coordinator and founder of the ACLC research group: Language, Emotion and Well-being

Anxious multilingual brain: Emotions and resilience in transnational migration

(NWO-Open Competition XS grant-2024-2025)

The purpose of this research project is to explore the link between linguistic, psychosocial and psychophysiological processes of multilingual experiences by answering the following broad questions:

What happens in the multilingual brain when multilinguals speak the language(s) they feel anxious about? What bodily symptoms accompany this sense of anxiety? How do negative emotions such as anxiety affect multilinguals’ language use and well-being? How do immigrant multilinguals cope with their negative emotions and build emotional resilience? Do specific cues, lived experiences or environmental contexts trigger their negative emotions?

2022    FGW Research Innovation and Sustainability (RIS) Fund Research and Innovation Scholarship

(Faculty of Humanities, University of Amsterdam)

Emotions in Transnational Migration, Center for Multilingualism in Society across the Lifespan (MultiLing), University of Oslo

Acquisition of English in Multilingual Classrooms in Norway Norwegian University of Science and Technology

Language Anxiety in the Immigrant Context: An Interdisciplinary Perspective (Completed) Center for Multilingualism in Society across the Lifespan (MultiLing), University of Oslo

Language Contact and Language Change among Turkish Families in Norway and France (Completed) Center for Multilingualism in Society across the Lifespan (MultiLing), University of Oslo

Krulatz, A., Christison, M., Lorenz, E. & Sevinç, Y. (2024) The impact of teacher professional development on teacher cognition and multilingual teaching practices, International Journal of Multilingualism, DOI: 10.1080/14790718.2022.2107648

Sevinç, Y.& Mirvahedi, S.H. (2022) (eds.). Emotions and Multilingualism in Family Language Policy: Introduction to the special issue. International Journal of Bilingualism. https://doi.org/10.1177/13670069221131

Sevinç, Y. (2022). Emotion in migration and in language contact settings. In G.L. Schiewer, J. Altarriba and B. Chin Ng (eds.), Handbook on Language and Emotion. De Gruyter Mouton. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110670851-032

Sevinç, Y. (2022). Mindsets and family language pressure: Language or anxiety transmission across generations? Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development. In special issue, Family Language Policy in a Comparative Perspective, Yağmur K. & Bohnacker, U. (eds.). https://doi.org/10.1080/01434632.2022.2038614

Sevinç, Y. & Anthonissen, C. (2022). "What's the problem? I am happy that you're my customer!" African immigrant women's emotional labor and resilience in a multilingual workplace. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Develpment. https://doi.org/10.1080/01434632.2022.2120614 

Sevinc, Y., Krulatz, A., Torgersen, E. N., & Christison, M. (2022). Teaching English in Linguistically Diverse Classrooms in Norway: Teachers' Beliefs, Practices, and Needs in Multilingual Education. In Anna Krulatz; Georgios Neokleous & Anne Dahl (ed.)  Theoretical and Applied Perspectives on Teaching Foreign Languages in Multilingual Settings: Pedagogical Implications.  Multilingual Matters.  ISBN 9781788926409.  12.

Christison, M., Krulatz, A., Sevinç, Y.  (2021). Supporting Teachers of Multilingual Young Learners: Multilingual Approach to Diversity in Education (MADE). Studies in Second Language Learning. In special issue, Joanna Rokita-Jaśkow & Agata Wolanin (eds.), Facing Diversity in Child Foreign Language Education. Springer.

Sevinç, Y. (2020). Language anxiety as a negative emotion in home language maintenance and development. In A. Schalley and S. Eisenchlas (eds.), Handbook of Applied Linguistic Series: Social and affective factors in home language maintenance and development. De Gruyter Mouton.  ISBN 978-1-5015-1689-4.  Chapter 5. 84–108.

Sevinç, Y. (2020). Toward an interdisciplinary understanding of heritage language anxiety. Hagen, Hjelde, Stjernholm & Vangsnes (eds.) Bauta: Janne Bondi Johannessen in memoriam. Oslo Studies in Language11(3), 2020. 457–472. (ISSN 1890-9639 / ISBN 978-82-91398-12-9)

Sevinç, Y. (2018). Language anxiety in the immigrant context: Sweaty palms? International Journal of Bilingualism, 22(6), 717–739.

Sevinç, Y., & Backus, A. (2019). Anxiety, language use and linguistic competence in an immigrant context: A vicious circle? International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 22(6), 706-724.

Sevinç, Y. & Dewaele, J-M. (2017). Heritage language anxiety and majority language anxiety among Turkish immigrants in the Netherlands. International Journal of Bilingualism, 22(2), 159-179. 

Sevinç, Y. (2016). Language maintenance and shift under pressure: Three generations of the Turkish immigrant community in the Netherlands. International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 242, 81-117.

Sevinç, Y. (2017). Language anxiety in the immigrant context: An interdisciplinary perspective. PhD thesis. University of Oslo.

Dewaele, J-M., & Sevinç, Y.  (2017). La double anxiété langagière des immigrants. Babylonia, The Journal of Language Teaching and Learning, 1. Special Issue: Immigrants and language issues.

Sevinç, Y. (2014). Linguistic and social factors in Turkish-Dutch contact across generations. Dutch Journal of Applied Linguistics, 3(1): 82-100. 

Interview with Raising Multilinguals Live – Ute Liemacher-Riebold; Rita Rosenback & Tetsu Yung. Let's talk about Heritage Language Anxiety. [Internett], (May, 2021).

Multilingualism through diverse voices and contexts of life. Mother tongue into socioemotional encounters of multilingualism. MultiLing, University of Oslo (2021)

Anxiety in the multilingual mind. The multilingual mind across the lifespan. Research days, Litteraturhuset, Oslo (2020). 

Interview with Morgenbladet, Language Anxiety (Angsten for å snakke feil) (Oslo, 2017).

Multilingualism in the Classroom (6EC)

Term Paper Linguistics (6EC)

Second Language Acquisition (6 EC)

English Research Seminar (6 EC)

Sociolinguistics (6 EC)

English Linguistics 2: English and Englishes (6 EC)

English Linguistics 4: Research in English Linguistics (6 EC)

Tutoring Bachelor's in English Language and Culture

Sociocognitive and Sociocultural Perspectives in Second Language Acquisition University of Oslo

Introduction to Sociolinguistics and Psycholinguistics University of Oslo

Multilingualism in EFL classrooms: From Theory to Practice. 29ENG2510-1 Literature, Culture and Teaching English, (In-service teacher training programme) Innland Norway University of Applied Sciences

First and second language acquisition University of Oslo 

Introduction to Sociolinguistics and Psycholinguistics University of Oslo