International Association
for the Study of Child Language
Welcome!
History and Goals
The International Association for the Study of Child Language (IASCL) was founded in 1972 to promote international and interdisciplinary cooperation in the study of child language (read more about our history). The main goals of IASCL are to promote the systematic study of children’s language development, and to foster international and interdisciplinary collaboration in this field. IASCL members study language development from newborns to adolescents, speaking or signing all languages of the world, whether monolingual or multilingual, including typical development and language disorders. IASCL currently has close to 700 members from more than 50 countries on six continents.
Primary Activities
The primary activities of IASCL include hosting a triennial international conference, publicizing child language resources through its website and social media (Facebook, Instagram, BlueSky, LinkedIn, and YouTube), and promoting research and transfer activities in the international child language community.
Past and future IASCL congresses. Click to enlarge.
Why become a member of the IASCL?
Support the goals of IASCL and become a part of the global child language research community
The three-year IASCL membership fee is included in the registration fee for each Congress, so if you've just participated in our 2024 Prague Congress you are an IASCL member until the day before our next Congress in 2027 (more information about becoming a member here).
The Child Language Bulletin, which contains important news about our Association, book notices, a conference calendar, and other information that is of use to child language researchers everywhere, is emailed directly to our members (past volumes here). The IASCL-associated Journal of Child Language is Open Access and members are also eligible for a substantial subscription discount to First Language and the International Journal of Bilingualism.
In order to serve our goal of being as inclusive as possible, we use our membership fees mainly to help support child language scholars from across the globe to attend our Congresses. Read here about the Travel Awards we granted in 2024!