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Article In: Linguistics in the Netherlands 2026
Edited by Remco Knooihuizen, Marloes Oomen and Alex Reuneker
[Nota Bene 3:2] 2026

Evaluating the impact of children’s engagement with language science at the Kletskoppen festival

Having fun matters!

 | Radboud University | Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics
 | Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics
This content is being prepared for publication; it may be subject to changes.
Abstract
Language scientists regularly engage non-academic publics with their research. They use diverse formats (e.g., podcasts, blogs, roadshows) to achieve varying goals, such as providing enhancing knowledge, creating awareness, and changing attitudes. Rarely, however, are these goals properly evaluated. This study reports on an impact evaluation of such a public engagement activity, Kletskoppen (‘Chatterboxes’), a festival for primary-school-aged children which aims to increase children’s interest in language and broaden their view of science. Responses from children aged 6 to 12 (n = 81) indicated that due to the activities at the festival, 76% found language more interesting and 45% had changed their attitude to science. For both language and science, changes were predicted by children’s emotional memory, but not by gender, age, language enjoyment at school or science capital. Children’s elaborations on their responses suggested that their increased interest in language did not always extend to the school context and that language science aspect of the festival was not recognized by all. We reflect on the implications of these findings for Kletskoppen in particular, and for public engagement in (language) science more generally.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
    • 1.1Children’s attitudes to language
    • 1.2Children’s attitudes to science
    • 1.3Impact evaluation at science festivals
    • 1.4The present study
  • 2.Method
    • 2.1Setting
    • 2.2Instrument
    • 2.3Procedure
    • 2.4Participants
    • 2.5Data coding and analysis
  • 3.Results
    • 3.1Change in children’s attitudes to language
    • 3.2Children’s attitudes to science
  • 4.Discussion
    • 4.1Increasing children’s interest in language
    • 4.2Changing children’s attitudes to science (or not)
    • 4.3The role of positive emotions: Having fun matters
    • 4.4Limitations
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Note
  • References
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