pamela rogerson revell
I'm a Professor in Applied Linguistics and TESOL at the University of Leicester. I research and teach in several areas of applied linguistics and TESOL including online language learning.
Activity
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pamela rogerson revell replied to Ernesto Jacobo
I'm glad to hear you're studying for our PhD Ernesto and wish you all the best with your studies. Many thanks for your positive comments about this course. I hope it's been of value to you.
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There seems to be quite a lot of agreement amongst us about the last 3 statements above but less about the first two (i.e. the goal of 'nativeness' and prioritising segmentals or suprasegmentals. As I say in the feedback to this exercise, this reflects the fact that there is a lot of debate surrounding these issues.
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Your comments show many ways that you would be supportive in situations like this. A lot of you say you would slow down and there's research evidence to show that typically people speak more quickly in their first language than in other languages. There is however the danger that we adopt what has been referred to as 'foreigner talk' (Ferguson,...
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Well-observed Ernesto. Do you think the voice changes are effective?
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Lots of interesting, and differing, views here. It's important to remember that Jenkins (2000) wasn't suggesting a set of 'rules' for teaching pronunciation but a list of priorities to ensure intelligibility between L2 speakers of English. Her findings were based on analysing communication between non-native speakers and seeing when and why pronunciation...
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Many of you agree that people shouldn't need to reduce or neutralise their accent unless it interferes with intelligibility. This seems a very sensible approach - the difficulty is knowing how to separate those features of pronunciation which affect clarity of speech more than others.
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A very sensible comment Ernesto
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Glad you enjoyed the activity - not easy to guess accents though!
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pamela rogerson revell made a comment
It seems from everyone's answers to this activity, that there is a general preference for speakers 2 and 5, with speakers 1 and 3 at the bottom of the scale. It's interesting though that we don't necessarily find the most fluent speakers to be the easiest to understand. Also, the two speakers who are judged by as most fluent (5 and 2) also come out top in...
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Thanks for the interesting link!
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You're quite right about the frustration people can feel when they can't express themselves clearly or quickly enough. I bet you feel like that with your mum.
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Welcome to the course Valeria. Could you post messages in English so that more readers can reply. Thanks.
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pamela rogerson revell made a comment
We hope this first week has helped you see how broad the field of applied linguistics can be and how it can share light on many aspects of how we communicate both individually and socially.
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You're quite right Masato that culture can play a very important part in international business communication and developing awareness of this is key for all participants.
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Excellent MS - good decision!
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As some of you point out, 'often' can be pronounced either way- with or without the /t/, although anecdotally, I think the silent /t/ version may be considered higher status by some in British English.
The phrase ‘That your new car, is it?, is an example of how spoken language can diverge from what is considered grammatically correct in standard written... -
As some of you point out, 'often' can be pronounced either way- with or without the /t/, although anecdotally, I think the silent /t/ version may be considered higher status by some in British English.
The phrase ‘That your new car, is it?, is an example of how spoken language can diverge from what is considered grammatically correct in standard written... -
Lots of really interesting views here. It's especially good to hear from people from such a range of backgrounds, socially and geographically. In particular, I like the point that gender differences might be one of many factors, including age, social and professional affiliation etc.
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No need to feel sheepish Eisha. I think there's just a slight mismatch between the everyday use of the term 'linguist' and the subject specific term.
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pamela rogerson revell made a comment
As some of you have pointed out, linguistics has applications in many aspects of our everyday lives. That's why it's so fascinating!
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pamela rogerson revell made a comment
Hello everyone. This is just to let you know that I, and my academic colleagues, will be moderating this course for the next 6 weeks. I hope very much that you are enjoying learning about Applied Linguistics and TESOL and we very much look forward to sharing ideas and views with you.
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pamela rogerson revell made a comment
It's lovely to read all your interesting comments and to see that many of you seem to have got so much out of the course, regardless of whether you have a background in language or language teaching. It's also great to see that it has inspired or motivated some of you to either continue studying or working in this area, or to get back into it.
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pamela rogerson revell replied to Lea E
It's great to know you feel that way Lea. Thank you
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Many thoughtful and interesting comments here. I don't think any of us want language teaching in the future dominated by robots but I don't think we should underestimate the potential of Artificial Intelligence. As some of you say, we, humans, have a role to play in shaping our future relationships with technology and communication, although we seem to be...
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a very interesting observation Joe. I don't know of any research specifically looking at this but it would be a good topic to study.
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pamela rogerson revell made a comment
Hello everyone, I hope some of you will be able to join our live webinar tomorrow but it will be recorded in case you can't. If you have any questions you would like us to answer, please write them here.
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pamela rogerson revell made a comment
Thanks to all of you who have posted such interesting comments to the discussions and activities this week. There are obviously many areas that we could go into in more depth but here are a few suggestions for further reading/viewing if you are interested.
Accent
Cauldwell, R. (2013). Lord Rant: a personal journey through prejudice, accent and identity....
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There seems to be quite a lot of agreement amongst us about the last 3 statements above but less about the first two (i.e. the goal of 'nativeness' and prioritising segmentals or suprasegmentals. As I say in the feedback to this exercise, this reflects the fact that there is a lot of debate surrounding these issues.
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Your comments show many ways that you would be supportive in situations like this. A lot of you say you would slow down and there's research evidence to show that typically people speak more quickly in their first language than in other languages. There is however the danger that we adopt what has been referred to as 'foreigner talk' (Ferguson,...
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Hi Catherine
Jenkins, and many others, suggest the differences in quality between vowels such as in 'pick' and 'pig' are important to maintain, with the vowel in 'pig' generally perceived as longer than in 'pick'. -
A wide range of interesting, and differing, views here. It's important to remember that Jenkins (2000) wasn't suggesting a set of 'rules' for teaching pronunciation but a list of priorities to ensure intelligibility between L2 speakers of English. Her findings were based on analysing communication between non-native speakers and seeing when and why...
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As many of you say, this is a tricky area. Again, we can see how closely pronunciation and perceptions of accent are so closely related to our emotional reactions to people, even if we don't like that.
I think we all agree that mutual intelligibility is the common goal but is the answer to have one common , standard accent? Having RP as a UK standard hasn't...
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Thanks for the great comments and it's good to see so many of you are enthusiastic about pronunciation. I hope you'll enjoy this week!
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pamela rogerson revell made a comment
It's good to see so many positive comments about week. I think you can see some of the breadth and depth of applied linguistics and how relevant it is, not only to TESOL but to many other areas of our lives. I'm sure you'll enjoy week 2 as well!
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This issue has sparked lots of interesting comments and views on both sides of this debate. We can see how complex this aspect of language use is and the many different factors at play. We have also seen how important it is that research studies are clearly and rigorously designed and how easy it is for findings to get misrepresented in the media.
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Many of you have made a distinction between forms that we see as 'acceptable/unacceptable' or 'correct'incorrect'. The 'acceptable/unacceptable' view typically reflects a 'descriptive' approach to grammar, based largely on people's usage of language, while the 'correct/incorrect' view aligns more closely with a 'prescriptive' approach which sees grammar as a...
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@ChristineY You're quite right Christine. You would initial, general consent to collect data. I've edited the steps above.
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You're right Lea. It's possible, and useful, to have follow-up interviews or focus groups after an event such as a meeting to get an 'insider' view.
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pamela rogerson revell made a comment
Again, lots of thoughtful comments here. Some of you refer to the need for awareness and sensitivity in communication contexts where English is being used as a lingua franca. Some also raise the issue that while it might be good for native speakers to 'dial down', is there a risk that this is construed as 'talking down' to the non-native speaker?
You might...
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Lots of interesting and thoughtful comments here. Many of you point out the difficulty of labelling language use as 'right' or 'wrong' and the differences between what is seen as 'grammatically correct' and 'acceptable' use of language. This illustrates the difference between 'descriptive' and 'prescriptive' views of grammar and also the fact that most...
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pamela rogerson revell made a comment
It's fascinating to read your comments and see the wide range of interests and experiences you all have. One thing we all seem to have in common is a fascination with language and how it's used.
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pamela rogerson revell made a comment
Welcome everyone who has joined the course so far. It's good to see so much enthusiasm for applied linguistics and TESOL. I, and my colleagues, are looking forward to working with you over the coming weeks.
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pamela rogerson revell replied to Terry Gaussiat
Excellent news Terry. We look forward to working with you!
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pamela rogerson revell replied to Elfie Handcock
HI Effie, most Masters programme allow some flexibility to study the areas of applied linguistics that particularly interest you. However, if you are looking for a programme that specialises on a particular area, you could try the 'Find a Masters' website.https://www.findamasters.com/masters-degrees/?Keywords=psycholinguistics.
Good luck! -
pamela rogerson revell replied to Sachiko Igarashi
Hi Sachiko, if you have a Masters degree it will be a good foundation for doctoral study. Most doctoral programmes provide solid training in both qualitative and quantitative research methods in the first year or two of your studies.
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pamela rogerson revell made a comment
Thanks for your kind and positive comments and congratulations to all of you who have successfully completed the course. I hope we have managed to whet your appetites for exploring the complexity and fascination of language and the many ways linguistic knowledge can be applied to so many aspects of our daily lives. We wish you all the very best in your future...
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Lots of interesting comments here. I agree with those of you who don't want language teaching in the future dominated by robots but I don't think we should underestimate the potential of Artificial Intelligence. As some of you say, we, humans, have a role to play in shaping our future relationships with technology and communication, although we seem to be...
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pamela rogerson revell made a comment
If you would like to read more on this topic, you might be interested in two reports that the academic David Graddol wrote for the British Council:
'The Future of English' (1997) - https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/sites/teacheng/files/pub_learning-elt-future.pdf
'English Next' (2006) -...
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I agree Anna, the inconsistent use of colours in the charts in not helpful!
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Many interesting conjectures here! As you say, all we can really do is make educated guesses about how English will evolve in the future but many of you point out the driving force of economic influence on language dominance and also, the increasing role of social and online media in shaping English as an international language.
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Sorry you weren't able to join the webinar Eddie but hopefully you can watch the recording and view the slides. You're right that it's a big commitment to come to the UK to study full time for a year. Also, the thought of distance learning can seem quite daunting and isolating. We do our best to develop a sense of community with our distance learning students...
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pamela rogerson revell made a comment
Many thanks to all of you who managed to join our live webinar. It was good to get to meet so many of you. For those who couldn't make it, the slides and recording are available in the links above. Please feel free to ask any more questions.
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I agree Elfie and I think there is more awareness now of the need for L1speakers to accommodate to L2 speakers in international business events. One of my PhD students is actually looking at this issue in aviation and miscommunications between L1 and L2 pilots and air traffic controllers.
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Very pertinent points Terry. Hopefully there is growing awareness by testing organisations and developers of the role of exposure and familiarity in assessing intelligibility - that's where we need to ensure that research feeds through to practice.
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An interesting point Fateh. Do you think, in that case, that Arabic is, or will, undergo a process of internationalisation, as with English?
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pamela rogerson revell made a comment
Hello everyone . We look forward to meeting those of you who can make it to the webinar on Wednesday. I know it's not easy with different time zones but if you can't, the webinar will be recorded and uploaded to the course anyway.
Don't forget, if you have any questions for the webinar, you can either add them to the comments here or bring them along on...
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pamela rogerson revell made a comment
Thanks to all of you who have posted such interesting comments to the discussions and activities this week. There are obviously many areas that we could go into in more depth but here are a few suggestions for further reading/viewing if you are interested.
Accent
Cauldwell, R. (2013). Lord Rant: a personal journey through prejudice, accent and identity....
-
There seems to be quite a lot of agreement amongst us about the last 3 statements above but less about the first two (i.e. the goal of 'nativeness' and prioritising segmentals or suprasegmentals. As I say in the feedback to this exercise, this reflects the fact that there is a lot of debate surrounding these issues.
-
Your comments show many ways that you would be supportive in situations like this. A lot of you say you would slow down and there's research evidence to show that typically people speak more quickly in their first language than in other languages. There is however the danger that we adopt what has been referred to as 'foreigner talk' (Ferguson,...
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pamela rogerson revell made a comment
Thanks for the great comments and fascinating anecdotes. It sounds like many of you are 'accent chameleons'!
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I think it's important to remember that Jenkins (2000) wasn't suggesting a set of 'rules' for teaching pronunciation but a list of priorities to ensure intelligibility between L2 speakers of English. Her findings were based on analysing communication between non-native speakers and seeing when and why pronunciation caused comprehension problems. She certainly...
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Lots of interesting and sensible comments here. I think we all agree that it's the clarity of people's speech which is most important, rather than accent but it's actually not very easy to define what aspects of speech, including pronunciation are key to clarity (see the section on globalisation and intelligibility in this unit). I think that aspects of...
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pamela rogerson revell made a comment
This is where the 5 speakers in the audio recordings are from:
1 Liverpool (Scouse)
2. Yorkshire
3. RP
4 London/Estuary English
5 Scottish
And this is what our survey showed:
Most educated – speaker 3
Most attractive – speaker 3
Most trustworthy – speaker 2
Most competent – speaker 3
Broader surveys have shown that RP, a...
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pamela rogerson revell made a comment
If you've looked at everyone's answers to this activity, there seems to be a general preference for speakers 2 and 5, with speakers 1 and 3 at the bottom of the scale. However, it's interesting that we don't necessarily find the speakers who are the easiest to understand are the most fluent. Also, the two speakers who are judged by as most fluent (5 and 2)...
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pamela rogerson revell made a comment
Thanks everyone - fascinating comments and anecdotes here. I think we can see how much of an emotional reaction we can get from someone's voice and pronunciation and how our auditory perceptions are largely learned or socially conditioned.
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pamela rogerson revell made a comment
Thank you all for your very interesting comments this week. I've really enjoyed reading your responses and views and I'm sure we'll all learn a lot in the coming weeks as we continue to share our experiences and expertise.
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This topic always raises a lot of interesting comments! It seems of lot of you feel that there are some gender differences in language use but that these differences may be attributable more to our social upbringing (nurture) than inherited (nature). Many of you also point out that other social and cultural factors play a role and that gendered use of language...
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pamela rogerson revell made a comment
Again, lots of thought-provoking comments here. Many of you refer to the need for 'awareness' and 'sensitivity' in communication contexts where English is being used as a lingua franca. Some of you also raise the issue that while it might be good for native speakers to 'dial down', is there a risk that this is construed as 'talking down' to the non-native...
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Quite a few of you have made a distinction between forms that we see as 'acceptable/unacceptable' or 'correct'incorrect'. The 'acceptable/unacceptable' view typically reflects a 'descriptive' approach to grammar, based largely on people's usage of language, while the 'correct/incorrect' view aligns more closely with a 'prescriptive' approach which sees grammar...
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I'm glad many of you found the 'Language in the Workplace' project interesting and useful. I think this is a good example of 'applied linguistic' research which carries out rigorous linguistic research and then applied it to 'real world' issues. If any of you would like more information about the methodologies used, you could look at...
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pamela rogerson revell made a comment
Some of you have mentioned that you've become more aware of the wider applications of language and linguistics, not only to language teaching but to many other areas of our lives. You may like to take a look at the Babel magazine, which is a fascinating online magazine aimed at engaging the public in linguistic research. Take a look at the 'what kind of...
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Many of you highlight the difference between what is considered 'grammatically correct' and 'acceptable' language. This point illustrates the difference between 'descriptive' and 'prescriptive' views of grammar and also the fact that most grammars have been based on written rather than spoken language usage. As we can see, language use evolves and often...
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pamela rogerson revell made a comment
Hello everyone and a very warm welcome to the course. It's great to hear from you and to learn a little bit about who you are and where you're from. I'm very much looking forward to working with you over the coming weeks.
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pamela rogerson revell made a comment
Thank again to all of you who have participated in this MOOC. and especially those who have contributed so much to the discussion boards. We have really enjoyed and learned from your comments. It's truly satisfying in this day and age to be able to provide some educational resources and opportunities for intellectual discussion which are free and open.
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pamela rogerson revell made a comment
Many thanks to all of you who have completed this course. We've very much enjoyed reading your interesting and insightful comments. I hope like me you will feel that you have learned a lot from each other and have shared our fascination with language, how it works and how we use it.
We wish you all the best with your future studies, observations and interests.
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pamela rogerson revell made a comment
It's interesting to read your descriptions of how the role and/or teaching of English is changing in different parts of the world.
Some of you might be interested in a rather radical view put forward by a leading applied linguist, Robert Phillipson, some years ago. His article was entitled "Lingua franca or lingua frankensteinia? English in European...
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pamela rogerson revell replied to George Adams
Yes, it's a source of lots of interesting data George
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Many interesting conjectures here! As you say, all we can really do is make educated guesses about how English will evolve in the future but many of you point out the driving force of economic influence on language dominance and also, the increasing role of social and online media in shaping English as an international language.
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Yes, it is. I've updated the reference above
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pamela rogerson revell made a comment
If you would like to read more on this topic, you might be interested in two reports that the academic David Graddol wrote for the British Council:
'The Future of English' (1997) - https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/sites/teacheng/files/pub_learning-elt-future.pdf
'English Next' (2006) -...
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I don' t think language itself is in danger but the modes and conventions of communication are changing, particularly with the growth of computer mediated communication (CMC), whether through social media, email or whatever. I've observed similar situations to the one you describe George but then I've also seen and been involved in lots of animated,...
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Yes, he's a very engaging speaker and easy to listen to, isn't he.
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Yes, there are quite a few digital phonetic tools now. You might like to look at some of these:
https://westonruter.github.io/ipa-chart/keyboard/
http://www.photransedit.com/online/typeipa.aspx
https://ipa.typeit.org/full/ -
Good point George. One we need to put to Futurelearn.
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Thanks for the questions Dawn. We'll try and answer these in the webinar.
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@LauraS Do let us know if you have any particular questions for the webinar Laura.
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pamela rogerson revell made a comment
Many thanks for your comments/questions below. I do hope you can join us in the webinar.
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Thanks for your interesting question and comment Eduardo. We'll pick that up in the webinar on Wednesday.
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pamela rogerson revell made a comment
Hi everyone . We look forward to meeting those of you who can make it to the webinar on Wednesday. I know it's not easy with different time zones but if you can't, the webinar will be recorded and uploaded to the MOOC anyway.
Don't forget, if you have any questions for the webinar, you can either add them to the comments here or bring them along on Wednesday.
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pamela rogerson revell made a comment
Thanks to those of you who have posted such interesting comments to the discussions and activities this week. There are obviously many areas that we could go into in more depth but here are a few suggestions for further reading/viewing if you are interested.
Accent
Cauldwell, R. (2013). Lord Rant: a personal journey through prejudice, accent and...
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There seems to be quite a lot of agreement amongst you on these statements. I think the next step expands on some of these points further.
Regarding accent, I think we all agree it shouldn't matter but unfortunately, it sometimes does. Also, if some features of a speaker's accent are very different from surrounding speakers and listeners, to the extent that... -
I agree Barry. It's hard for teachers to give more attention to pronunciation when it's generally not given much space in a syllabus and even less in exams.
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Your comments show many ways that you would be supportive in situations like this. A lot of you say you would slow down and there's research evidence to show that typically people speak more quickly in their first language than in other languages. There is however the danger that we adopt what has been referred to as 'foreigner talk' (Ferguson,...
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pamela rogerson revell made a comment
Thanks for all your interesting comments in this section. Like you, I think the concept of vocal styling is fascinating.
Some of you might be interested in a interesting book that was published recently in this area by fellow applied linguist, Jane Setter 'Your voice speaks volumes'... -
A wide range of interesting, and differing, views here. It's important to remember that Jenkins (2000) wasn't suggesting a set of 'rules' for teaching pronunciation but a list of priorities to ensure intelligibility between L2 speakers of English. Her findings were based on analysing communication between non-native speakers and seeing when and why...
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pamela rogerson revell made a comment
Many of you point out that a key issue is the probably misplaced word stress in 'reinstatement'.
I'm afraid I haven't got access to the actual recording for this script but if you'd like to read more about the study it comes from, here is the reference
Forey, G. & Lockwood, J. (2007). ‘‘I’d love to put someone in jail for this’’: An
initial...
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Lots of interesting and sensible comments here. I think we all agree that it's the clarity of people's speech which is most important, rather than accent but it's actually not very easy to define what aspects of speech, including pronunciation are key to clarity (see the section on globalisation and intelligibility in this unit). I think that aspects of...
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pamela rogerson revell made a comment
This is where the 5 speakers in the audio recordings are from:
1 Liverpool (Scouse)
2. Yorkshire
3. RP
4 London/Estuary English
5 Scottish
And this is what our survey showed:
Most educated – speaker 3
Most attractive – speaker 3
Most trustworthy – speaker 2
Most competent – speaker 3
Broader surveys have shown that RP, a...
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pamela rogerson revell made a comment
If you've looked at everyone's answers to this activity, there seems to be a general preference for speakers 2 and 5, with speakers 1 and 3 at the bottom of the scale. However, it's interesting that we don't necessarily find the speakers who are the easiest to understand are the most fluent. Also, the two speakers who are judged by as most fluent (5 and 2)...
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Sounds like you are already quite aware of the need to modify how you speak to accommodate others.
