Dr John Field

Office

Humss 170

E-mail

j.c.field@reading.ac.uk

Teaching responsibilities

John is the convenor of three modules relating to the psychology of language (Psycholinguistics, Language and the Mind and Child Language Development). He teaches the Grammar module of the MA in ELT and tutors the same module for distance students.

Qualifications

BA in English Language and Literature (University College London); MA in Linguistics and ELT (University of Leeds); MPhil in English and Applied Linguistics (Cambridge University); PhD 'Lexical segmentation in first and foreign language listening' (Cambridge University); RSA Diploma in TEFLA

ELT experience

25 years as teacher, teacher trainer, syllabus designer and materials writer. Trained teachers in the UK, the Middle and Far East and East Africa. Wrote materials for secondary schools in Saudi Arabia and Hong Kong. Was author of two BBC 'English by Radio' series and of programmes teaching English by TV in China.

Academic background

Taught Psycholinguistics and cognitive approaches to SLA at Kings College London and psycholinguistics at Birkbeck College London. Also taught General Linguistics at both institutions. Association with the Leeds/Oman BA in ELT. Lectures and supervises on the MPhil in Research in Second Language Education at Cambridge University.

Research interests

• L2 listening skills
• cognitive approaches to SLA
• applying principles and research methods from first language processing to enhance our understanding of second language skills

John Field's research interests lie chiefly in second language listening. But he also investigates the acquisition and use of all four language skills by the L2 learner, applying ideas and research methods from cognitive psychology. He recently conducted a British Council funded research project into the cognitive processes underlying the listening test in IELTS. In conjunction with the University of Leeds, he is collecting and analysing a database of the decoding errors of 226 Arabic-speaking listeners. He is designing a study using the gating method to establish the extent to which L2 listeners are able to extract cues to word identity from sections of connected speech. Future research plans include a study (with A. Tonkyn) of language acquisition by older learners.

Publications

Books

• Listening in the Second Language Classroom. Cambridge University Press, forthcoming 2008. A comprehensive analysis of the nature of L1 and L2 listening, with concrete proposals for a complete rethinking of current pedagogy.
• Language and Mind. Discovery-based introduction to basic issues in Psycholinguistics. London: Routledge 2005
• Psycholinguistics: the Key Concepts. Reference work providing background to major issues and theories in the field. London: Routledge, 2004
• Routledge English Language Introductions: Psycholinguistics. Standard introduction to psycholinguistics for linguists and applied linguists. London: Routledge, 2003

Journal articles

• Guest editor, Special Issue of TESOL Quarterly on ‘Psycholinguistics and TESOL', Sept 2008
• 'Bricks or mortar?' TESOL Quarterly, forthcoming
• Guest Editor, Special Issue of System on ‘Second language listening', March 2008
• 'Revising segmentation hypotheses in first and second language listening'. System, in press
• 'Looking outwards not inwards'. ELT Journal, 61/1, 2007
• ‘Intelligibility and the listener'. TESOL Quarterly, September 2005
• ‘An insight into listeners' problems: too much bottom-up or too much top-down?' System, Sept 2004
• ‘Promoting perception: lexical segmentation in L2 listening'. ELT Journal, 57/4, 2003
• ‘Not waving but drowning'. ELT Journal , April 2000

Reviews

• Review of Dabrowska: Language, Mind and Brain. ( Edinburgh University Press). International Journal of Applied Linguistics, 16/2, July 2006
• Reviews of Rost: Teaching and Researching Listening (Longman) and Buck: Assessing Listening (CUP). ELT Journal , 57/2 2003.

Chapters, entries

• Entries on ‘Psycholinguistics' and ‘Auditory processing', Cambridge Encyclopaedia of the Language Sciences . Cambridge: CUP (forthcoming)
• Entry on TEFL, Encyclopaedia of Linguistics, 3rd edition, Oxford: Routledge (forthcoming)
• Entry on ‘Psycholinguistics', International Encyclopaedia of the Social Sciences, 2nd edn., Farmington Hills , MI: Macmillan Reference (forthcoming)
• 'Psycholinguistics'. In Griffiths et al. (eds.) Introducing Language in Use, Routledge, 2004
• ‘The changing face of listening'. In J. Richards & W.A. Renandya (eds.): Methodology in Language Teaching: an anthology of Current Practice. Cambridge, CUP, 2002

Presentations

• ‘L2 listening as a hypothesis-testing process'. EuroSLA 16, Anatalya, Turkey, Sept. 2006
• ‘Surfing the stream of speech'. BAAL Annual Meeting, Cork, Ireland, Sept 2006
• ‘Fog bound: strategic listening in an academic context'. Keynote paper, L1 and L2 listening in educational contexts, BAAL/CUP seminar, University of Warwick, May 2006
• ‘Better listeners versus more listening: Alternatives to the comprehension approach.' BAAL Language Learning and Teaching Group, University of Southampton, April 2006
• ‘The listener as lemming: Second language listening strategies revisited'. IATEFL Annual Conference, Harrogate, April 2006
• ‘A bird in the hand: First mention and the second language listener'. BAAL Annual Meeting, Bristol, Sept. 2005
• ‘Psycholinguistics and second language skills'. Cambridge University Press forum, IATEFL Annual Conference, Cardiff, April 2005
• ‘Listening styles in second language learning'. IATEFL Annual Conference, Cardiff, April 2005
• ‘Second language writing: A language problem or a writing problem?' Writing Reconsidered, IATEFL Research / ESOL Conference, Cambridge, February 2005

Consultancy

• Member of ESRC College of Assessors for Post-doctoral awards
• Consultant on psycholinguistic topics to 6th edition of Crystal, D.: Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics. Oxford: Blackwell, 2007
• Consultant to Cambridge ESOL Examinations on cognitive validation of the Cambridge suite of international ELT examinations.

Invited talks

• ‘Cognitive approaches to the testing of speaking'. Cambridge ESOL Speaking Group, Cambridge, June 2006
• ‘Foreign language listening as a strategic activity'. School of Education, Cambridge University, January 2006
• ‘Psycholinguistics and ELT', guest lecture series 2005-6, Cambridge University Press

Peer reviewing

• Member of editorial Board of TESOL Quarterly
• Regularly reviews papers submitted to System, Applied Linguistics
• Former Panel member of ELT Journal

Professional associations

• Convenor of Psycholinguistics Group of British Association of Applied Linguistics (BAAL)
• Member of BAAL Executive Committee, with responsibility for Special Interest Groups
• Member of Advisory Board of the Subject Centre for Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies (LLAS)
• Former Co-ordinator of IATEFL Research Group, promoting classroom research by teachers