Dr Jacqueline Laws

Office

Room 183 HumSS Building, Tel. 0118 3787460 (internal 7460)

E-mail

j.v.laws@reading.ac.uk

University position

Jacqueline is a lecturer in Applied Linguistics.

Qualifications

MA in Linguistics (Reading); PhD in Psycholinguistics (London); BSc in Psychology (CNAA), PGCAP (Reading).

Teaching experience

5 years teaching EFL in Italy and 5 years lecturing in the UK.

Current research interests

Two current projects include: an investigation of the characteristics of split intransitivity in Italian and Mandarin, and an analysis of the acquisition of derivational morphology in children with normally developing language and children with Specific Language Impairment (SLI).

Jacqueline has also explored attitudes of undergraduate Applied English Language students to the study of grammar; she was awarded the PGCAP Project Prize for 2008 for the experimental work that she carried out in this field.

Before specialising in Linguistics, Jacqueline was an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of London for 16 years whilst working in the IT industry as an Applied Cognitive Psychologist.

Teaching

Jacqueline currently teaches modules on English Grammar to undergraduates at all levels, and at postgraduate level. From 2005 to 2008, she also taught modules at undergraduate and postgraduate level in Syntax, First Language Acquisition and Research Topics in English Grammar.

Membership of Professional Bodies

Jacqueline is a member of the British Association of Applied Linguistics (BAAL), the Linguistics Association of Great Britian (LAGB), the Philological Society (PhilSoc), the Linguistic Society of America (LSA), the UK Cognitive Linguistics Association (UK-CLA). She is also an Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society (BPS) and a Chartered Psychologist (CPsychol).

Publications

• Laws, J.V. & Yuan, B. (2010) 'Is the core-peripheral distinction for unaccusative verbs cross-linguistically consistent? Empirical evidence from Mandarin'. Chinese Language and Discourse, 1:2, 220-263.
• Laws, J.V. (2010) 'To 'be', and not to 'have': auxiliary selection in unaccusative verbs in Italian'. Language Studies Working Papers, University of Reading, Volume 2, 3-16.
• In preparation: 'The acquisition of derivational morphology in children between the ages of 2 and 5'

Presentations

• The core-peripheral distinction for unaccusative verbs in Mandarin: An empirical investigation First International Symposium on Chinese Language and Discourse 2010, UCLA, USA, October 2010.
• Split Intransitivity in Mandarin LAGB 2006, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK, August-September 2006.

Invited talks

• Research Seminar: The Acquisition of Derivational Morphology in Children with Normally Developing Language, Department of English, Linguistics & Cultural Studies, University of Westminster, UK, November 2010.
• Research Seminar: Split Intransitivity in Mandarin, Department of Phonetics and Linguistics, University College, London, UK, November 2006.
• Research Seminar: Split Intransitivity in Mandarin, Surrey Linguistics Circle, The Department of Culture, Media and Communication, University of Surrey, Guildford, UK, November 2006.

Before specialising in Linguistics, Jacqueline also gave regular annual lectures from 1985 to 1994 at the University of London:

• MSc Ergonomics students at The Ergonomics Unit, University College
• BSc Psychology students at Birkbeck College on Observational Research techniques

She also published in the area of Applied Cognitive Psychology and also was co-editor of a series of Special Issues of the Ergonomics Journal:

• McLaren, P.M., Laws, J.V., Ferreira, C., O'Flynn, D., Lipsedge, M.S, Watson, J.P. "Telepsychiatry: Outpatient Psychiatry by Videolink." Journal of Telemedicine and Telecare, 1996, 2 (1), 59 - 62.
• Barber, P.J. & Laws, J.V. Editorial Preface to Special Issue on Cognitive Ergonomics IV, "Cognitive Ergonomics", Ergonomics, 1994, 37(11), i-iv.
• Barber, P.J. & Laws, J.V. Editorial Preface to Special Issue on Cognitive Ergonomics III, "Cognitive Ergonomics: design and direction", Ergonomics, 1992, 35(10), v-vii.
• Barber, P.J. & Laws, J.V. Editorial Preface to Special Issue on Cognitive Ergonomics II, "Cognitive Ergonomics: themes and variations", Ergonomics, 1991, 34(8), 991-994.
• Barber, P.J. & Laws, J.V. Editorial Preface to Special Issue n Cognitive Ergonomics I, "Getting the measure of cognitive ergonomics ", Ergonomics, 1989, 32(11), i-v.
• Laws J.V. & Barber P.J. "Video Analysis in Cognitive Ergonomics: A methodological perspective", Ergonomics, 1989, 32, 1303-1318
• Laws J.V. "Linear Syllogistic Reasoning: A New Approach to Model Evaluation", PhD Thesis, 1984, Birkbeck College, University of London.

In addition, Jacqueline presented several conference papers in the area of Applied Cognitive Psychology:

• (with Paul Barber) Image quality and video communication . Conference on Multi-media, Southampton, September 1993.
• Effects of picture degradation on speech-based video communication tasks . International Conference on Communications Technology in Psychiatry, UMDS and Priory Group Hospitals, London, May 1992.
• (with Paul Walsh) Usability Methods and Tools: An industrial perspective , British Computer Society HCI SIG, London, May 1990.
• Usability and the User Interface, HCI '89, University of Nottingham , August 1989.
• Computerisation of Video Analysis Techniques , Department of Psychology, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia, August 1988.
• Computerisation of Video Analysis Techniques: Implications for Information Technology Support, Development and Training, International Seminar on Computerisation for Development - The Research Challenge, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, August 1988.
• Stress and Cognition , International Conference on Emotion and Emotional Disorders, Davos, Switzerland, January 1985.
• A Strategy-Training Analysis of Three-Term Series Problem Solution , Experimental Psychology Society, University College, London, January 1983.
• Problem Solving: An Evaluation of Three Models of Three-Term Series Problem Solution, British Psychological Society London Conference, City University, December 1981.