Social Dynamics in Second Language Accent (Trends in Applied Linguistics)

Trends in Applied Linguistics [TAL] #10

by John M. Levis

This volume offers a definitive source for understanding social influences in L2 pronunciation, demonstrating the importance of empirical findings from a number of research perspectives, and outlining the directions that future work can take. The aim is to present a coherent argument for the significance of social factors and how they contribute to phonological acquisition.

Hardcover

First published March 17, 2014

About the author

John M. Levis is the Editor of the Journal of Second Language Pronunciation and Angela B. Pavitt Professor of English at Iowa State University in the USA. He is a professor of TESL and Applied Linguistics.

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I have been teaching ESL for over 30 years, mostly at the university level. For most of that time I have worked with teachers, teaching them, supervising and presenting workshops on how to teach. My specialty is English pronunciation. This specialty has led me to explore a wide variety of topics, including teaching pronunciation, the role of intonation in pronunciation teaching, teaching other teachers about teaching pronunciation, the roles of dialects in teaching pronunciation, and examining what makes speech intelligible.

I have presented papers and taught in Canada, Singapore, Poland, the Czech Republic, Sweden, France, Taiwan, Ukraine, Scotland and the US. I have written articles about pronunciation teaching in a variety of journals, from the more theoretical (such as Applied Linguistics) to those that mix theory and practice (such as TESOL Quarterly) to those that are quite practically minded (TESOL Journal, ELT Journal). I am also the co-editor of several volumes, including Social Dynamics in Second Language Accent (Degruyter), the Handbook of English Pronunciation (Wiley Blackwell), Critical Concepts in Linguistics: Pronunciation (Taylor & Francis), and the forthcoming Cambridge University Press book, Intelligibility, Oral Communication, and the Teaching of Pronunciation.

I am the creator and organizer of the Pronunciation in Second Language Learning and Teaching conference, now going into its tenth year. The conference attracts scholars and teachers interested in pronunciation from around the world and provides a freely available reviewed electronic proceedings (available various places, including my publications page). A direct result of the conference is the new Journal of Second Language Pronunciation (John Benjamins), of which I am the founding editor. I am also the co-creator, with Sinem Sonsaat, of pronunciationforteachers.com, a website providing reliable information about pronunciation concepts and pronunciation teaching.