Department of Language and Linguistics

2012-2013

Department of Language and Linguistics Research Student’s Handbook

This book contains important information about your research at the University of Essex. You should read it carefully and keep it in a safe place for future reference. You will also find this information, and much else besides, on the Departmental World Wide Web pages: http://www.essex.ac.uk/linguistics and especially http://www.essex.ac.uk/linguistics/current_students/phd_students/

CONTENTS Welcome to research in the Department of Language and Linguistics ________________ 4 LANGUAGE AND LINGUISTICS STAFF CONTACT DETAILS ____________________________ 5 CHECKLIST OF IMPORTANT DATES _____________________________________________ 6 SECTION 1 – COURSE STRUCTURE, SUPERVISION, PROGRESS ________________________ 8 1.1 Course structure _________________________________________________________ 8 1.2 Initial registration of PhD students as MPhil/PhD students ______________________ 8 1.3 Students on the Integrated MPhil/PhD Course _______________________________ 8 1.4 The nature of research study _____________________________________________ 9 1.5 Your topic ___________________________________________________________ 10 1.6 Reading _____________________________________________________________ 11 1.7 Active research _______________________________________________________ 12 1.8 Supervision __________________________________________________________ 13 Acknowledgement of Receipt and Acceptance of Guidelines on Supervision __________ 13 1.9 Taking responsibility for your own work ___________________________________ 15 1.10 Supervisory boards ___________________________________________________ 16 1.11 Confirmation of PhD status ____________________________________________ 17 1.12 Criteria for the confirmation of PhD status ________________________________ 18 1.13 Departmental Research Students’ Progress Committee ______________________ 19 1.14 Expectations about the progress of your research __________________________ 20 1.15 Changing your thesis topic _____________________________________________ 20 1.16 Problems with supervision _____________________________________________ 21 1.17 Complaints _________________________________________________________ 21 1.18 Appeals against progress decisions ______________________________________ 22 1.19 University guidelines on research supervision and training____________________ 22 SECTION 2 – PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT ____________________________________ 22 2.1 LG595 Professional development activities for research students _______________ 22 2.2 Modules and seminars _________________________________________________ 23 2.3 Research groups ______________________________________________________ 23 2.4 Research training _____________________________________________________ 23 2.5 Proficio - Professional development for doctoral students _____________________ 24 2.6 GRADschool _________________________________________________________ 24 2.7 Essex graduate student conferences ______________________________________ 24 2.8 Essex Graduate Student Papers in Language and Linguistics ____________________ 24 2.9 Attending conferences _________________________________________________ 25 2.10 Teaching opportunities ________________________________________________ 25 2.11 mySkills and myLife___________________________________________________ 26 2.12 Requesting a reference/recommendation letter ____________________________ 26 SECTION 3 – FACILITIES FOR RESEARCH STUDENTS _______________________________ 26 3.1 A place in a PhD study room _____________________________________________ 26 3.2 Printing and lockers ___________________________________________________ 26 3.3 Photocopying facilities _________________________________________________ 27 3.4 The Social Space (4.305A) _______________________________________________ 27 SECTION 4 – ASSESSMENT OF RESEARCH DEGREES _______________________________ 27 4.1 Approval of title/notice to submit your thesis _______________________________ 27 4.2 Criteria a thesis should meet for the award of a research degree _______________ 27 4.3 Examiners for research degrees __________________________________________ 28 4.4 The viva (oral examination) _____________________________________________ 29 4.5 Recommendations available to examiners at the end of the viva ________________ 30 2

4.6 Cheating ____________________________________________________________ 31 4.7 Appeals against degree results ___________________________________________ 32 SECTION 5 – DEPARTMENTAL INFORMATION ___________________________________ 33 5.1 Key staff information __________________________________________________ 33 5.2 Consultation hours ____________________________________________________ 33 5.3 Departmental Administration office contacts _______________________________ 33 5.4 Current address ______________________________________________________ 33 5.5 Communication methods _______________________________________________ 34 5.6 Graduate pigeonholes _________________________________________________ 34 5.7 Graduate notice board _________________________________________________ 34 5.8 Staff student liaison committees _________________________________________ 35 5.9 Student feedback _____________________________________________________ 35 5.10 Problems and queries _________________________________________________ 35 5.11 Languages for all _____________________________________________________ 36 5.12 In-sessional English language classes _____________________________________ 36 SECTION 6 – UNIVERSITY INFORMATION _______________________________________ 36 6.1 Teaching weeks _______________________________________________________ 36 6.2 Student induction _____________________________________________________ 37 6.3 Accommodation policy _________________________________________________ 37 6.4 Support services for students ____________________________________________ 37 6.5 Support for international students ________________________________________ 37 6.6 Support for disabled students ___________________________________________ 38 6.7 University of Essex student handbook _____________________________________ 38 6.8 Typing and proofreading _______________________________________________ 38 6.9 Security _____________________________________________________________ 38 6.10 Safety regulations ____________________________________________________ 38 6.11 Policy statement on equal opportunities __________________________________ 39 6.12 Policy statement on the promotion of racial equality ________________________ 39 6.13 Policy statement on harassment ________________________________________ 39 6.14 Data protection 1998 _________________________________________________ 39 6.15 Freedom of information act 2000 _______________________________________ 39 6.16 Graduate School structure and office information Details can be viewed on: _____ 39 6.17 Location of the postgraduate common room ______________________________ 39 SECTION 7 - REGULATIONS AND PROCEDURES __________________________________ 40 7.1 What happens if you have not finished by the end of the minimum period of registration? ____________________________________________________________ 40 7.2 Reducing Your Candidature _____________________________________________ 41 7.3 Intermitting (‘leave of absence’) _________________________________________ 41 7.4 Fieldwork/data collection _______________________________________________ 42 7.5 Discrimination ________________________________________________________ 42 7.6 Intellectual property rights ______________________________________________ 42 7.7 Ethical guidelines _____________________________________________________ 42 Who should apply for Ethical Approval? ______________________________________ 42 SECTION 8 - CAREERS ADVICE ________________________________________________ 44 8.1 University Careers Centre _______________________________________________ 44 8.2 Job opportunities _____________________________________________________ 44 SECTION 9 -FURTHER INFORMATION __________________________________________ 44 9.1 Academic Staff Profiles _________________________________________________ 44 9.2 Campus Maps ________________________________________________________ 63 CAVEAT __________________________________________________________________ 63 3

Welcome to research in the Department of Language and Linguistics Whether you have joined the Department for the first time this year, or are returning for the next stage of your studies, we wish you a very warm welcome and hope that you will have an exciting and rewarding year. This booklet aims to provide you with all the basic information you will need. It not only gives practical details about matters such as staff and their location or important dates for research student matters, but also offers information about how to get the most from your studies, how we assess your progress, what opportunities are available to you for professional development, and how you can make your voice heard in the Department. Please take time to read through this information at the beginning of the year, and keep it handy for future reference. Because being a research student involves more than just beavering away on your research topic, we encourage you to take full advantage of the facilities available for research students at Essex. Attend the weekly Departmental Seminars, to which we invite outside speakers. Make sure you join and participate in a research group (your supervisor will advise you about this). Attend professional development seminars that are run by the Department (for example on ‘audio/video recording and digitizing data’, on ‘how to get published’, on ‘transliterating Arabic for presentation in linguistic research’) or by the University (for example, ‘Getting going on writing up your thesis’, ‘How to survive the viva’). Go to postgraduate seminars and conferences run in the Department, and meet other research students. We think you will find the research environment in the Department of Language and Linguistics friendly, challenging and rewarding, and we wish you every success in the coming year.

Dr Helen Emery (AU) and Professor Robert Borsley (SP onwards) Director of Research Students Dr Beatrix De Paivia Assistant Director of Research Students Dr Doug Arnold Head of Department

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LANGUAGE AND LINGUISTICS STAFF CONTACT DETAILS Below is a list of staff offices, office phone numbers (add prefix 87 if ringing locally from outside the University) and e-mail addresses. Please note that the Departmental Office, room 4.305, is open during term time from 9:45am-10.45am and 2-4pm on Mondays and open 9.45am-12.30 and 2:00pm-4:00pm on TuesdayFridays. Administrative Staff office phone e-mail Ms Sue Shepherd (Departmental Administrator) ................. 4.324A .2201 .. sueshep Miss Catherine Gentry (Graduate Administrator) ................. 4.305.....2199 .. cgentry Mrs Samantha Durling (Undergraduate Administrator) ....... 4.305.....2196 .. sdurling Mrs Valerie Hartgrove (Assistant Student Administrator) .... 4.305.....2306 .. vhartg Mrs Caralyn Elmer (Financial Administrator/Departmental Secretary) ............................................................................... 4.305.....2083 .. celmer Academic Staff Dr. Enam Al-Wer ................................................................... 4.203.....2227 .. enama Dr. Doug Arnold (Head of Department) ................................ 4.132.....2215 .. doug Prof. Robert Borsley (Research Students Coordinator SP) ... 4.202B ..3762 .. rborsley Dr. Vineeta Chand .................................................................. 4.315.....2201 .. vineeta Ms. Chantel Dan Chen......................................................... 4.340... 2113...cchenn Dr. Rebecca Clift (Director of Postgraduate Students) .......... 4.317.....2204 .. rclift Dr. Sonja Eisenbeiss (on leave Autumn and Spring Terms)... 4.342.....2087 .. seisen Dr. Helen Emery (Research Students Coordinator AU) ......... 4.121.....2187 .. hemery Dr. Adela Gánem-Gutiérrez (Taught Students Coordinator). 3.308.....2207 .. aganem Dr. Julian Good (Spicer Librarian) .......................................... 4.346.....4833 .. jprgoo Prof. Roger Hawkins .............................................................. 4.320.....2235 .. roghawk Dr. Nigel Harwood (on leave Autumn and Spring Terms) ..... 4.119.....2633...nharwood Dr Philip Hofmeister………………………………………………………… .. 4.344….. 4836… phofme Dr. Wyn Johnson .................................................................... 4.209.....2082 .. wyn Dr. Mike Jones........................................................................ 4.208.....2231 .. majones Dr. Nancy Kula (on leave Autumn Term) ............................... 4.207.....2084 .. nckula Mr. Tony Lilley (part-time) ..................................................... 4.324.....2238 .. adlilley Prof. Florence Myles .............................................................. 4.338.....2228 .. fmyles Dr. Bojana Petrič (on leave Autumn Term) ........................... 4.127.....2227 .. bpetric Prof. Peter Patrick (Ethics Coordinator) ................................ 4.328.....2088 .. patrickp Dr. Beatriz de Paiva (Senior Advisor) ..................................... 4.211.....2236 .. bdpaiva Prof. Andrew Radford ............................................................ 4.314.....4267 .. radford Dr. Karen Roehr (on leave Spring and Summer Terms) ........ 3.306.....2189 .. kroehr Prof. Louisa Sadler ................................................................. 4.332.....2666 .. louisa Mr. Phil Scholfield (part-time) ............................................... 4.324.....2238 .. scholp Dr Katrin Skoruppa……………………………………………………………. 4.340……2133….kskor Dr. Sophia Skoufaki (Disability Advisor) ................................. 4.123.....3754 .. sskouf Prof. Andrew Spencer ............................................................ 4.334.....2188 .. spena Ms. Nan Zhao………………………………………………………………….…. 3.304…..2089….nzhaoa

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Please note that staff who are on study leave are not normally available for consultation or MA supervision during their period of leave, since senate requires that members of staff on leave should devote themselves full-time to research, and should not undertake teaching, advising or administrative duties (unless given permission to do so by the Faculty Pro-Vice-Chancellor).

CHECKLIST OF IMPORTANT DATES Week 1 - Fresher’s week is the week beginning 1st October 2012. Monday to Friday: ‘Help Desk’ outside room 4.305A. Monday 1st October 11.00am-12.00 noon: Head of Department talk to new postgraduates, LTB2. Tuesday 2nd October 3.00pm-5.00pm: Programme Directors meet all students on their programmes - Rooms to be announced. Wednesday 3rd October: Language Test Registration 5.00pm, LTB 6, 7; Language Test 5.30pm-6.45pm. Thursday 5th October 11.00am-1.00pm: Individual students’ meetings with Programme Directors – Rooms to be announced. Friday 7th October 10:00am-11am. Graduate Administration Meeting, Administrators will meet with all new graduate students to explain the administrative procedures within the Department, LTB2. Friday 7th October 2.00pm-4.00pm Welcome Reception, 5.300. Week 3 General Nominations and elections for Staff-Student Liaison Committee representatives (including Graduate School Liaison Committee). Wednesday 12th October 2011: One-day ‘Doctoral Welcome Conference’ run by the Learning and Teaching Unit/Graduate School. Late English Test for those students who did not take it in Week 1. Week 7 - Probable week for meetings of the Postgraduate Taught Courses StaffStudent Liaison Committee (PGTSSLC) and Postgraduate Research Student StaffStudent Liaison Committee (PGRSSLC). Weeks 8-9 - Research students are sent interim Supervisory Board report forms by e-mail. These should be completed and sent to the supervisor by e-mail. Interim Supervisory Board meetings are held in December. Week 11 - Friday 14th December– Christmas vacation begins. 6

Week 16 - Monday 17th January 2013- Spring Term begins. Week 24 - Probable week for the PGRSSLC meeting. Week 25 - Friday 22nd March– Easter vacation begins. Week 30 - Monday 22nd April - Summer Term begins. Weeks 34-35 - Research students are sent end-of-year Supervisory Board report forms by e-mail. These should be completed and sent to the supervisor by e-mail. Supervisory Board meetings are held in June. Week 39 - Friday 28th June– summer vacation begins.

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SECTION 1 – COURSE STRUCTURE, SUPERVISION, PROGRESS 1.1 Course structure Whichever research degree you are registered for, it will have a minimum period and a maximum period of registration as outlined below: Full-time

Minimum Period

Integrated MPhil/PhD MPhil/PhD (SR) MPhil MA (by research) Part-time/Distance

4 years 3 years 2 years 1 year Minimum Period

MPhil/PhD (SR) MPhil MA (by research)

6 years 4 years 2 years

Maximum Period October 2008) 5 years 4 years 3 years 2 years Maximum Period October 2008) 7 years 5 years 3 years

(from

(from

The minimum period represents the normal minimum length of time that the University deems necessary for a student to successfully write a thesis for the relevant degree. The maximum period represents a final deadline beyond which a student would not normally be allowed to be examined for the relevant degree. See section 7.1 for University Regulation 4.17 that deals with what happens if students have not submitted their thesis by the end of the minimum period of registration. It is extremely important, therefore, that from the outset you aim to have written your thesis as close to the end of the minimum period of registration as possible. 1.2 Initial registration of PhD students as MPhil/PhD students New students who are admitted for doctoral study by supervised research (SR) will be registered for a standard minimum period (three years for full-time students; six years for part-time/distance students) with an initial registration status as an MPhil/PhD student. Students will be supervised as PhD students, but PhD status will need to be confirmed during the second year (during the third year for Integrated MPhil/PhD students, and end of the third year for part-time/distance students). For details of the requirements for confirmation of PhD status, see sections 1.11-1.12. 1.3 Students on the Integrated MPhil/PhD Course Students doing a four-year Integrated MPhil/PhD begin work under the supervision of a member of staff in year one, and are required to write a preparatory 22,000 word dissertation as well as take subject-specific, professional development and research support training courses. By the end of year one, all students must have taken at least 90 coursework credits and 90 research credits. Successful students may be awarded a Master’s in Research Methods (MRes). Students in their first year must inform the Graduate Administrator before the June meeting of the Board of Examiners for postgraduate taught degrees whether they wish to accept the MRes qualification or not. If they do, they cannot subsequently incorporate the work submitted for the MRes dissertation into their PhD thesis (although the MRes dissertation may be referred to in the PhD thesis). 8

To proceed to year 2 of the Integrated MPhil/PhD, students must meet a number of performance criteria in the first year. They must obtain an average mark of 65 in their assessed coursework; they must achieve a mark of at least 65 in the 22,000word dissertation; and they must have a proposal for a research project that can reasonably be completed and written up within the minimum period. In year two, students begin supervised research for the PhD and take further subject-specific/research support training modules. Students are expected to submit their thesis no later than the end of year four of their candidature. Key progress stages in the first three years of the Integrated MPhil/PhD are summarised in the following table. Month October

February June

September October

November

December December

First year Student and supervisor decide which assessed taught modules totalling 90 credits will be taken. (These may include one or two ‘research projects’, each counting for 30 credits) Student and supervisor agree on proposal for the 22,000-word dissertation - Student must notify the Graduate Administrator whether MRes qualification will be accepted or not - Student’s marks are confirmed by the June Board of Examiners - Departmental Research Students’ Progress Committee decides whether student can provisionally proceed to the second year of the MPhil/PhD Student submits 22,000-word dissertation Second year - A student who has provisionally been allowed to proceed to the second year registers, and the supervisor arranges for a chair and an adviser for the student’s Supervisory Board - Student and supervisor determine the professional and skills development programme the student will follow in the second year. This includes the obligatory ‘Doctoral Welcome Conference’. - Dissertation marks are confirmed by the November Board of Examiners - Departmental Research Students’ Progress Committee decides whether student has met the criteria to continue in the second year. If the criteria have not been met, a student’s registration status will be changed to MRes, and any fees paid for the second year will be refunded. Integrated MPhil/PhD students have their first Supervisory Board. Third year First Supervisory Board at which a student’s PhD status may be confirmed

1.4 The nature of research study Study for a research degree is fundamentally different from what you may have experienced at the undergraduate or taught Master’s level. Your previous training 9

should have equipped you with a general level of competence in the discipline, to a point where you can understand some of the primary research at least in certain areas. For the most part, you will have acquired this competence within the framework of a syllabus and you will have demonstrated it by discussing the work or ideas of others. The written work you have produced will have been intended for the eyes of your tutors or examiners, primarily for the purposes of assessment - to some extent this applies even to extended essays and dissertations. To qualify for a research degree you must acquire a high level of specialist expertise in some area of the discipline, which you will demonstrate in a thesis embodying original research. Except for students on the Integrated PhD and for ESRC 1+3 students during their first year of study, there will be no set syllabus to guide you or to define your targets - these you must determine for yourself in consultation with your supervisor and your Supervisory Board. Unlike an extended essay, the thesis is not simply a means of assessing your understanding of what you have learnt, nor is it an exercise in research - it is the real thing. Moreover, the thesis will be made available to other scholars (via the University library and the inter-library loans system) and its quality will affect not only your reputation but that of this University. Consequently, examiners will be reluctant to turn a blind eye to any defects in the thesis, even if they are satisfied that you, as a person, have attained the required level of expertise. This does not mean that the thesis has to be perfect in every respect, but it must be respectable enough to be presented to the outside world. A large part of studying for a research degree will, therefore, involve learning how to work on your own. Some learning will necessarily come from trial-and-error. The following notes are intended as advice on how to approach conducting independent research. They are not meant to be followed slavishly, but hopefully they will serve as a basis for developing your own strategies in accordance with your temperament and the particular requirements of your research. They represent one view, which may not be shared by your supervisor, in which case it is probably wise to follow your supervisor’s advice. While every effort has been made to ensure that the information presented in these notes is accurate, it must not be taken as invalidating or superseding any official information issued by the University or the Department. 1.5 Your topic As part of your application to Essex, you will have given an outline of your proposed research, but this will probably need to be revised in various ways and to be defined more precisely. Your supervisor should be able to help in this, by identifying questions which are of interest to both of you and/or which are at the forefront of current debate within the field and also by advising you of existing work in the area. Obviously, the topic must interest you, since it will occupy three or four years of your life, but the more it interests your supervisor, the more able (and keen) he or she will be to provide guidance and constructive criticism. It is also preferable to choose a topic which relates to the work of others around you (including fellow students) so that you can benefit from informal discussions, research groups, conferences, etc. ‘Doing your own thing’ may sound exciting, but it may quickly leave you feeling isolated and unmotivated.

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1.6 Reading The University library, the Albert Sloman Library (named after our first ViceChancellor), has a large collection of books relating to our graduate courses and research fields. As soon as you have registered, you are entitled to borrow books and use the Library facilities. The Department also has a library of its own called the Spicer Library, housed in Room 3.111. This was founded in memory of Prof. Sam Spicer, Emeritus Professor of Applied Linguistics who died a number of years ago. This normally opens by the beginning of Week 4. Most of the books in the collection are in the general field of Applied Linguistics/English Language Teaching and books purchased are largely funded by generous donations from the Spicer family and the International Academy. Dr Julian Good is the member of staff in overall charge of the Spicer Library. Check notice boards for opening times and how to register. The library is run by student volunteers. We strongly encourage you to get involved with this; all students will be contacted about how to do so early in the first term. A copy of the Rules of the Spicer Library will be given to you when you register as a user. For more information about the Spicer Library, see http://www.essex.ac.uk/linguistics/spicer/home.aspx A substantial proportion of your time will be devoted to reading, particularly in the early stages. Your supervisor should be able to suggest some reading matter to get you started, which you can follow up by consulting works which are referred to therein. Other PhD theses on related topics are also an invaluable source of bibliographical information. We would also recommend systematically sifting through relevant journals over the last ten years or so. Many journals can now be accessed electronically via the library web pages. A more methodical approach is to sift through specialist bibliographies which can be consulted in the library, making judicious use of the indexes. You can also do a computer search in the library (ask at the library desk for advice on how to go about this). Books which are not stocked in the University library can usually be obtained through the inter-library loans system (for information, ask at the library). However, this is a costly procedure which takes up resources which might be better spent on adding to the library’s own collection, so please use it sparingly. Check first that the book really is relevant by reading the abstract in a specialist Bibliography or seek the advice of your supervisor. If you need to consult several works which are available in other libraries within easy distance (e.g. London), it may be more convenient to go there and spend a couple of days of intensive reading. If you think that the book in question might be of use to other students, ask your supervisor to order it for the library - such requests from members of staff are usually granted and arrangements can be made for the book to be reserved for you as soon as it arrives. If you do obtain a book via inter-library loans, make sure that you get all the relevant information from it before you return it - on no account order the same book twice! Photocopying is another facility which is prone to abuse. From a legal point of view it is severely restricted by copyright - see notices displayed near all photocopiers. Above all, make sure that you actually read the stuff, preferably before you copy it!

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In many cases, it will be more useful (and certainly cheaper) to take notes on the relevant sections. Remember to keep a permanent record of the full bibliographical details of everything you read or consult, e.g. in a card-index or computer file, not on the backs of old envelopes. The University Computing Service has installed a software package in the University’s computing labs for managing bibliographies: EndNote. If you are interested in using this you will find information at: http://www2.essex.ac.uk/cs/services/software/details.asp?ID=155&DB=software It is extremely infuriating to discover, when you are on the point of submitting your thesis and there is only the bibliography left to do, that certain details are missing, particularly if the book in question is out on loan or the journal volume has been sent off to the binders! Some of your reading matter will be concerned with general background (e.g. theory or methodology) while other works will relate directly to the empirical domain of your research. You should try to intersperse both types of reading (or even do them concurrently) and make a conscious effort to establish links between them; e.g. as you are reading about some aspect of theory, try and find examples from your own domain which would illustrate it (or perhaps contradict it); conversely, think about how phenomena encountered in your specialist reading might be handled in terms of the theoretical approach which you have just been reading about. This will give a sense of purpose to your reading and will also help you to identify promising avenues of inquiry. 1.7 Active research As soon as possible, you should engage in research of an active, productive kind. In a study based on empirical work, this may take the form of a small scale pilot study designed to test the validity of your methodology and to give you some idea of the sort of results which you can expect to find when you do the ‘real thing’. For other types of research, an appropriate first step is to draft a tentative, but fairly developed synopsis of the thesis as you envisage it (say 20-50 pages), based on the evidence obtained so far and your preliminary hypotheses. This will provide you (and your supervisor) with a solid foundation to build on, to see what further evidence you need to look for, what avenues of inquiry are likely to prove fruitful, how the thesis can be organised and, possibly, how the scope of the research may need to be redefined. By the end of your first year, you are required to produce a rough thesis plan (e.g. listing potential chapter headings). However, for your own purposes, you should draw up a more detailed plan of the thesis as soon as possible. One way of doing this is to construct a flow diagram in which the main points (empirical data and analytic concepts) are linked by arrows indicating the ways in which they feed one another. You may find this easier to do on a large blackboard or whiteboard, so that you can rub points out and relocate them to give a clearer (less messy) visual picture. Looking at the general direction of the arrows will give an indication of the 12

order in which the subject matter should be dealt with. This task may be made more manageable if you break it down into parts; e.g. make a preliminary decision as to how the content is to be divided into chapters, work out the internal structure of each chapter, then by looking at connections across chapters determine the order in which they should be presented, perhaps with some transfer of material between chapters if appropriate. Eventually you should end up with a plan which is essentially linear. It will probably have to be revised as your research progresses, but at least it will give you a framework within which to work. When your basic research is complete and you have a clear overall picture of your thesis, you should begin detailed work on individual chapters, culminating in first drafts for your supervisor to comment on and discuss with you. It is generally best to give your supervisor complete chapters, unless he or she requests otherwise. It is also important to submit work regularly - as a rough guide, in order to complete within the prescribed period of time, you will normally need to produce about one draft chapter per term. In all probability, these drafts will need to be modified, firstly in the light of your supervisor’s comments and later when you have done drafts of all the chapters (e.g. to iron out inconsistencies, fill in gaps, eliminate repetition, etc.). You should take your supervisor’s comments seriously and not be overdefensive about what you have written. Suppose for instance that your supervisor makes some criticism of your work, but in oral discussion you are able to reassure or convince him or her by clarifying what you have written or by providing further supporting evidence. In such a case, you should not assume that what you have written is OK (e.g. the supervisor just wasn’t paying sufficient attention). If your supervisor (who is fairly familiar with your work) can misunderstand you or fail to be convinced by your argument, it is a fair bet that the examiners, approaching your work for the first time, will do likewise - possibly resulting in a ‘referral’ or even failure of the thesis. At the same time, you must remember that the thesis is your responsibility, not your supervisor’s. Your supervisor is not infallible and cannot be expected to have a detailed grasp of your research, so it is up to you to evaluate his or her comments. 1.8 Supervision Acknowledgement of Receipt and Acceptance of Guidelines on Supervision The University requires us to ensure that each research student not only receives, but also reads and undertakes to abide by, the guidelines on supervision outlined in this booklet. To this end, we will ask you at the beginning of your study to sign a form acknowledging receipt of this booklet and agreement to abide by the arrangements outlined in it. Every research student has a main supervisor (a member of the academic staff whose role is to provide advice and general guidance - see below) and there may also be a co-supervisor (to provide complementary expertise). The question of the precise form which ‘supervision’ should take is a matter to be decided between you and your supervisor(s). You may agree to hold regular short meetings (e.g. fortnightly in term times) to discuss how your work is going; or you may decide that it suits both of you better if you have less frequent but longer meetings, e.g. two or three times a term. In some cases, supervision may take the form of a research 13

seminar in which each student takes turns in presenting his or her most recent work to the group. The frequency of supervisory meetings may vary according to the nature of your research and the current stage of your PhD, and supervisory arrangements will often differ between term time and vacations. It is important to establish a personalised and regular supervision system from the outset, so that you and your supervisor(s) stay in close contact. The departmental guidelines on the responsibilities of supervisors and research students are given below. (See also section 1.15) The Department regards the responsibilities of the supervisor to be the following: a)

b)

c) d)

e) f)

g) h)

i) j) k)

to give guidance about the nature of the research and the standard to be expected; to advise about the planning of the research programme and about relevant literature and sources; to direct the student to attend taught modules wherever necessary; to encourage students to acquire and maintain familiarity with relevant developments on the subject; to give advice about requisite techniques (including arranging for instruction where necessary) and about the problem of cheating; to maintain contact, at least once a month, through regular supervisory sessions and seminars in accordance with departmental policy and arrangements previously agreed with the student; if a student fails to communicate with a supervisor for three consecutive months, the supervisor will refer the student to the Director of Research Students who will arrange a meeting with the student to discuss progress; to be accessible to the student at other appropriate times when advice may be needed; to give detailed advice on the necessary completion dates of successive stages of the work so that the whole may be submitted within the scheduled time; to request written work as appropriate, and to return such work with constructive criticism within 6 weeks of receipt of the work; to arrange, as appropriate, for the student to talk about his or her work to staff or graduate seminars and, as appropriate, to have practice in oral examinations; to ensure that the student is made aware of inadequacy of progress or of standards of work below that expected; to advise the Head of Department, or his or her designated representative, and the student if, in his or her opinion, there is sufficient likelihood of the student failing the degree for which he or she wishes to submit; and to submit, twice a year (and on other occasions where necessary), a written report on the student’s progress to the relevant Supervisory Board; to discuss a student’s training needs at the beginning of each new academic year; to keep a written record of supervisory meetings with research students.

The Department regards the responsibilities of the student to include the following:

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a) b) c)

d) e) f) g)

h)

i)

to discuss with the supervisor the type of guidelines and the form of comment found most helpful and to agree a schedule of meetings; to take the initiative in raising problems or difficulties, however elementary they may seem; to produce work in accordance with the schedule agreed with the supervisor or Supervisory Board, with special attention paid to the production of written material in sufficient time to allow for proper comment and discussion, before proceeding to the next stage; to decide when to submit the thesis, taking due account of the supervisor’s opinion (which is advisory only); to attend such formal instruction as is required by the supervisor; to become familiar with the appropriate higher degree regulations; to raise with the departmental Director of Research Students and/or the Head of Department and/or, if necessary, the relevant Dean, at the earliest possible opportunity, and in any case before submission of the thesis, any aspect of the supervisory or other arrangements with which the student is dissatisfied, if necessary in confidence; in the event of the informal discussions referred to in (g) above not having produced a satisfactory outcome, to complain formally to the Academic Registrar, using the appropriate complaints form; and to submit, twice a year (and on other occasions where necessary), a written report on the progress of the research (on the forms prescribed for this purpose) to the relevant Supervisory Board.

(NB: Around weeks 9 and 35 all research students will be sent a Supervisory Board Report form by e-mail that they must complete and send to their supervisor by email. The purpose of this report is to provide details about work that has been completed in the previous 6 months, and to outline goals for the next 6 months. This report forms the basis for discussion at a Supervisory Board meeting, and for the final report on progress that is considered by the Departmental Student Progress Committee – see below). 1.9 Taking responsibility for your own work It is important from the outset to be pro-active in the management of your project. The work is, after all, your responsibility and not that of your supervisor, and ultimately both you and your supervisor have to certify that the thesis is entirely your own work. Supervisors will try their best to give you advice and support you as your work develops. However, it is not their responsibility to do the work for you, to proof-read or ghost-write your thesis. In general, you can expect your supervisor to read and comment on one draft (and one revised draft) of each section of your thesis, and (towards the end of your supervision period) to read through (and comment on) one draft of the overall thesis. Most supervisors prefer you to submit small quantities of work regularly (rather than a very large piece of work every few months), and most dislike being asked to read more than 30 pages or so at a time (though this is a matter of individual preference which you should discuss with your supervisor). It is your responsibility to decide what revisions (if any) you wish to make in the light of constructive critical comments from 15

your supervisor; supervisors cannot be expected to read one revised draft after another of a particular section or chapter (let alone of the whole thesis). Wherever possible, staff aim to provide feedback on work submitted by a supervisee within 6 weeks of receiving it, and will notify the student (e.g. by email) if they are unable to do so, and set a new date. Where a supervisor sends a student comments by email, it is expected that the student will acknowledge receipt of those comments (so that the supervisor knows they have been received). More generally, where a student has received comments from the supervisor on work which is subsequently submitted as a dissertation or thesis for assessment for a postgraduate degree, or in article form sent to a journal for publication, it is expected that the supervisor’s help and any financial support the student has received from a sponsor will be formally acknowledged. 1.10 Supervisory boards The Department appoints a separate Supervisory Board to oversee the work of each individual research student (so that each student has his or her own Supervisory Board). This consists of a chair, an adviser and the supervisor (or, where there are two supervisors, a chair and the two supervisors). The progress of all students, whether full-time or part-time/distance, is reviewed twice a year by Supervisory Boards: in December and in June. Students and their supervisors complete a written report on a standard form that is discussed at the Supervisory Board meetings. All full-time students normally have a face-to-face meeting with their Supervisory Boards in June. Part-time/distance students must have at least one face-to-face meeting with their Supervisory Boards, either in June or in December. Exceptionally, additional Supervisory Boards may be convened at other times, as required. You will be notified of the membership of your Supervisory Board as soon as possible after you register. The member of staff who chairs your Supervisory Board will not normally be someone who has been your supervisor for more than one term. Any other member of staff involved may not be a prospective internal examiner if he or she serves on the Supervisory Board within the 12 months preceding submission. Where a supervisor (or other board member) is unable to attend a given meeting of the board, another appropriate member of staff may take his or her place. The membership of your own individual Supervisory Board will be indicated on the research report form that you are asked to complete. The duties of your Supervisory Board include: To discuss with you the research report that you have submitted, the general direction and progress of your research, the nature of training and supervision provided, and your career aspirations. Each end-of-year Supervisory Board should open with a student having the opportunity to raise any general matters, including any supervisory difficulties, without the supervisor being present. The Supervisory Board should have access to all previous progress reports, to be able to check whether progress has been made satisfactorily and in line with what was agreed previously.

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The Supervisory Board's report should include an indication of targets for the next six month period. Each Supervisory Board report should include a recommendation to the Research Students Progress Committee as to whether the student should proceed, their status be altered, or their candidacy be terminated. Students should receive a copy of the report. The duties of the chair of a Supervisory Board include: To comment (in the relevant section of the research report form) on the Supervisory Board’s view of your present progress and the possible future direction of your research, on the feasibility of your research plan on future training courses which you are advised to take on any changes in supervision arrangements which might be appropriate (e.g. where a member of staff is due to go on leave, or where your research spills over into an adjacent area) on any additional sources of assistance which you might seek, etc. All completed Supervisory Board report forms are considered by the Departmental Research Student Progress Committee, which makes recommendations about each student’s progress to the Dean of the Graduate School. 1.11 Confirmation of PhD status PhD students will be registered for a standard minimum period (three years for fulltime supervised research students; four years for Integrated PhD students; six years for part-time/distance students) with an initial registration status as an MPhil/PhD student. Students will be supervised as PhD students, but PhD status will need to be confirmed according to the following schedule, depending on when a student started (October, January or April) and the type of registration (3-year full-time supervised research, 6-year part-time/distance supervised research, or 4-year integrated PhD programme): Type of registration Full-time

Part-time/distance

Integrated PhD

Start month October January April October January April October

Confirmation Supervisory Board meeting December, year 2 June, year 2 June, year 2 June, year 3 June, year 3 December, year 3 December, year 3

The Confirmation Board can make the following recommendations to the Research Student’s Progress Committee: Confirm PhD status Defer a decision to the next Board 17

Change the student’s status to MPhil Change the student’s status to Master’s by Dissertation Recommend a leave of absence Recommend that the student’s studies be discontinued 1.12 Criteria for the confirmation of PhD status For the Supervisory Board to be able to confirm PhD status, the following will normally be expected: You will have defined a research question (or questions) that can be practically tested and results written up by the end of your minimum period, in a PhD thesis that makes a significant contribution to knowledge. You will have attended or be attending training modules in the Department that will assist you in completing the writing up of your thesis by the end of your minimum period. In the case of full-time PhD students, you will have attended regularly the research group to which you were assigned at the beginning of your first year. You will be able to demonstrate that you have undertaken substantial reading and that you are familiar with the existing research literature relevant to your topic. You will have a provisional thesis outline and a clear plan of how you will address your research question(s) in implementing your research. You will have begun to collect and analyse evidence for application to your research questions. Overall your project will have a scope in quantity, depth and originality which is consistent with PhD research. Where the Supervisory Board cannot recommend that a student proceeds to a PhD but can proceed to an MPhil, the following will normally be expected: There will be evidence that you are familiar with key studies in the existing relevant research literature, have defined a research question or questions that can be practically tested and results written up by the end of the completion year in an MPhil thesis that will make a contribution to knowledge. The scope and originality of the work, however, is not consistent with that required at PhD level. (See section 1.14 Expectations about the progress of your research for more information about work that should have been completed at each stage of your minimum period). When PhD status has been confirmed by the Departmental Research Students’ Progress Committee, the student will be sent a letter by the Departmental Director of Research Students indicating that their formal registration status has been changed to PhD instead of MPhil/PhD. The minimum period will be unchanged. Students will continue to have two Supervisory Boards each year and the full range of decisions regarding progress will remain open to the Board; i.e. Confirmation is not a guarantee that a student will be permitted to enter Completion at the end of their minimum period or that a subsequent recommendation of downgrading or discontinuation could not be made if good progress did not continue. If the first Confirmation Board does not recommend that a student’s PhD status should be confirmed, the student will automatically have the right to continue as an 18

MPhil/PhD student until the next Supervisory Board. If, however, a student accepts the assessment that their status be changed or discontinued, then this change will take place immediately. In such cases, the student does not have a right of appeal. A student who is downgraded to MPhil will have revised minimum and maximum dates. If the decision regarding PhD status is deferred to a second Confirmation Board, or a student decides not to accept the recommendation of the first Confirmation Board of change of status or discontinuation, then a second Confirmation Board will be held at the next round of Supervisory Board meetings. If, following the second Confirmation Board, PhD status is not confirmed, then the Board will recommend to the Research Students’ Progress Committee change of status to MPhil, to Master’s by Dissertation or discontinuation. At this point, a student has a right of appeal against that decision. The Research Students’ Progress Committee’s recommendation is made to the Dean. 1.13 Departmental Research Students’ Progress Committee Following each round of Supervisory Board meetings (and at other times if necessary), a Departmental Progress Committee will meet to review the progress of every research student on the basis of the Supervisory Board reports. The Research Students’ Progress Committee is chaired by the Director of Research Students and includes the Assistant Director of Research Students, and one other experienced supervisor. The Committee will make one of the following recommendations to the Dean of the Graduate School in respect of each research student: (i)

(ii) (iii)

that the student be allowed to proceed with his/her studies either unconditionally or subject to further review at a specified date, if appropriate; or that the student’s status should be altered (e.g. upgraded from an MPhil to a PhD, downgraded, minimum period extended, etc); or that the student’s studies should be discontinued.

If a recommendation for a change or discontinuation of candidature is made, you will be formally notified of that recommendation. In the case of a recommendation for downgrading or discontinuation, you will be invited to attend the Progress Committee meeting in person to put your case. In such circumstances at least two members of the Progress Committee should not have been members of the student’s Supervisory Board at its most recent meeting. If subsequently you are unhappy with the recommendation of the Progress Committee, you have the right to appeal to the Dean of the Graduate School to request a review of your case. The Dean will establish a Review Committee. Where, at the end of the first year of a research degree, the Progress Committee recommends that you be allowed to proceed, but your progress is borderline, you will receive a written warning. This is a signal that you need to improve your 19

performance if the criteria for confirmation of PhD status are to be met in the second year. 1.14 Expectations about the progress of your research Please be aware that progress through each stage of your degree is not automatic. Your Supervisory Board reports must show that you have met the normal expectations for each stage of your research. Typical expectations are outlined in the table that follows. This is based on the criteria the University has established for the award of research degrees. See section 4.2 for these criteria. Programme MPhil/PhD (SR)

Work that should have been completed* End of year 1: Definition of the research question(s) you will be addressing. Substantial reading and familiarity with existing research literature on the topic. Provisional thesis outline and clear plan of how you will address your research question(s) in the 2 nd OR year of your studies. First supervisory board meeting of year 2: You will have completed the requirements for confirmation of your status as a PhD student Integrated (see section 1.12) MPhil/PhD (yrs End of year 2: Evidence collected, analysed and applied to your 2-4) research question(s). A clear statement of what your significant contribution to knowledge will be. A more definite outline of the plan for the thesis. A clear plan for how you will write up your research in the 3rd year of your studies. End of year 3: A complete draft of your thesis. MPhil End of year 1: Definition of the research question(s) you are addressing. Reading and familiarity with key studies in the existing research literature on the topic. Evidence collected, analysed and applied to your research question(s). A clear statement of what your contribution to knowledge will be. A thesis outline and clear plan of how you will write up your research in the 2 nd year. End of year 2: A complete draft of your thesis. MA (research) End of term 1: Definition of the research question(s) you are addressing. Reading and familiarity with some of the key studies in the existing research literature on the topic. End of term 2: Evidence collected, analysed and applied to your research question(s). A clear statement of how your work relates to the wider field of knowledge. A dissertation outline and clear plan of how you will write up your research in term 3. End of term 3: A complete draft of your dissertation. *The completed work expected from full-time research students after one year (or one term) would be expected after two years (or two terms) for part-time/distance students. 1.15 Changing your thesis topic If you are unhappy about your choice of thesis topic, you should discuss the matter in the first instance with your supervisor. You should then take the issue up with your Supervisory Board, either at one of its regular meetings with you, or at an 20

extraordinary meeting (you may ask the chair of your Supervisory Board to convene an extraordinary meeting of the board for this purpose). If the change of topic is simply a matter of a slight change of emphasis, or narrowing down a general topic to a more specific one, the board may advise you not to apply for permission to change your official topic until just before you are ready to submit (by which time we should all have a pretty clear idea of exactly what your topic has turned out to be!). If, however, the proposed change of topic is a major one (involving a different field of research, and a change of supervisor), your Supervisory Board may refer the matter to the Director of Research Students and Head of Department to discuss, and they will ask you to submit a new research proposal, and may want to see you to discuss it with you. 1.16 Problems with supervision From time to time students have problems with the arrangements for the supervision of their research work. If you are unhappy with any aspects of your PhD supervision, you should discuss the matter in the first instance with your PhD supervisor(s). If the issue is not resolved satisfactorily between you, you should then take up the matter with the Chair of your Supervisory Board. If the matter is still not satisfactorily resolved, you should take it up with one of the Directors of Research Students (Karen Roehr or Roger Hawkins). If they are unable to resolve the matter to your satisfaction, you should then approach the Head of Department. If the Head is unable to resolve the matter, you should take it up with the Dean of the Graduate School. If (after the relevant discussions have taken place) you wish to change supervisor, you should then make a formal request in writing to one of the Directors of Research Students, who will discuss the matter with the Head of Department. In deciding whether to recommend a change of supervision arrangements, the Head will need to bear in mind a number of factors, including the competence and willingness of other members of staff to supervise the relevant work, and the supervision, administration and teaching load currently being carried by individual members of staff. Any change of supervision arrangements will ultimately require the Head of Department to make a formal request to the Dean of the Graduate School. 1.17 Complaints If you are dissatisfied with some aspect of your dealings with the Department or the University, or with members of staff, it is important that you make us aware of this as soon as possible. You should have no fears that making a complaint will affect the assessment of your work or the outcome of your degree – it will not. University guidelines specify that ‘staff are under an obligation not to allow a complaint by a student to have any bearing on the way that the student is treated or assessed’. The first step is to try to resolve your problem informally. Speak to the person whose actions are causing the dissatisfaction, or to anyone else in the Department who you think might be able to help, e.g. the Director of Research Students, the Assistant Director of Research Students, the Senior Adviser, or anyone else. If your problem cannot be resolved informally, then you will need to make a formal complaint. Details about how to do this can be found at the following webpage:

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http://www.essex.ac.uk/academic/docs/regs/complaint.shtm If you believe that the outcome of the assessment of your degree is inappropriate, because there were extenuating circumstances the examiners were not aware of, or because there was a procedural irregularity in the way your work was assessed, or because of some other reason, you need to start an Appeals procedure. See section 4.7 for an outline of this. 1.18 Appeals against progress decisions There are two appeals procedures that apply to research students. The first relates to progress decisions (downgrading and discontinuation) made by the Departmental Research Students’ Progress Committee. Where this Committee is considering a recommendation that a student’s studies be downgraded or discontinued, it will invite the student to discuss this with the Committee before making a final recommendation to the Dean of the Graduate School. If downgrading or discontinuation is confirmed by the Committee, the student may then request a review of the recommendation using the appeals procedure that can be found at: http://www2.essex.ac.uk/academic/students/appeals.html The second appeals procedure relates to the outcome of the examination of a thesis/dissertation. For information on this see section 4.7. 1.19 University guidelines on research supervision and training The University publishes a broad statement of its policy in the document ‘Code of Practice: Postgraduate Research Degrees'. This is supplemented by departmental statements, procedures and arrangements which are monitored by the Dean. The Code of Practice is published in the Higher Degree Regulations Booklet and can be found on the University web site: http://www.essex.ac.uk/academic/docs/regs/prdcode.shtm

SECTION 2 – PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT 2.1 LG595 Professional development activities for research students All research students are expected to participate in the programme of professional development (LG595) which involves events organised by the Department and by the University. You will receive details of the programme at the induction meeting you have with the Directors of Research Students at the beginning of your first year. You may also benefit throughout your period of registration by attending workshops run by the University’s Learning and Development team. The topics may vary from year to year, but include topics such as ‘Presentation skills’, ‘Assertive communication’, ‘Getting going on writing up research’, ‘Surviving the viva’. For the programme of events go to: http://www.essex.ac.uk/ldev/

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Attendance at any professional development courses or events should be recorded on your Supervisory Board report forms, and will be monitored at meetings of your Supervisory Board. See also Section 8 for information about Careers Advice 2.2 Modules and seminars The Department offers a wide range of taught modules, some of which may be relevant to your research and which you are welcome to attend (though you should ask the teacher responsible first). Depending on your background and training needs, you may be advised or required to attend specific modules and, in some cases, successful completion of certain courses may be a precondition for proceeding with your studies. If you are registered for the Integrated PhD, prescribed modules are an integral part of your scheme of study. The Department organises a series of regular seminars, usually given by speakers from other institutions, which you are strongly encouraged to attend - indeed, you are required to attend at least four seminars a year as part of professional development, and you will be asked to confirm this in your supervisory board reports. Although many of these may be outside your immediate area of interest, they are usually accessible to a broad audience and thus offer you an opportunity to keep abreast of developments in fields other than your own. Time is set aside for questions and there is usually a chance to meet the speaker afterwards for more informal discussion. 2.3 Research groups There are also a number of research groups intended mainly for PhD students, each concerned with a particular area of Linguistics. These are small, informal groups of students and interested members of staff, and their main function is to encourage discussion and mutual help among research students. You will be expected to participate in at least one of these and, at some point in each year of study, to present an exposé based on your research. You should not feel daunted by this prospect, but you should regard it as an opportunity for you to present your ideas to a wider audience and to get feedback on them. Information about the various research groups can be found at: http://www.essex.ac.uk/linguistics/research/resgroups/research_groups.aspx 2.4 Research training Research (even when focused on a narrow area) tends to require mastery of a wide range of skills; many research students find that they lack some of the relevant theoretical, statistical or computational techniques required to undertake and complete their research. The Department runs a large number of modules for graduate students, some of which provide specialist training in specific research techniques. Either your supervisor or your Supervisory Board may recommend (or require) that you attend specific graduate modules in order to strengthen your background in a particular area. Attendance at any graduate courses should be recorded on your progress report forms. 23

A list of modules with short descriptions can be found on the Department’s web pages at http://www.essex.ac.uk/linguistics/modules/ You should consider whether, or which of, these modules will be useful to you and make a plan for following them, which you should discuss with your supervisor. Research students are also entitled to attend one course (free of charge) at the annual ESRC Summer School in Data Analysis, which is held at Essex. 2.5 Proficio - Professional development for doctoral students Proficio is an initiative by the Graduate School for doctoral research students across the university. It offers events, workshops and resources to help you manage your PhD successfully, network with other students and staff, develop research skills necessary for your thesis, and widen your career profile. Find out more at www.essex.ac.uk/study/proficio Or email [email protected]

2.6 GRADschool GRADschool is a 3-day course held in the summer at Essex (usually July) that is open to all 2nd year research students (and 3rd year Integrated PhD students) and above. They have a ‘learning by doing’ style, and aim to develop personal effectiveness, networking, teamworking, communication and career management skills. For information, go the following webpage of the University’s Learning and Teaching Unit: http://www.essex.ac.uk/ltu/events/PGresearch/gradschool_facts.htm 2.7 Essex graduate student conferences In recent years research students in the Department have organised three separate annual postgraduate conferences: the Essex Graduate Student Conference in Linguistics, the SociolinguistEssex Conference, and LangUE: language at the University of Essex. For more information about postgraduate conferences in the Department go to: http://www.essex.ac.uk/linguistics/department/events/egcl/default.aspx http://www.essex.ac.uk/linguistics/department/events/slx/ http://www.essex.ac.uk/linguistics/department/events/langue/ 2.8 Essex Graduate Student Papers in Language and Linguistics In recent years research students in the Department have organised three separate annual postgraduate conferences: the Essex Graduate Student Conference in Linguistics, the SociolinguistEssex Conference, and LangUE: language at the University of Essex. For more information about postgraduate conferences in the Department go to: http://www.essex.ac.uk/linguistics/department/events/egcl/default.aspx http://www.essex.ac.uk/linguistics/department/events/slx/ http://www.essex.ac.uk/linguistics/department/events/langue/ 24

2.9 Attending conferences Attending conferences in your field may benefit your research and your future academic career. Usually, it is possible for the Department to provide limited financial support for research students presenting papers at prestigious national or international conferences (though not normally at student conferences). The amount of money available for this purpose varies from year to year, and in some years there may be none at all. In order for a particular case to be eligible for consideration for support, a number of criteria must be satisfied: (a) you must be within your minimum period of registration; (b) you must have had a paper accepted for presentation; (c) your case for financial assistance must be supported in writing by your supervisor, who must also offer an evaluation of the status of the conference; (d) your application must be made and authorised in advance of the conference taking place. Note that, even in times of plenty, a Departmental contribution will typically cover only a portion of the full cost of attending a conference. Normally a student will only be eligible for one conference support grant in any one University financial year (1st August to 31st July). If you wish to be considered for such support, you should first speak to your supervisor, who will give you an assessment of the prospects of success in the context of the Department's financial position. Secondly, you should complete a ‘Conference funding application form’ (obtainable from the Assistant Director of Research Students) and pass a hard copy signed by your supervisor to the Assistant Director of Research Students. 2.10 Teaching opportunities Once a year, the Department will invite applications for a number of Graduate Teaching Assistant (GTA) posts. Normally students in the second or third year of study may apply, but applications from students in their first year of study or in their completion year may sometimes also be considered. Students beyond their first completion year are not eligible to apply. Applications will be considered by a Departmental Selection Committee, who also interview candidates. Students who have served as GTAs for one year and wish to continue will be required to re-apply and will be interviewed again, although at least one of these will normally be reemployed for a second year to provide advice and support for new GTAs. To provide as many students as possible with the opportunity to gain some teaching experience, no student should normally serve as a GTA for more than two years. However, because the teaching involved takes the form of follow-up classes to first year lectures, the primary concern of the interviewing panel is to appoint GTAs who can demonstrate communicative skills and approachability. In order to assess a candidate’s suitability for such a post, interviewees will be asked to give a short presentation at the beginning of the interview. The University's Code of Practice on Teaching by Graduate Students is available on the Graduate School web pages at: http://www.essex.ac.uk/academic/docs/regs/gstudents.shtm

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2.11 mySkills and myLife There are two websites that offer interactive advice/guidance and academic networking. These resources could form an integral part of your academic development. MySkills will help you to acquire the skills that are crucial to achieving academic success at Essex, whilst also improving your employability. See the webpage at: www.essex.ac.uk/myskills Students can use myLife to create workspaces to organise their academic assignments, keep track of their friends, organise social events, write a blog recording their reflections on their experiences at Essex, and so on. To find out more about it, go to: http://www.essex.ac.uk/elen/student/mylife.shtm 2.12 Requesting a reference/recommendation letter If you need a reference or recommendation letter from a member of the Department, make sure that you provide them with relevant information about yourself and the position you are applying for (e.g. a copy of your CV or your application, a transcript of your results, and a copy of the job description). When choosing referees you should consider who is best informed about your personal and academic qualities. Please try to give your chosen referees at least two weeks to write the reference; they have many other things to do and it may not be possible for them to meet a request for a reference ‘by tomorrow’. SECTION 3 – FACILITIES FOR RESEARCH STUDENTS 3.1 A place in a PhD study room We try to offer every student in their first or subsequent years of supervised research the possibility of having a desk in a PhD Study Room. We currently have 77 desks available for this purpose. At times, however, there are more students requesting desks than desks available as we have over 120 registered research students. We ask every student who would like a desk in a study room to read through and follow the guidelines at: http://www.essex.ac.uk/linguistics/current_students/phd_students/phd_study_roo ms.aspx 3.2 Printing and lockers Student lockers are located outside room 3.114. If you wish to have a key to a locker please see the Graduate Administrator. There is also a computer (currently located in the departmental social space) that is linked to a central printer in the Departmental Administration Office (4.305). Students are allowed to send up to 1000 pages in an academic year for printing on this printer. Please note that the printer we currently have only prints single sided and that Administrators in the office do not print the documents for you.

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3.3 Photocopying facilities Research students, along with other students in the Department, have access to unlimited photocopying at cost (through the purchase of cards from the Departmental Office). The photocopier is located in the Social Space (see below). This machine has been bought by the Department, and the money spent on this represents a considerable subsidy of photocopying for students, arguably more generous than providing a fixed amount of free photocopying. 3.4 The Social Space (4.305A) The Social Space is an area where there is a sink/coffee/tea/chocolate machine (run at cost price), pigeonholes for use by students in the Department, tables, chairs and magazines. All students are welcome to use this facility. Sometimes the Social Space is booked for specific events (e.g. a buffet lunch for our External Examiners) and in such cases it will be closed to students for the duration of the relevant event.

SECTION 4 – ASSESSMENT OF RESEARCH DEGREES 4.1 Approval of title/notice to submit your thesis You are required to give at least two months written notice of your intention to submit your thesis on a form which indicates the final title of your thesis. You can collect this from the Graduate Administrator. Normally the Supervisor and Head of Department approve your proposed title. But you have the right to present a thesis for examination without the approval of your supervisor. The two month requirement is to allow the University time to appoint examiners. (It does not matter if you take longer than two months after you submit the form.) Instructions on how to actually submit your thesis, including how it should be formatted, and how many copies are required, can be obtained from the Registry. 4.2 Criteria a thesis should meet for the award of a research degree The following is a summary of the criteria set out in the University’s Higher Degree Regulations that a thesis or dissertation must meet for the award of a PhD, MPhil and MA by research. Note that in all three cases candidates must show that they have understood how their work relates to the wider field of knowledge in which it is set, and must write clearly and concisely. The criteria differ in that a PhD thesis must make a significant contribution to knowledge, an MPhil thesis must make a contribution to knowledge, while an MA dissertation by research must demonstrate advanced understanding of the area of study: PhD (Higher Degree Regulation 4.39) A PhD thesis must present the results of original investigations ‘that make a significant contribution to knowledge’; it must ‘test ideas, whether the candidate’s own or those of others’; it must show that the author has understood ‘the relationship of the theme of the investigations to a wider field of knowledge’; and it must be written ‘clearly and concisely’. The maximum length of a PhD thesis is 80,000 words. Students would need to make a special case to the Dean of the Graduate School to exceed this limit. 27

MPhil (Higher Degree Regulation 4.37) An MPhil thesis must present the results of research that makes ‘a contribution to knowledge’; it must either report ‘original work’ or be ‘an ordered and critical exposition of existing knowledge’; it must show that the author has understood the relationship between his/her own work and ‘the wider field of knowledge’; and it must ‘be expressed clearly and concisely’. The maximum length of a MPhil thesis is 50,000 words. Students would need to make a special case to the Dean of the Graduate School to exceed this limit. MA by Dissertation (Higher Degree Regulation 4.36) The dissertation for an MA by research must ‘demonstrate advanced understanding of the area of study’; it must ‘set out the relationship between the candidate’s work and the wider field of knowledge’; and it must ‘be expressed clearly and concisely’. The maximum length of an MA dissertation by research is 30,000 words. Students would need to make a special case to the Dean of the Graduate School to exceed this limit. In preparing your thesis or dissertation, you should consult the original University Higher Degree Regulations which can be found at: www.essex.ac.uk/academic/docs/regs/rpp.shtm 4.3 Examiners for research degrees When a student submits their Approval of Title form, the Department will be asked to nominate two examiners, one internal and one external, whose names have to be approved by the Dean of the Graduate School. The student’s supervisor cannot be appointed as the internal examiner for the research thesis. A member of staff who has temporarily supervised the student’s work for not more than 12 months may, in exceptional circumstances, be appointed as an examiner, provided that he or she has not acted as a temporary supervisor during any part of the 12 months before the submission of the thesis. No member of staff who has been a member of the student’s Supervisory Board during the final 12 months before submission of the thesis may normally be nominated as the internal examiner. The role of the external examiner is: 1. 2.

To read the thesis To reach an independent judgement on the thesis, against the appropriate criteria for the award, without consulting the internal examiner about the assessment, and to record this on a preliminary Report Form prior to the viva (=oral examination) 28

3. 4. 5. 6.

To attend the viva and viva pre-meeting To agree with the internal examiner the outcome of the examination With the internal examiner, to complete the Joint Report Form In the case of a referral, normally to re-examine the referred thesis

The role of the internal examiner is as for the external examiner, and in addition: 1. 2. 3. 4.

To oversee the arrangements for the assessment process including liaising with the external examiner to set a date for the viva To ensure that the Department notifies the student of the date for the viva To oversee the proceedings at the viva In the case of a pass with minor editorial revisions, to verify the corrections

Note that the function of the internal examiner is NOT to defend/support the candidate against the external examiner. The internal examiner assesses the thesis for its academic merits in the light of the criteria that a research degree must meet (see section 4.2), as does the external examiner. 4.4 The viva (oral examination) The viva is a long-established part of the examination process for a research degree. Examiners are expected to arrange a viva normally within 3 months of receipt of the thesis or dissertation. The main focus is on the assessment of the thesis (PhD or MPhil) or dissertation (MA), but the viva also informs the examiners’ final decision about assessment. The viva normally only involves the external and internal examiner, and the student. The student’s supervisor is not present. The length of the viva is normally one and a half to two hours. If it is likely to be longer than this, the internal examiner should recommend a break. The examiners hold a pre-viva meeting, at which the student is not present, to discuss their preliminary views on the thesis/dissertation and to plan the viva. At the start of the viva, the internal examiner will introduce those present, explain the purpose of the viva and outline how the examiners have agreed to conduct the viva. The examiners will NOT inform the candidate of their preliminary assessment of the thesis/dissertation. Normally, the examiners will start with some general/introductory questions that are designed to put the candidate at their ease (e.g. ‘Could you tell us what you think are the most significant findings of your research?’). Then more specific questioning will follow, with the candidate given the opportunity to defend the thesis/dissertation. Examiners are at liberty to choose which parts of the thesis/dissertation they ask questions about (they are not obliged to ask questions on all chapters or all of the ideas). At the end of the viva, it will normally be necessary for the candidate to leave the room while the examiners confer as to the outcome of the examination. The candidate will then be recalled and told the result.

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4.5 Recommendations available to examiners at the end of the viva Following the viva, the examiners may make one of the following recommendations: For all research degrees: 1. 2. 3.

4.

5.

6.

Pass – no corrections required Pass with minor typographical/presentational corrections – the student makes the corrections prior to binding the thesis; Pass with minor editorial revisions to be made within two months – the examiners must provide a list of the corrections that they wish to see made and the internal examiner must confirm in writing that the corrections have been made satisfactorily. Revisions must be made and the thesis submitted within two months; Pass with editorial revisions to be made within four months – the examiners must provide a list of the corrections and revisions that they wish to see made and the internal examiner must confirm in writing that the corrections have been made satisfactorily. Revisions must be made and the thesis submitted within four months; Referral – the student may resubmit, on one occasion only, a revised thesis for re-examination within 12 months. The examiners must provide a statement describing the shortcomings of the thesis and the changes required. They must also specify the referral period, which should not normally exceed 12 months; Fail – the examiners must provide a clear statement describing the shortcomings of the thesis.

For PhDs, the examiners may also recommend: (a)

(b)

(c)

(d)

Award of an MPhil – the candidate has not met the requirements for a PhD, but has met the requirements for the degree of Master of Philosophy. The candidate must amend the title page of the thesis; Award of an MPhil with minor editorial revisions – the candidate has not met the requirements for a PhD but has met the requirements for the degree of Master of Philosophy subject to the approval of minor editorial revisions. The examiners must provide a list of the corrections that they wish to see made and the internal examiner must confirm in writing that the corrections have been made satisfactorily. Revisions must be made within two months; Award of an MPhil with editorial revisions to be made within four months – the examiners must provide a list of the corrections and revisions that they wish to see made and the internal examiner must confirm in writing that the corrections have been made satisfactorily. Revisions must be made and the thesis submitted within four months; Referral for an MPhil – the candidate has not met the requirements for a PhD, but may resubmit a revised thesis for re-examination for the degree of Master of Philosophy.

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For MPhils, the examiners may also recommend: (a)

(b)

(c)

(d)

Award of a Masters by Dissertation – the candidate has not met the requirements for an MPhil, but has met the requirements for the degree of Masters by Dissertation. The candidate must amend the title page of the thesis; Award of a Masters by Dissertation with minor editorial revisions – the candidate has not met the requirements for an MPhil but has met the requirements for the degree of Masters by Dissertation subject to the approval of minor editorial revisions. The examiners must provide a list of the corrections that they wish to see made and the internal examiner must confirm in writing that the corrections have been made satisfactorily. Revisions must be made within two months; Award of an MPhil with editorial revisions to be made within four months – the examiners must provide a list of the corrections and revisions that they wish to see made and the internal examiner must confirm in writing that the corrections have been made satisfactorily. Revisions must be made and the thesis submitted within four months; Referral for a Masters by Dissertation – the candidate has not met the requirements for an MPhil, but may resubmit a revised thesis for reexamination for the degree of Masters by Dissertation.

Any attempt by a candidate (or supervisor) to influence the decision of either or both examiners before, during or after the oral examination (whether orally or in writing, directly or indirectly) is unacceptable conduct which could constitute an academic offence. 4.6 Cheating Not that you would! One form of cheating is plagiarism, which can be defined as making use of the work of others as if it were your own. This is a very serious offence in the eyes of the University. If you are found guilty of it, the consequences can be dire for you. You may be expelled from the University and fail to obtain your degree. So it is important that you are aware of how to avoid plagiarism from the start. There are several points to note. Firstly, ‘the work of others’ includes ideas put forward by others (including class teachers or other students) at lectures, seminars, tutorials, or in personal conversation or correspondence. The usual formula for acknowledging a suggestion made privately by someone else is ‘Bloggs (p.c.) has suggested that...’ (where p.c. = ‘personal communication’). Where ideas emanate from a lecture/class, you can acknowledge this by a formula such as: ‘Snott (classes, 01/04/10) was the first to develop a discourse-oriented theory of Applied Morphophonolexicopragmantics, but this was refuted a month later by Grott (lecture handout, 31/04/10)’. When quoting other writers, be careful to close the quotation marks in the appropriate place: students sometimes fall foul of the ‘cheating’ regulations by

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failing to put quotation marks at the end of a quotation, thereby leaving it open to doubt where the quotation ends. All ideas which emanate from other people or other works must be attributed to the appropriate source, even if you are loosely paraphrasing what someone else says. Where you quote from the same author or work in several different places, it is not sufficient to acknowledge the relevant work(s) only once: rather, you must give the exact source every time you paraphrase or otherwise cite the work in question. The same is true if you are quoting, paraphrasing or summarising the ideas of various different authors. It is not sufficient simply to say at the end of the relevant section of your work: ‘The ideas in this section have been drawn from the following works...’ Rather, each individual idea must be attributed to its author(s) in all the relevant places in the text of your assignment where it is mentioned. A piece of work which amounts to no more than a close paraphrase of one or more works by other people (even if sources are properly acknowledged) will (at best) be deemed to have no original content and hence be heavily penalised, and may (at worst) be deemed to involve cheating. One of the more bizarre forms of cheating is self-plagiarism. The guiding principle is that no one piece of assessed work submitted by you may overlap substantially in material with any other piece of assessed work submitted by you. Or, in simpler terms, you can’t get credit for any given piece of material more than once. What this means in the case of research students is that no part of your thesis may overlap substantially with any work submitted by you as part of the requirements for another qualification (e.g. an MA dissertation). Guidelines for avoiding cheating can be found on the Faculty of Social Sciences web site at: http://www.essex.ac.uk/plagiarism/ Details of the University’s Regulations relating to academic offences (‘cheating’) and the procedure for dealing with allegations of cheating can be found on the University web site at: www.essex.ac.uk/academic/docs/regs/offpro.shtm 4.7 Appeals against degree results If you believe that your degree result is inappropriate, you have the right to make an appeal against the decision. The grounds for appeal are: (i) that there were procedural irregularities in the conduct of the examination (including alleged administrative error) of such a nature as to cause reasonable doubt as to whether the result might have been different had they not occurred; (ii) that there is prima facie evidence of prejudice, bias, or inadequate assessment on the part of one or more of the examiners.

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For full details of the Appeals procedure, see: http://www.essex.ac.uk/academic/docs/regs/researchap.shtm Note that an appeal is NOT possible on the grounds of inadequacy of supervisory or other arrangements during the period of study. Such problems should be dealt with as a complaint (see section 1.14). SECTION 5 – DEPARTMENTAL INFORMATION 5.1 Key staff information The Head of the Department is Dr Doug Arnold. To make an appointment to see Dr Arnold please contact the Departmental Secretary, Mrs Caralyn Elmer in Room 4.305 – email: [email protected]. The Director of Research Students is Dr Helen Emery ([email protected] in autumn), Professor Robert Borsley ([email protected]) and the Assistant Director is. Dr Beatriz de Paiva ([email protected]), who is also the Senior Adviser in the Department. Although your supervisor is normally the first point of contact for any problems or queries you have, you should also feel free to contact any of the above or any other member of staff if you need help. 5.2 Consultation hours During term time, all members of staff who are not on leave set aside two or more hours a week during which they are available in their offices to see students (either singly or in small groups) about academic or other matters. Each member of staff posts on their door and/or on their personal webpage’s a list of their consultation hours. Please note, however, that these hours may vary from week to week (because of complex timetabling problems, committee meetings, visits to other universities, etc). If you need to see a specific member of staff, and it is completely impossible for you to do so during their consultation hours, email them for an alternative appointment. A list of staff office hours is also published on the web. Go to http://www.essex.ac.uk/linguistics/staff/Staff.aspx?type=academic and then click on the names of individual staff members to find out their office hours. 5.3 Departmental Administration office contacts The Graduate Administrator, Miss Catherine Gentry, is responsible for general administration matters relating to graduate courses in the Department of Language and Linguistics. She is assisted by the assistant student administrator, Mrs Valerie Hartgrove. No administrator in the Department is allowed (without the permission of the Head of the Department) to make or take phone calls on behalf of students, or to do photocopying, typing or printing work for students – so please do not compromise them by asking. 5.4 Current address It is vital that we are able to contact you whenever we need to, so please provide on your blue card an up-to-date record of (i) your local (Essex) address, phone/fax number and email address; (ii) your home address, phone/fax number and email 33

address. If any of these changes, please use the departmental Change of Address card available from the Graduate Administrator, to inform us immediately. You should also inform the Registry (Room 6.116). Addresses and telephone numbers are not released to anyone except staff members.

5.5 Communication methods Important information is communicated to students by means of land mail, electronic mail and on University notice boards. Students are advised to check the departmental graduate pigeonholes, located at the entrance to the Social Space (4.305A), and the student pigeonholes, located outside the Post Room (4N.3.0) and to access their University email accounts regularly. It is your responsibility to ensure that you do not miss important or urgent information sent from the Registry, your supervisor or the Director of Research Students. Important information is also posted on the university notice boards outside the Examinations Office (Room 6.105), on departmental notice boards and in the LTB foyer. Students are advised to check these regularly. Since most information these days is distributed via e-mail, and for many purposes this is the most convenient way to contact staff, it is VITAL that you check your University email address every few days. 5.6 Graduate pigeonholes All the mail addressed to postgraduate students in the Department of Language and Linguistics will be placed in the pigeonholes in the Social Space. This will include all internal notes and urgent messages. There is also a general notice board near these pigeon holes, for graduate students. External mail reaches the Department at around 11.00am and 3.00pm each weekday. If you wish people to write to you at the Department give your address as: Department of Language and Linguistics University of Essex Wivenhoe Park Colchester Essex CO4 3SQ Please note, however, that neither the Department nor the University can guarantee the security of the mail left in our departmental graduate pigeonholes, and it may be safer to ask for external mail to be sent to you at your local accommodation address. 5.7 Graduate notice board All notices, timetables, class lists, etc. relating to our graduate programmes will be placed on the graduate notice board, which is located in the corridor near Room 4.305 (the departmental administration office).

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5.8 Staff student liaison committees Each department or centre responsible for a degree scheme is required to establish at least one Staff-Student Liaison Committee (SSLC). The code of practice relating to SSLCs can be viewed at: http://www.essex.ac.uk/quality/pages/sslc.htm The department has two graduate staff-student liaison committees, one for taught course (Diploma and MA) students, and one for research (MPhil and PhD) students. The postgraduate research student Staff-Student Liaison Committee (PGRSSLC) is chaired by the Head of Department, and its members comprise the Head, the two Research Student Directors and up to five members of the Department's research student community. A call for student representatives for the PGRSSLC is made in weeks 2 or 3. If more than the required number of student representatives are nominated, an election will be held. The committees normally meet in the first and second terms, and their reports will be forwarded to the Head of Department for discussion at a departmental staff meeting. Minutes of the SSLC are published at: http://www.essex.ac.uk/linguistics/current_students/phd_students/sslco/index.asp x A member of the student representatives is also invited to departmental meetings and to sit on the Department’s Quality Committee. A departmental student representative also sits on the Graduate School Student Liaison Committee. Further details of the Graduate School Student Liaison Committee can be found at: http://www2.essex.ac.uk/academic/offices/graduate/slc.htm Of course, you are welcome at any time (either singly or in groups) to approach one of the Directors of Research Students (or indeed any other member of staff) to raise any matter of concern to you. We would prefer to hear from you before things start to go wrong, rather than have to deal with difficulties after the event. 5.9 Student feedback During the academic year you will have the opportunity to provide feedback on the content and delivery of any courses you attend by completing a Student Assessment of Modules and Teaching (SAMT) questionnaire. Feedback on other matters relating to your studies is gathered during the annual Postgraduate Research Experience Survey. For further information, see: http://www.essex.ac.uk/quality/pages/studentfeedback.htm 5.10 Problems and queries There are a wide variety of people who will be happy to talk to you about any problems you may have. Queries about administrative matters relating to your course (e.g. timetables, etc.) should be addressed to the Graduate Administrator. If you would like a document certifying that you have registered ask the Registry

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(Room 6.112) (it might be helpful if you drew up a rough draft of the document you would like). If there are personal (medical, financial, emotional, etc.) problems which are interfering with your work, try and talk them over with an appropriate member of staff. You are, of course, welcome to discuss your problems with any member of staff, but an appropriate person to confide in would normally be your supervisor, the Chair of your Supervisory Board, the departmental Director and Assistant Director of Research Students, the departmental Senior Adviser, or a member of staff in the Student Support Office. If you are having problems which are likely to affect your work (whether financial, emotional, personal, academic, or whatever), it is vital that you keep someone within the Department informed of the problem. It is a wise precaution to keep any documentary evidence relating to serious problems you have (e.g. medical certificates, letters). On occasions, the problem you wish to discuss may be best resolved by discussing them with a member of the Student Support Office, which includes a full counselling service. The member of academic staff you first come to may refer you to this office, or of course you may go there directly yourself. 5.11 Languages for all From autumn 2012, all Essex students can study French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Arabic or Mandarin Chinese at no extra cost alongside their course. Languages for All lets students chose the way they want to learn a language. They can take one of 50 taught language modules at different proficiency levels on a part-time day-time basis, or undertake flexible web-based learning, or opt for a language module taught in the evening. UK employers are looking for graduates who are able to speak more than one language and Languages for All places Essex graduates in a very advantageous position. Please visit the Languages for All website for more information: www.essex.ac.uk/languagesforall 5.12 In-sessional English language classes The International Academy offers free support classes for non-native speakers of English during the first year of your study here. To qualify for a place in these classes students MUST have taken the English test at the start of the first term. Further details can be obtained from the International Academy Office (room 4.117) and will also be sent out with the results of the test. SECTION 6 – UNIVERSITY INFORMATION 6.1 Teaching weeks The University uses a week numbering system that covers the 52 weeks of the calendar year. A table setting out dates and corresponding week numbers is available at: http://www2.essex.ac.uk/academic/offices/tt/

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6.2 Student induction The University organises an induction programme for new students in week 1 – details of this will have been sent to you separately. The Department of Language and Linguistics organises an induction programme of its own, which also begins in week 1. It is important that you are present for the events which are being organised by the Department, since they will provide you with valuable information about courses, timetables, staff, etc. Details of the departmental Induction Week programme for graduate students will be available on the Graduate Notice Board or from the Graduate Administrator (room 4.305) by the end of September. A help desk manned by current graduate students will be in operation in the departmental Social Space in week 1, starting at 10.00am. At the beginning of term, the Director and Assistant Director of Research Students will hold an induction meeting for new research students to discuss details of the University's Code of Practice and the departmental arrangements relating to it. 6.3 Accommodation policy The Accommodation Policy and Handbook can be found on the University web site at: http://www2.essex.ac.uk/accommodation/ 6.4 Support services for students The University has a range of support services designed to help students achieve their full potential and to get the most out of their studies. These form a coordinated network of support, and are an important part of the overall student experience at the University of Essex. Support services aim to be accessible to students and responsive to their needs. Further information on the wide range of student support provision on offer, and up-to-date contact details can be found on the web pages at: http://www2.essex.ac.uk/stdsup/ or www.essex.ac.uk/students/guide 6.5 Support for international students In addition to the general support described under 6.4, Student Support provides international students with information and advice on living and working in the UK and arranges some social events. Visit the following website for more information: http://www2.essex.ac.uk/stdsup/intstuds/intintro.shtm The Students’ Union provides additional support networks for you as an international student. More information is available on the Students’ Union website: http://www.essexstudent.com Immigration advice and services are regulated in the UK. Student Support and the Students’ Union Advice Centre at the Colchester campus have trained, experienced 37

advisers who are authorised to give UK immigration advice to University of Essex students. More information is available at: http://www.essex.ac.uk/immigration/advice.aspx UK immigration rules changed significantly in 2009 with the introduction of the Points Based Immigration System. The student tier, Tier 4, applies to non-EEA nationals who wish to study in the UK. Under the new system both students and institutions have greater responsibilities and certain changes to your planned study will have to be reported to the UK Border Agency. It is very important that you make yourself aware of the requirements and keep up to date with any changes to the rules or policy guidance. Go to the website above for further information. 6.6 Support for disabled students If you have a disability, specific learning difficulty or long-term medical condition, you are encouraged to disclose this to the University so that individual arrangements can be made. Arrangements for disabled students are co-ordinated by the Disability Service based within Student Support. Further details are available at the Student Support Disability and Dyslexia web pages at: http://www2.essex.ac.uk/stdsup/disab/home.shtm On the Colchester campus you can also email [email protected] or drop in to Student Support during opening hours and ask for the duty disability adviser. The Departmental Disability ([email protected]).

Liaison

Officer

is

Dr

Sophia

Skoufaki:

6.7 University of Essex student handbook The University of Essex Student Handbook gives you general information about being a student at Essex. You can find it at: www.essex.ac.uk/academic/docs/hbks/shbk_index.shtm 6.8 Typing and proofreading The Student Support Office has a list of typists (see the Students’ Handbook) and the Students’ Union has, in the past, kept such a list as well. You will find a list of proofreaders on the noticeboard in the departmental Social Space. 6.9 Security You are advised not to leave any valuables lying around. Some lockers are available in the Resource Room (4.128), and the Students' Handbook also has information about lockers. If you lose something on University premises, inform the Security Office immediately (Room 4N.6.11, internal tel. 2361; add the prefix 87 if telephoning locally from outside the University). 6.10 Safety regulations Details of the University policy on Safety can be viewed at: 38

http://www2.essex.ac.uk/safety/ 6.11 Policy statement on equal opportunities The University of Essex policy on equal opportunities can be viewed on the University web site at: http://www.essex.ac.uk/academic/docs/regs/policy 6.12 Policy statement on the promotion of racial equality The University of Essex Code of Practice on the Promotion of Racial Equality can be viewed on the University web site at: http://www.essex.ac.uk/eo/codespolicies/rpolicy.htm 6.13 Policy statement on harassment The University has a policy on harassment which can be viewed on: http://www.essex.ac.uk/eo/harassment/harassmentdefault.htm

6.14 Data protection 1998 The University responsibilities under the Data Protection Act 1998 can be viewed on the University web site at: http://www.essex.ac.uk/records_management/help/dpa_guidance.aspx 6.15 Freedom of information act 2000 Details can be viewed on: http://www.essex.ac.uk/records_management/laws/freedom_of_information_act.a spx 6.16 Graduate School structure and office information Details can be viewed on: http://www2.essex.ac.uk/academic/offices/graduate/index.htm 6.17 Location of the postgraduate common room Details of the facilities can be found at: http://www2.essex.ac.uk/academic/offices/graduate/common.htm

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SECTION 7 - REGULATIONS AND PROCEDURES 7.1 What happens if you have not finished by the end of the minimum period of registration? The following are extracts from the University Higher Degree Regulations that apply to students who have not completed their thesis by the end of the minimum period of registration. Reg. 4.17 The stage between the end of the minimum period and the end of the maximum period is known as the completion period. At the end of the prescribed minimum period, a student may be permitted to proceed to a twelve-month completion period by the Departmental Research Students’ Progress Committee. The Research Students’ Progress Committee shall recommend that a student proceeds to the completion period where it is satisfied that the student has completed written work of sufficient quality and quantity to provide clear evidence that the student is in a position to write up the remainder of the thesis and submit within the twelve-month completion period. Reg. 4.20 The Supervisory Board will base its judgement on whether the student can proceed to the completion period on the quality and quantity of the written work submitted to it at the end of the minimum period. The Research Students’ Progress Committee’s recommendation will take the form of a report on the student’s progress accompanied by appropriate supporting documents. The Dean may accept or reject the recommendation. Reg. 4.21 Where the student is not ready to proceed to the completion period because there is no realistic expectation that the student will be in a position to present the thesis for examination within the completion period, even though the quality of the work is of the required standard, then the Dean may extend the minimum period, on the recommendation of the Departmental Research Students’ Progress Committee. Reg. 4.22 A student who is not permitted to proceed to the completion period shall pay in advance the appropriate full-time fee (pro-rata for part-time students) for the additional terms of his/her extended minimum period. Reg. 4.24 Students who are permitted to proceed to completion will be required on registration to pay an appropriate ‘completion’ fee as determined from time to time by the University. Such students shall be eligible to be examined (the fee does not cover re-examination), to obtain any supervision and advice 40

required and to use the University Library and IT facilities. Students in their completion period will be permitted to use laboratories only in special circumstances and with the permission of the Head of Department, subject to the payment of a termly laboratory bench fee. Students paying the completion fee shall be subject to the Charter, Statutes, Ordinances and Regulations of the University at any time they are present in the University. Full details of University Regulations, Policy and Procedure are available at: www.essex.ac.uk/academic/docs/regs/rpp.shtm 7.2 Reducing Your Candidature The University allows the Department (through its Head) to recommend to the Dean that, in exceptional circumstances, the minimum period of registration for candidates who have completed (or are nearing completion of) their research may be reduced by up to three terms. However, note that the relevant regulation (4.9) stipulates that the Dean must be satisfied that the student has completed his or her study and research and is ready to submit the thesis. If you think you might qualify for a reduction in your minimum registration period, you should approach your supervisor in the first instance, and then raise the matter at the earliest possible meeting of your Supervisory Board; the chair will then contact the Graduate Research Coordinator and Head of Department. 7.3 Intermitting (‘leave of absence’) If there are good reasons why you need to intermit your research (e.g. in order to return home for a term or more to take care of family problems), go and discuss the situation immediately with your supervisor(s). If after talking to your supervisor(s), you decide that it would be a good idea for you to apply to intermit, you will have to make a proper application, on your personal Essex Electronic Student File (ESF forms are available via the Registry’s webpage). The University form refers to this as taking leave of absence. The grounds considered legitimate by the Graduate School to support a request for leave of absence are: illness (backed by medical evidence and judged on a case-bycase basis); maternity/paternity leave; domestic/family problems relating to the serious ill-health of, death of, or the need to provide care for a family member (usually only one term of leave of absence is granted in the first instance); financial problems (these are only grounds for a student within the minimum period, and normally only one term of leave is granted). Note that from October 2010 requests for retrospective leave of absence will no longer be approved, except in exceptional circumstances. The maximum total amount of leave throughout the whole period of study is restricted to no more than six terms (two years), except in very exceptional circumstances (e.g. very severe illness).

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While intermitting (on leave of absence) students do not pay fees and are not normally permitted to use university facilities or receive supervision. If you intermit during your minimum period, the minimum period is extended accordingly. 7.4 Fieldwork/data collection If your research requires you to go away from the university, e.g. to collect data, you should obtain permission. To do this, you should be able to make a request please refer to the form you can print from the Graduate Schools website. Please remember to inform the Graduate Administrator and particularly your supervisor about how you can be contacted while you are away and discuss with your supervisor how you can stay in touch. 7.5 Discrimination You should write in a style which does not discriminate against (or give offence to) any individual or group of individuals. For example, you should be sensitive to gender issues, and try and avoid (e.g.) using masculine pronouns to refer to expressions denoting mixed gender groups. Hence, rather than say ‘10 months after he is born, a child will generally produce his first word’, say ‘Ten months after they are born, children will generally produce their first word.’ You must ensure that nothing you write is libellous, prejudiced or offensive. 7.6 Intellectual property rights The University Code of Practice on Intellectual Property Rights may be found on the University’s Web site at http://www.essex.ac.uk/academic/docs/cal/ipr.shtm 7.7 Ethical guidelines [Note: Where the information provided here is in conflict with the University's ethical guidelines, the University guidelines take precedence. Where the information provided here is in conflict with the Dept. webpage on Ethical Guidelines for Research Involving Human Participants, the webpage takes precedence since it provides fuller information and is updated during the year.] Who should apply for Ethical Approval? All students planning to undertake a research project involving human participants (e.g. a project involving tests, questionnaires, interviews, reaction time experiments, etc.) must obtain ethical approval BEFORE STARTING data collection. This includes undergraduates performing research for coursework, MA and MPhil students, and PhD candidates. (All staff planning to undertake a research project involving human participants must undergo the same process, using the same form. The information here is however aimed at students.) How to apply for Ethical Approval In order to apply for ethical approval, you should do the following;

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The steps you will need to undertake include: Develop your data collection design well in advance of beginning data collection. Consider the ethics of it carefully; consult relevant readings from your courses. Consult with course instructor/supervisor about your plans for ethical research. Your instructor/supervisor is the primary point of contact for information and advice on the ethical approval process. Research involving collecting data in the UK from children below age 18, or adults who may be considered vulnerable, may require CRB (Criminal Records Bureau) clearance, even with your friends or members of your own family. CRB clearance is done centrally by the University and adds extra time to your clearance process. CRB checks cost money which the student must pay (e.g. £60 in the past – current cost may differ). The Ethical Approval process may recommend that you seek CRB approval, but it is a separate process. If you are recommended to get CRB clearance, it must be obtained from Registry after speaking with the Departmental Administrator. Download and complete an Application for Ethical Approval Form from the Dept.’s Ethical Guidelines… webpage. A Model Form with some suggestions and advice for answering the questions is available on the webpage. Prepare an Ethics Participant Consent Form appropriate to your project. Examples that can be modified are available from the webpage. DO NOT simply copy an existing consent form – you MUST ensure that the form you develop complies with the principles on the REO Participant Information & Consent webpage. You may adapt model forms, but a copied form is likely to prove inadequate and cause your application to be rejected. Discuss both the completed application form and the participant consent form with your supervisor (instructor, for undergraduate research). Their approval and signature is required before your application can be acted on. Send your application form (signed by your supervisor) and participant consent form to the appropriate administrator (The Graduate Administrator for Postgraduate research, Undergraduate Administrator for UG research), in BOTH email AND signed hard-copy forms. Leave adequate time (e.g. 2 weeks) for the form to be processed, including possibly being returned to you for improvements and resubmission. The Dept. Ethics Coordinator will pass his decision to the appropriate Administrator. You will receive notification of the decision by email from the Graduate Administrator. You may also receive information on revisions required before your application can be approved. When it is signed off by the Dept. Ethics officer and returned to you, THEN you may begin research. WARNING: DO NOT collect data BEFORE the date that your application is approved! There can be no retroactive approval of research involving human participants. The Ethics Coordinator for the Linguistics Dept. is currently Prof. Peter L. Patrick.

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Please consult the Dept. webpage on Ethical Guidelines for Research Involving Human Participants for more details, and for any changes or updates to procedures. It contains further information on the application and approval process and on CRB clearance, and links to University of Essex and external webpage’s on research ethics. You can also download relevant forms from links there: www.essex.ac.uk/linguistics/current_students/phd_students/prof_development/et hical_guidelines.aspx SECTION 8 - CAREERS ADVICE 8.1 University Careers Centre For information about careers, go to the following webpage’s: http://www.essex.ac.uk/careers/ http://www.essex.ac.uk/linguistics/current_students/careers_and_advice/careers.as px 8.2 Job opportunities For information about jobs and work, go to: http://www.essex.ac.uk/vacancies/ The Department receives a number of advertisements for jobs, and these are pinned on the notice board opposite the Departmental graduate pigeon-holes as soon as they arrive. SECTION 9 -FURTHER INFORMATION 9.1 Academic Staff Profiles The Department of Language and Linguistics has more than fifty teaching and research staff. Only details of those members of staff who are generally involved in teaching major components of our postgraduate modules or supervising postgraduate research are included below. Members of staff are listed in alphabetical order (by surname): an asterisk indicates a part-time appointment. Enam Al Wer, BA Jordan, Dip Munich, MLing Manchester, PhD Essex [Senior Lecturer] She graduated from the University of Jordan with a BA in English and German, and went on to obtain a Diploma in German from the Goethe Institute, Munich. She subsequently obtained an MLing in Manchester, writing a dissertation on the syntax of negation in Jordanian Arabic. Her PhD at Essex (supervised by Prof. Peter Trudgill) was on phonological variation in the speech of women. She previously taught English Linguistics at Philadelphia University, Jordan, and has also taught sociolinguistics at Cambridge University and Birkbeck College. Her research interests include language variation, dialect and language contact, minority languages, and language maintenance/shift.

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Doug Arnold, MA Cambridge, MA Essex, PhD Essex [Senior Lecturer] [Head of Department] He studied English Literature at Cambridge University as an undergraduate, and spent two years teaching English in Japan before taking an MA in Theoretical Linguistics, doing research here at Essex, and teaching at the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology. His main research interests are in formal syntax and semantics and computational linguistics. He has been the leader of a number of large computational linguistics research projects. Robert Borsley, BA Bangor, PhD Edinburgh [Professor] He studied Linguistics and Philosophy at the University of Wales Bangor, and did his Ph.D. at the University of Edinburgh. His research interests are in syntactic theory (especially HPSG), and the syntax of Welsh and Polish. He was formerly Professor of Linguistics at the University of Wales Bangor, where he worked from 1986 to 2000. He is the author of Syntactic Theory: A Unified Approach (Edward Arnold, 1991/1999) and Modern Phrase Structure Grammar (Blackwell, 1996) and co-author of Welsh Negation and Grammatical Theory (University of Wales Press, 2005) (with Bob Morris Jones), and The Syntax of Welsh (Cambridge University Press. 2007) (with Maggie Tallerman and David Willis). He is editor of The Nature and Function of Syntactic Categories (Academic Press, 2000) and co-editor of The Syntax of the Celtic Languages (Cambridge University Press, 1996) (with Ian Roberts) and of Slavic in Head-driven Phrase Structure Grammar (CSLI, 1999) (with Adam Przepiórkowski). He is also an editor of Journal of Linguistics, the journal of the Linguistics Association of Great Britain. Topics for MA/MPhil/PhD supervision He welcomes PhD students in any of the areas in which he has research or teaching interests. This means especially various areas of syntax, but also Relevance Theory and Philosophy of Linguistics. Within syntax he is particularly interested in work within Head-driven Phrase Structure Grammar or Principles and Parameters theory, and among the areas of syntax that are of particular interest to him are negation, coordination, relative clauses and infinitival constructions. He is particularly interested in the Celtic and Slavonic languages, but is happy to supervise dissertations on any language. Anyone wishing to write an MA dissertation with him should see him in an office hour before the end of the spring term to discuss an initial plan and bibliography. He would then expect you to see him regularly during the summer term to discuss drafts which you have submitted to him in advance. He will be around for much of the summer and when he is around he is happy to meet students for supervisions. Vineeta Chand, BA UC Berkeley, MA & PhD University of California, Davis [Lecturer] She studied Cognitive Science as an undergraduate and Linguistics at the graduate 45

level. Before coming to Essex, she was was a postdoctoral research fellow in the UC Davis Department of Neurology Alzheimer’s Disease Center examining how language changes relate to aging and the onset of Alzheimer’s Disease. Prior to that she taught as a lecturer in the Departments of Linguistics and Anthropology at UC Davis. She conducted her doctoral thesis (2009) on ideologies towards language, and structural variation and change in the Indian English spoken by Hindi/English bilinguals in New Delhi, India. She has published articles on structural and ideological aspects of Indian English in Language in Society, English World-Wide and the Journal of Sociolinguistics and book chapters on the relationship between sociolinguistics and linguistic anthropology (with Janet S. Shibamoto-Smith) and South Asian language policies and practices in the Oxford Handbook of Sociolinguistics (Oxford University Press, 2012). Her Indian English research uses both quantitative and qualitative methodologies to examine language policies and politics, evolving ideologies about language and structural variation in Indian English in order to better understand the factors involved in language variation and change. Her applied medical research examines the relationship between language practices, aging and dementia in a diverse and multilingual cohort in northern California, also using both quantiative and qualitative methodologies. Topics for MA/MPhil/PhD supervision I am happy to supervise students in any area that I have research/teaching interests. More specifically, I am willing to supervise MA/PhD dissertations on language variation and change (using both quantitative and qualitative methods relating to identity, e.g. age, gender, social class, religion, ethnicity), language ideologies, language stylization, and language/dialect maintenance and shift. Chantel Dan Chen, MA Newcastle She has been working as a freelance translator and interpreter since graduating from Newcastle University. As an interpreter, she has worked for conferences, forums and meetings in the area of cultural heritages, environment, general laws, social issues, finance, economics, accounting, arts and music. She has also translated for international organizations and research centres. Rebecca Clift, BA Durham, MPhil/PhD Cambridge [Senior Lecturer] She studied English as an undergraduate at Durham, and went on to do her PhD at Cambridge in socio-pragmatics, with particular reference to the structure of conversation. She taught both at the University of Cambridge and at the University of East Anglia before coming to Essex. Her current research interest is in conversation analysis, with specific reference to the relationship between grammar and interaction. She has published work on irony, on particles, on reported speech, and evidentiality, amongst other subjects, and is co-editor, with Elizabeth Holt, of the book Reporting Talk: Reported Speech in Interaction, published by Cambridge University Press in 2007. Topics for MA/MPhil/PhD supervision She is happy to supervise on any of the following: 46

Aspects of conversational structure (in any language) The construction of identity through membership categories and the grammaticalisation of social relations. Talk in institutional contexts Possible approaches Analysis of: A specific structure (e.g. repair, presequencing, footing) Particular features (particles, tokens, TCUs) Structure/function of certain activities (accusations, complaints, troubles-telling) Sonja Eisenbeiss, Teacher’s Diploma Cologne, PhD Duesseldorf *Lecturer+ She read philosophy, German Language and Literature, and general linguistics at the Universities of Cologne and Duesseldorf, where she also taught modules on language acquisition and processing. Before coming to Essex in 2003, she worked in several psycholinguistic research projects at the University of Duesseldorf and the MPI for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen. Her research interests include first language acquisition and grammatical processing, with a focus on (i) the role of morphology in the mental lexicon, (ii) word order, case or agreement marking and their relation to argument/event structure, (iii) the relationship between language and cognition, and (iv) methodological aspects of language acquisition research (comparisons of different methods of data collection and analysis). Topics for MA/MPhil/PhD supervision She is happy to supervise research projects in the following areas: First language acquisition She can provide designs for experimental studies, supervise corpus collection, or make corpus data available, including her own extensive videolinked corpus of German, Dutch, and Japanese child language. She would welcome studies on morphological, syntactic or semantic aspects of child language, particularly on the development of noun phrase structure, argument structure, word order, and case or agreement marking. She would supervise acquisition studies on well-studied languages like English, German, or Dutch, but she would be particularly interested in acquisition studies on languages for which very few acquisition studies exist so far. Grammatical processing Potential research projects in this domain would involve reaction-time and/or eye-movement studies on grammatical processing in adult native speakers and first- and second language learners. Ideally, such projects would focus either on the role of morphological structure in the processing 47

of individual words or they would investigate the role of argument structure, word order, and case or agreement marking in the processing of sentences. For all of these topics, students should have a solid background in empirical research methods and the studies should be informed by theoretical approaches to the relevant domain.

Helen Emery, BA Stirling, MA Reading, PhD Cardiff, PGCE Northumberland, RSA DTEFL British Council, Hong Kong [Senior Lecturer] She is interested in Second Language Acquisition, in particular the teaching, testing and development of ESL literacy skills from emergent literacy to university level. Her other interests include the training of overseas teachers, materials and syllabus design for young learners and children’s vocabulary acquisition. Her PhD research was an investigation of the causes of reading and spelling errors made by Arab university students learning English, and sought to explain why this particular group of learners appear to experience such difficulty with English orthography. Her research involved an analysis of a corpus of spelling errors, testing of discrete reading skills and an in-depth study of the teaching of reading and writing skills in English, in UAE primary schools. Topics for MA/MPhil/PhD supervision She is happy to supervise research projects in the areas of teaching English to young learners (methodology, syllabus design, and materials development), literacy development or children’s acquisition of vocabulary. Here are some suggestions for further research if you are interested in these areas: Teaching English to Young Learners Classroom teaching practices vary widely even within a school. Are some methods of teaching young learners more successful than others? Are 'culturally sensitive' materials actually more successful in developing language skills than generic English language textbooks? Is a focus on grammar necessary in the Primary school, or can children acquire second language grammar through other tasks? These are some of the issues currently being focused on by researchers. Literacy Development How is initial literacy in ESL taught in different parts of the world? Some educational systems favour the Look and Say approach, using Big Books, others teach phonics, and yet other systems favour an integrated approach. Current debate surrounding the use of synthetic phonics as a method of teaching young learners to read, suggests that it may not be appropriate for all learners. Should the method of instruction be determined by a learner’s L1? Some children’s reading and writing development is impaired and may show in problems such as: a lack of phonological awareness in reading, poor phonological spelling abilities, inability to follow the events of a story, barking at print or an inability to recognise familiar words. Most diagnostic tests have been developed for 48

use with remedial L1 English readers. How can these be modified for use with L2 learners? What intervention programmes could be successful in helping these children? Is it feasible to incorporate a remedial programme into the English language teaching unit in an overseas primary school? Children’s Acquisition of Vocabulary The teaching, testing and learning of vocabulary is a hot topic at present, especially with regard to children’s acquisition, where not as much research has been done. Many areas lend themselves to further study, such as: How many of the new words taught to children do they actually learn? Do they learn certain types of words more easily than others? How can we measure children’s vocabulary? How do frequency levels compare between children’s and adults’ vocabulary? What are the best methods of teaching vocabulary to children? These and other questions can be investigated as part of a research study into children’s acquisition of vocabulary. Adela Gánem-Gutiérrez, BA (Mexico City – UNAM), MA (Southampton), PhD (Southampton), Cambridge RSA DELTA, Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, UK [Senior Lecturer] Adela joined the Department in March 2005. She is particularly interested in the SLA connections of several focal areas in current ELT such as Computer assisted language learning, e-learning, Sociocultural Theory, the role of interaction in L2 learning, taskbased learning and teaching, the role of feedback and scaffolding in the classroom, the role of metalinguistic knowledge in L2 learning, and intervention pedagogies for L2 learning such as Concept-Based Instruction. Topics for MA/MPhil/PhD supervision Studies in the areas of CALL, Sociocultural Theory, Interaction in the classroom, and Pedagogic tasks. Research interests include: The role of interaction in the processes of L2 learning Task-based learning and teaching (TBLT) and the role of different tasks in the learning process The significance of feedback and scaffolding in collaborative activity and L2 learning Pedagogic interventions such as Concept-Based Instruction Design and development of materials for L2 grammar teaching Pedagogical grammar Metalinguistic knowledge in instructed L2 CALL: In particular the impact of the computer in the L2 classroom and the potential of Virtual World Environments for L2 learning

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CALL: Task-based learning and the role of different CALL tasks in the learning process CALL: The significance of feedback and scaffolding in collaborative activity (through or at) the computer for L2 learning The study of interaction and collaboration in the language classroom: What does the study of inter-psychological activity tell us about the co-construction of knowledge in the classroom? How do learners deploy psychological (e.g., language) and/or physical (e.g., computers) tools while they are interacting with their peers and/or teacher? More specifically, how do learners deploy semiotic mediational mechanisms such as repetition, L1, reading aloud, etc. in the context of collaborative activity? Can we claim that interlanguage modification (e.g., microgenesis) observable during interaction does become internalised? Pedagogic tasks: What is the relationship between task and activity in the classroom? To what extent do learners’ goals, needs, and perceptions of tasks have an impact on task implementation and learners’ performance? How can we - as teachers and researchers – most effectively investigate the impact and effects of different tasks as pedagogic instruments in the classroom? CALL: She is particularly interested in the study of computer use and its impact in the classroom, but would also welcome projects related to the use of computers for self-study. For instance, one important area in which the computer has the potential to empower the CALL classroom is through the provision of scaffolded assistance and research is needed to ascertain how we can best implement scaffolding mechanisms in CALL. Current interests in CALL also include the potential of 3D Virtual World Environments such as Second Life for L2 learning. Julian Good, BA Stirling, PhD Essex, CTEFLA, SEN (M), [Lecturer] He took his first degree, in Scottish Literature, at Stirling University in Scotland, after which he taught Academic English in Poland, Japan, Malaysia, South Korea, Mexico, Turkey and Thailand. He took the RSA Certificate in TEFLA at the Bell School in Cambridge in 1989. In 1998 he came to Essex to take the MA in ELT and in 2002 complete a PhD in developing analysis for teachers’ guides. Academic interests include classroom dynamics and teacher decision making, materials analysis, qualitative research pragmatics, and the links between ELT and maintaining language diversity. He is happy to supervise in those areas. He is also interested in the environment, modern history, medieval language and sumo wrestling. Nigel Harwood, BA (Hull), MA (Lancaster), PhD (Canterbury Christ Church), RSA DipTEFLA (British Council, Lisbon) [Senior Lecturer] He read English Language and Literature at the University of Hull and taught English as a foreign language for seven years across southern Europe (Greece, Spain, and 50

Portugal). He studied for an RSA Diploma in TEFL while working in Portugal, and returned to the UK to take a master’s degree in Linguistics for English Language Teaching at the University of Lancaster. He recently completed a PhD in Applied Linguistics at Canterbury Christ Church University College. His doctoral thesis is a corpus-based study of how the personal pronouns I and WE are used in academic writing across four disciplines (Business, Economics, Computing, and Physics) by ‘experts’ writing journal articles and postgraduate students writing dissertations. He has published papers on taking a lexical approach to ELT and on taking a corpusbased critical pragmatic approach to EAP. His main research interests are in the areas of EAP, materials design, and corpus-driven pedagogy. He has published studies relating to academic writing in Applied Linguistics, Written Communication, Text & Talk, Journal of Pragmatics, and Journal of English for Academic Purposes. He is also involved in a project on workplace writing, and is on the editorial board of English for Specific Purposes. Topics for MA/MPhil/PhD Supervision He is happy to supervise research projects involving academic writing, EAP, and/or materials design. Note that his own research involves both theory and practice (i.e. pedagogical application). Academic Writing In academic writing, does academic discourse vary across disciplines and genres? Do 'experts' and students in the same field use the same kind of language? What are the differences between 'expert' writing and student writing? To what extent do student texts resemble expert texts? All of these questions may be (partially) investigated by constructing corpora of student and expert writing. Interviews and case studies could be used in tandem with corpora. Based on the corpus data, what are the implications for EAP writing pedagogy? To what extent can we integrate corpus data into our teaching materials? To what extent do corpus data have the power to raise lecturers' and students' awareness of disciplinary norms in academic writing? Writing Pedagogy Researchers are currently arguing that a 'post process' (i.e. social) view of writing is to be preferred. But is this post-process approach operationalizable in the classroom? What contribution can Genre Analysis make to academic writing pedagogy? Materials Design General ELT or ESP/EAP textbook design. More specifically, how closely do textbooks' advice on language match what corpora tell us? Is it possible to design a user-friendly textbook that is corpora-based? Are ELT and ESP textbook writers more aware of Applied Linguistics research and current thinking than they were in the past?

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Roger Hawkins, MA Edinburgh, PhD Cambridge [Professor] He studied French and Linguistics at Edinburgh, and did graduate work in theoretical linguistics at Cambridge. He was formerly a research fellow in French at the University of Leeds, and taught French language and linguistics at the University of Sheffield before coming to Essex. His main interests are in second language acquisition research, particularly syntax. He has published Second Language Syntax: a generative introduction (Blackwell 2001). French Grammar and Usage (Arnold 1996, with R. Towell) Approaches to Second Language Acquisition (Multilingual Matters 1994 again with R. Towell) and a number of articles on second language acquisition. He is currently the editor (with M. Sharwood Smith) of the journal Second Language Research (Hodder Arnold), and is a former editor of the Journal of French Language Studies (Cambridge University Press) Topics for MA/MPhil/PhD supervision He is willing to supervise MA/PhD dissertations on the acquisition of second language syntax, which deal with some aspect of development within a principles and parameters/minimalist framework. He would expect you to work on the acquisition of features associated with functional categories in the L2, and the influence that the L1 has on that acquisition, e.g. topics like: the acquisition of tense, aspect, agreement, case marking, definiteness, number, argument structure, question formation, relative clause formation. Typically students he supervises work with non-native speakers of English learning English as an L2, but he would consider proposals for studies dealing with English speakers learning other L2s. He would expect you to undertake either a longitudinal case study of an individual learner or learners, or a quasi-longitudinal study with groups of learners (i.e. a series of cross-sectional studies with groups at different proficiency levels). NB: If you do not have a specific project in mind, he is happy to discuss with you what you might do in the light of your background knowledge and personal circumstances, and to suggest possible projects. Availability for supervision of MA dissertations He would normally expect to have completed all supervision by the end of the summer term, with one further consultation in late August to discuss a final or near final draft. He will give students a schedule of work at the beginning of the summer term so that you can keep to this timetable. Philip Hofmeister, Hampshire College, BA (Creative Writing & Linguistics); Stanford University, PhD (Linguistics) [Lecturer] Topics for MA/MPhil/PhD supervision: Sentence processing 52

Memory retrieval Long-distance dependency processing Referential form choice Complexity and grammar Wyn Johnson, BA MA PhD Essex [Senior Lecturer] She studied French and Linguistics for her first degree and took the MA in Theoretical Linguistics followed by a PhD on Aspects of the Lexical Phonology of French. She has taught phonology and general linguistics at Essex and at the University of East Anglia. Her main area of interest is phonology – theoretical, descriptive, acquisition and sociophonology. She is co-author author of A Course in Phonology and principal author of A Workbook in Phonology both published by Blackwell in 1999, and joint author of the Routledge French Dictionary (1986). Topics for MA/MPhil/PhD supervision She is supervising or has supervised students researching the acquisition of first and second language phonology and Sociophonology and would welcome proposals in these areas. She is, however, happy to supervise in any area of phonology and would be particularly interested in topics concerning problems in English and French phonology and the phonology/morphology interface. Mike Jones, BA Sussex, L.ès L. Paris, Doct. Paris [Reader] He read French as an undergraduate at Sussex and spent six years as an English lecturer in Paris before taking up his present post at Essex in 1978. He studied theoretical linguistics at Paris-Vincennes, where he gained his third cycle doctorate. His principal research interests are syntactic theory and description, particularly in relation to the Romance languages. He has published a number of articles on various aspects of theoretical syntax and the description of French and Sardinian. He is author of Sardinian Syntax (Routledge, 1993) and Foundations of French Syntax (CUP, 1996). Topics for MA/MPhil/PhD supervision General Syntactic Theory Descriptive Studies of Aspects of the Grammar of Particular Languages (particularly English or Romance languages) Descriptive or Theoretical Studies of Tense, Aspect and/or Modality Comparative Romance Linguistics

Nancy C Kula, BA (Lusaka), MA (SOAS), PhD (Leiden) [Lecturer] Nancy Kula read for a Bachelor of Arts in Education with African Languages and Linguistics at the University of Zambia in Lusaka. She then studied for an MA in 53

Linguistics at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London. She completed her PhD in 2002 at the University of Leiden Centre for Linguistics with a thesis entitled “The phonology of verbal derivation in Bemba”. In the years following her thesis she has held a one year post-doctoral project at SOAS followed by a three year post-doctoral project sponsored by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research and held jointly at the University of Leiden and at SOAS. Her last project was on the phonology-syntax interface. Her research interests are in Phonology, Bantu languages and linguistic interfaces, particularly phonology-morphology, phonology-syntax and the interaction of phonology with second language acquisition and language variation. Topics for MA/MPhil/PhD supervision She is happy to supervise research projects in the following areas: Phonology (particularly derivational phonology such as Current Issues in Phonology), phonology-syntax interface, phonetics-phonology interface, second language phonology and non-European languages (particularly African languages).

Tony Lilley, OBE, BA London, CertEd (TEFL) Bangor, MA Essex (Senior Lecturer) After teaching EFL in the Czech republic, Portugal and Libya, he worked extensively in Egypt as head of a British Council Aid project based in the University of Alexandria. The project aimed at developing teacher qualifications and expertise in the area of English for specific purposes at university level throughout the country, and led to the establishment of several autonomous ESP centres at Egyptian universities. In recognition of his services to ELT in Egypt, he was awarded an OBE. His special interests include language teacher education, ESP, EFL proficiency testing, EAP reading skills and project management. Topics for MA/MPhil/PhD supervision EFL/EAP test evaluation; skills testing ESP/EAP programmes and materials design Syllabus design for ELT and teacher education Aspects of language teaching methodology Genre analysis in ELT ELT project management

Florence Myles, MA, PhD Sheffield (Professor) She graduated from the University of Sheffield with a PhD in the second language acquisition of French in 1990 and was lecturer at the University of Southampton until 2004, when she became professor of French Linguistics and Director of the Centre for Research in Linguistics and Language Sciences at Newcastle University. She was appointed to a professorship in Second Language Acquisition at the University of Essex in 2011. Her research interests are in the area of 54

morphosyntactic development, especially of French, and in theory-building in Second Language Acquisition (SLA). For example, she is interested in the interaction between Universal Grammar and processing constraints in the development of second language competence, and in the interaction between rote-learned chunks and generative processes in SLA. She has directed a number of research projects funded by the AHRC, the ESRC and the British Academy which have all had the dual aim of investigating learner development in French and of constructing a tagged electronic database of French learner language oral corpora, available on the web to the research community (www.flloc.soton.ac.uk). Her most recent project is investigating the role of age in foreign language learning in the classroom. As well as many articles in these areas, she has published Second Language Learning Theories (Arnold, 2004 2nd ed., with R. Mitchell) and is currently completing a book on Linguistic Development in classroom learners of French (John Benjamins, 2012, with A. David, R. Mitchell, S. Rule and V. Rogers). She is currently Vice-President of the European Second Language Association (EUROSLA) and Editor of the Journal of French Language Studies (CUP). Topics for MA/MPhil/PhD supervision She is willing to supervise MA/PhD dissertations in the development of second language morphosyntax, especially a with generative and/or processing focus. Possible topics include the role of Universal Grammar and of language-specific features, the role of age, naturalistic vs classroom L2 development, the role of formulaic language, learning strategies and attitudes in young classroom learners. Any L1/L2/L3... language combinations will be considered, with a preference for combinations involving French. She would expect you to undertake either a longitudinal case study of an individual learner or learners, or a quasi-longitudinal study with groups of learners (i.e. a series of cross-sectional studies with groups at different proficiency levels). NB: If you do not have a specific project in mind, she is happy to discuss with you what you might do in the light of your background knowledge and personal circumstances, and to suggest possible projects. Availability for supervision of MA dissertations She would normally expect to have completed all supervision by the end of the summer term, with one further consultation in late August to discuss a final or near final draft. She will give students a schedule of work at the beginning of the summer term so that you can keep to this timetable. Beatriz de Paiva, Bacharelado, Licenciaturas, Mestrado (Federal University of Rio de Janeiro), PhD (Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh) (Lecturer) Beatriz de Paiva graduated in Portuguese and German studies at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (Bacharelado and Licentiaturas). She did her Master’s degree (Mestrado) in Applied Linguistics at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ). She gained her PhD in Interlanguage Pragmatics, more specifically requests in Brazilian Portuguese as a second language. She is particularly interested in the interface between cognitive and communicative aspects of conversational 55

interactions between native and non-native speakers. include cross-cultural pragmatics and speech acts.

Other areas of interest

Peter Patrick, AB Georgia, PhD Pennsylvania (Professor) He studied History as an undergraduate and Chinese and Linguistics at graduate level. Before coming to Essex, he taught in the Sociolinguistics programme at Georgetown University. His doctoral research was the first sociolinguistic survey of an urban Creole speech community (Kingston, Jamaica), published as Urban Jamaican Creole: Variation in the Mesolect (Benjamins 1999). His 2007 book, Comparative Creole Syntax: Parallel Outlines of 18 Creole Grammars (Battlebridge Publications, co-edited with John Holm), systematically compares 18 Creole languages for 97 grammatical features. His major areas of interest are linguistic human rights, language variation and change, pidgin and creole studies, sociolinguistic methods, urban dialectology, and languages of the African diaspora. Current research includes the role of language analysis in evaluating claims for asylum. He has applied sociolinguistics to non-academic problems through testimony in US and UK criminal cases, studies of clinical communication, and expert reports on the asylum process. He also lectures on modules for the Human Rights Centre, and the Centre for Trauma, Asylum and Refugees. Topics for MA/MPhil/PhD supervision He is willing to supervise the following topics: Language and Human Rights Research in African Diaspora Englishes, including African American English and British Afro-Caribbean English Pidgin and Creole linguistics, esp. on Caribbean English-related creoles Sound change in sociolinguistic contexts Language variation and change/urban dialectology Forensic linguistics Other topics may be considered from time to time, depending on supervision load. See http://privatewww.essex.ac.uk/~patrickp/TopicsForSupervision.pdf General Supervision of MA/PhD Projects may be historical, synchronic, or both. They will often require recording natural speech, and should include careful planning for data collection and/or processing, as materials may be difficult or take time to access. Acquired or native competence is helpful. A variationist perspective, and quantitative analysis, are normally expected. Prospective supervisees will meet to discuss an initial plan and bibliography. Reports and drafts should be submitted before each meeting. Students will report on progress as stages are completed (background literature, research design, data collection, analysis, etc.). Several students working on related topics may meet as a research group. Drafts of written work should be submitted as soon as possible, and students should plan to submit and discuss their final drafts before the end of June.

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Availability during the summer vacation months (July/Aug/Sept) is not to be expected, and students should plan accordingly; though e-mail contact is generally possible, and he may receive drafts and return written comments, depending on his schedule. It is important that students be active in setting and keeping deadlines for work completed. Please see his website for further details of his interests and activities: http://privatewww.essex.ac.uk/~patrickp/ Bojana Petrid, BA Novi Sad, MPhil Belgrade, PhD Budapest (Lecturer) She obtained a BA degree in English Language and Literature and an MPhil degree in Applied Linguistics and ELT. Her doctoral thesis was about citation practices in student academic writing. Before coming to Essex, she taught at Novi Sad University (Serbia), Central European University (Hungary) and Eötvös Loránd University (Hungary), as well as in ESP and EAP projects in Hungary, Russia, Serbia and Turkey. She has published papers on contrastive rhetoric, citation use, plagiarism, writer identity, and English teacher identities. Her research interests include EAP, discourse analysis of student and published writing, and cultural and identity issues involved in the teaching and learning of English as a global language. Topics for MA/MPhil/PhD supervision She is happy to supervise research projects in the area of EAP/ESP, academic writing, and professional discourses. Andrew Radford, BA Cambridge, PhD Cambridge (Professor) He studied French, Italian, Romanian, Romance Philology and Linguistics at Cambridge and went on to do a PhD on Italian Syntax. He was formerly a Research Fellow in Linguistics at Trinity College Cambridge, Lecturer in Linguistics at the universities of East Anglia and Oxford, Reader in Linguistics at Essex, and Professor and Head of the Department of Linguistics at University College Bangor. He is the author of a number of articles on the syntax of the Romance Languages, and of a book on Italian Syntax (Cambridge University Press 1977). He has published six books on syntactic theory and English syntax with Cambridge University Press (Transformational Grammar 1981; Transformational Syntax 1988; Syntactic Theory and the Structure of English 1997; Syntax 1997; Minimalist Syntax 2004; and English Syntax 2004), and has two more recently published by CUP (Analysing English Sentences and Introduction to English Sentence Structure). He has also written a book on Syntactic Theory and the Acquisition of English Syntax (Blackwell 1990), and a number of articles on syntax and on the acquisition of syntax by young children. He is also co-author of Linguistics: An Introduction (Cambridge University Press, 1999). He has served two previous spells as Head of Department at Essex, and one as Dean of the School of Humanities and Comparative Studies. Topics for MA/MPhil/PhD supervision He is happy to supervise graduate students who want to work with him on aspects of morphosyntax (from a Principles-and-Parameters or Minimalist perspective), particularly English syntax (though he has also supervised work on aspects of Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Romance syntax). 57

Karen Roehr, MA Hamburg, PhD Lancaster (Senior Lecturer) Karen joined the department in January 2005 after completing her PhD in applied linguistics at Lancaster University. Her first degree is from the University of Hamburg, where she studied English philology. She moved to the UK in 1997 and worked as a German language tutor for several years before starting her PhD work in 2000 and teaching applied linguistics. Her PhD thesis dealt with the role of metalinguistic knowledge in second language learning. Her main teaching and research interest is second language (L2) learning from a usage-based (or emergentist) perspective. Specific aspects of interest are explicit and implicit knowledge and learning, instructed L2 learning, and cognitively-based individual learner differences such as language learning aptitude, cognitive and learning style, metacognition, and working memory. Topics for MA/MPhil/PhD supervision Topics of interest include: Studies concerned with the role of explicit knowledge and learning in L2 acquisition; Studies investigating the role of selected individual learner differences, in particular language learning aptitude, cognitive style, and working memory; Studies of applications of usage-based approaches (e.g. cognitive linguistics) in the broadest sense to the L2 classroom; Other studies of instructed or naturalistic L2 learning within a usagebased/emergentist framework. Karen’s website at http://privatewww.essex.ac.uk/~kroehr/ gives further details and information on research interests and publications, possible MA/MPhil/PhD topics, MA supervision arrangements, office hours, and taught modules.

Louisa Sadler, BA Sussex, MA Essex, PhD Essex (Professor) After completing a BA in French (African and Asian Studies) and a year teaching English in Algeria, she came to Essex for an MA and PhD in theoretical linguistics, writing a doctoral thesis on Welsh syntax, published by Croom Helm in 1987. She taught at the University of East Anglia before returning to Essex in 1986. Since then she has been coordinator of a number of large research projects in computational linguistics and machine translation. Her main research interests are in lexicalist syntactic theory (LFG and HPSG), realisational models of morphology, the syntaxmorphology interface, Celtic and Arabic. Topics for MA/MPhil/PhD supervision Syntax In syntax, she is interested in supervising dissertations written within the lexicalist, constraint-based frameworks of LFG, LFG-OT and HPSG and also in more descriptively oriented work on languages other than English. She is particularly interested in agreement phenomena, co-ordination, numerals, negation and argument structure alternations at the moment. She is also interested in supervising 58

dissertations which involve the development of an implemented grammar fragment based on a constraint based formalism and dissertations on any topic in the description and analysis of the Celtic languages (in particular, Welsh) and Arabic. Syntax-Morphology Interface She is particularly interested in the interaction between syntax and morphology, and especially phenomena which are problematic for the strict lexicalist hypothesis as expressed, for example, in LFG’s principle of lexical integrity. This includes cliticisation, the clitic/inflection distinction, morpho-syntactic aspects of light verb constructions, case stacking, nominal tense marking, verb particle combinations, the status of mixed V/N categories. She is interested in the description of morphologically rich languages within the frameworks of LFG and HPSG and adopting a realisational model of morphology. Supervisory Practice She would expect to discuss proposed dissertation topics with students in the second half of the second term, so that you are ready to work on your dissertation topic in the summer term. She will have regular office hours for MA supervision throughout the summer term, and expect students to come along regularly for short (half hour) meetings, to discuss chapter plans, bibliography, breadth and focus of the dissertation, problems, data, etc. By the end of the summer term she would expect you to have a very clear idea of the scope, contents and organisation of your dissertation and therefore to have found any major flaws in your plan – depending on how you work, this may take the form of a detailed section plan or involve the writing of several sections in draft. Normally, you should expect all the dissertation supervision to take place during the summer term; over the summer vacation she expects you to work independently on your dissertation. She will, however, be prepared to meet each student for one further session (at a mutually convenient time) during the first three weeks of July. Phil Scholfield, BA Cambridge, CertEd (TEFL) Bangor (Senior Lecturer) His early career was in the Department of Linguistics at University of Wales Bangor as lecturer in a wide range of linguistic and applied linguistic areas, director of the MA Applied Linguistics and contributor to the teacher training run by the Education Department. He came to Essex in 1995. In recent years he has globe trotted, especially in Poland (TEMPUS project), Greece and the Far East, giving presentations and training sessions mainly in the area of CALL, vocabulary teaching, and learners’ dictionaries. He is on the editorial board of the journal Language Awareness and has a long association with the EFL Dictionary section of Longman as consultant, where he has especially been associated with work on the successive editions of Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English and its off spins, the Longman Language Activator and the forthcoming Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English. He is author of Quantifying Language. He has two grown-up daughters pursuing careers in London in management consultancy and marketing consultancy.

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Research Specialities His main areas of research interest are these (and he is always on the lookout for good MA and PhD proposals in these areas): Vocabulary learning, teaching and use in EFL/ESL Principles of dictionaries for learners of English and their use Strategies research in ESL/EFL – including reading, writing, dictionary use and vocabulary learning strategies He also has a lesser interest in: Computer assisted language learning, especially use of word processing in ESL/EFL Historical linguistics – especially lexical change in the history of English Writing systems Lexical errors and error correction; feedback Language awareness Later in the year he will make a list of specific topics which he would like to see MA projects done on, with some hints of what exactly he would like to see done. He will favour good MA proposals on those topics. Katrin Skoruppa, PhD Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (Lecturer) She studied General Linguistics (specialisation Clinical Linguistics) at the University of Potsdam from 2000-2005. She then moved to Paris and completed a Master degree in Cognitive Sciences at the Ecole Normale Superieure in 2006, and a PhD in Cognitive Sciences at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales in 2009. Her PhD research focussed on early phonological acquisition in typically developing infants and children, and was supervised by Sharon Peperkamp. Since 2009 she has been working on phonological processing in children with hearing impairments, under the supervision of Stuart Rosen at University College London. Topics for MA/MPhil/PhD supervision Phonological acquisition First Language Acquisition (mono- and multilingual) Speech and Language in Infancy Developmental Speech and Language Disorders Phonological Processing and Learning Phonology and Phonetics Sophia Skoufaki, BA Athens; MPhil, PhD Cambridge (Lecturer) Sophia did her undergraduate studies in English Linguistics and Literature and an an MPhil and a PhD in Applied Linguistics. Before coming to Essex, she worked as a lecturer in linguistics at the University of Greenwich and the Open University in the UK. She also conducted postdoctoral research on English learner corpus data at 60

National Taiwan University. Between her degrees she worked as an English language teacher in Athens and in Cambridge and as an item writer for ASSET Languages, a language testing company in Cambridge. Her main research interest is the learning, teaching, and use of vocabulary in a second language. In her PhD research, she examined the comprehension, learning and teaching of English idiomatic expressions. While working as a postdoctoral researcher, she examined the role of vocabulary in second language oral fluency and writing quality in past answers to a local proficiency examination. Sophia's other research interest is the comprehension of text during reading in a first and in a second language. In particular, she is interested in the comprehension of figurative language during reading and in how readers come to perceive a text as coherent or not. Topics for MA/MPhil/PhD supervision L2 vocabulary studies L2 vocabulary learning and teaching L2 vocabulary use in speaking/writing Language testing L2 vocabulary knowledge testing Testing of L2 speaking/writing Discourse processing Figurative language processing during reading in the L1/L2 Coherence in L1/L2 discourse Sophia has experience in using quantitative and mixed methods and welcomes such research. She can offer supervision in projects which use psycholinguistic experiments and corpus linguistic methods. Supervision of MA dissertations Up to four 1-hour MA supervision meetings will take place with each student. Two of them will take place in the Summer Term and the rest in the Summer Vacation. The first two meetings are absolutely necessary because in them the research questions and method will be discussed in increasing detail and Sophia will give feedback on the data collection instruments students plan to use. Data collection should have finished by the end of June. The meeting(s) in the Summer Vacation will focus on data analysis and interpretation. Sophia will also give students feedback on their chapter drafts, which should start appearing from mid July onwards. Andrew Spencer, BSc Sussex, PhD Essex (Professor) He read Neurobiology at the University of Sussex and obtained a doctorate in Linguistics from the University of Essex in 1980. His main research interests are 61

morphosyntax (the relationship between morphology and syntax), with particular reference to Slavic languages, and the non-Slavic languages of the Former Soviet Union, and the theory of morphology and lexical representations. He has lectured abroad extensively. He is the author of Morphological Theory (Blackwell, 1991), and Phonology (Blackwell, 1996), editor (with A. Zwicky) of Handbook of Morphology (Blackwell 1998), (with L. Sadler) of Projecting Morphology (CSLI, 2005), and (with A. Malchukov) The Oxford Handbook of Case (OUP, 2009). Topics for MA/MPhil/PhD supervision He is prepared to supervise dissertations in the following areas: Morphological theory, including the morphology-syntax interface Argument structure alterations and related issues in lexical semantics Clitics In addition he will supervise descriptive dissertations on specific language, especially Slavic languages and non-Slavic languages of the FSU. For further details of his research activity, publications and so on consult his webpage: http://privatewww.essex.ac.uk/~spena/ Ms Nan Zhao (Lecturer) Nan did her M.A in Interpreting and Translation Studies in the School of Interpreting and Translation Studies, and is currently working on her PhD in Psycholinguistics in the National Key Research Centre of China (Guangwai Brain and Language Lab), both at Guangdong University of Foreign Studies. She has worked as a freelance conference interpreter and translator between Chinese and English serving both public and private sector clients, including the United Nations, Canadian Consulate General Guangzhou, British Consulate General Guangzhou, Canadian Border Service Agency, World Wildlife Fund (WWF), Ministry of Education of China, Beyond Medical, HP, IMPACTO, Avery Dennison and many universities in China. Research interests: Psycholinguistics of interpreting and translation; Interpreting training and competence test; Self-monitoring mechanism of interpreters.

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9.3 Campus Maps You can find directions/ maps regarding the Colchester campus via this link: http://www.essex.ac.uk/about/campuses/colchester/

CAVEAT While the information contained in this booklet (compiled by the Department’s Directors of Research Students in the July preceding the new academic year) is believed to be correct at the time of printing, the Department reserves the right to update, modify or even withdraw specific courses or change staffing arrangements or assessment procedures where academic developments or unexpected contingencies render such action necessary or expedient in the judgement of the Head of Department. If there are any discrepancies between this document and official University documents, then the University’s documents take precedence.

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