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School of Languages and European Studies

Department of Applied Linguistics

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The English Pronunciation Research Unit

 

 

What we do

Constituted in 2001, the English Pronunciation Research Unit (EPRU) has many roles.  We are involved in running various short courses, such as refresher courses for Speech and Language Therapists and annual courses for teachers of AS/A2 Level English Language, French and German, and various research projects, looking at aspects of English pronunciation.  Current research includes work on listening to World Englishes, and intonation deficits in Williams syndrome.

We also perform forensic speaker identification for the British Constabulary and legal profession.   Services include auditory and instrumental analysis, expert transcription of voice recordings, voice comparison, and verification of existing transcriptions.  The EPRU specialises in recordings of non-native speakers of English.  Please contact Dr Jane Setter at the address below if you are interested in services of this kind.

An attachment programme with the EPRU is available.  Contact Dr Setter for more information.

 

Short courses

The EPRU currently runs highly successful courses for AS/A2 level English, French and German teachers in July of each year.

We also undertake off-site workshops in teacher education for English Language Teachers.  Prices start at £350 for a day-long workshop.

 

Staff

Jane Setter, Director of the English Pronunciation Research Unit, has a PhD in Phonetics, and has a specific interest in issues related to interlanguage phonology, pronunciation in World Englishes and priorities in the teaching of English pronunciation.  She has held research grants for work on aspects of Hong Kong English, and most recently on intonation deficits in Williams syndrome (ESRC) and intonation amongst learners of English in the academic population (University of Reading RETF grant).  She has presented her work at conferences and research forums around the world, performed consultancy in English pronunciation in Japan and Hong Kong, appeared on the BBC World Service, and is tutor on the IPA stream of the Summer Course in English Phonetics at University College London.  She is an editor of the 17th edition of Daniel Jones' English Pronouncing Dictionary (CUP, 2006).  Current book projects include one on Hong Kong English with Cathy Wong (Hong Kong Polytechnic University) and Brian Chan (University of Macau), and a special edition of the journal of Clinical Phonetics and Linguistics on Williams Syndrome with Vesna Stojanovik.  Jane became joint Co-ordinator of the IATEFL Pronunciation Special Interest Group in 2003.   Home Page, email.

Peter Roach, Honorary Chair of the English Pronunciation Research Unit, is Emeritus Professor of Phonetics.  He is interested in the phonetics of English, where his publications include English Phonetics and Phonology (CUP) and The English Pronouncing Dictionary. His most recent book is Phonetics (OUP). His research has included work on speech perception and the computer analysis of speech (see his CV for more information). He has held a number of research grants for work in automatic speech recognition and in large-scale computer-readable speech databases. Email.

 

Links

Here are some useful sites on English pronunciation and phonetics and phonology, listed in alphabetical order.  We'd like to invite you to send information about your site to us for possible inclusion at this email address.

University-based centres around the world

English Pronunciation (Okanagan University College, Canada)

English Pronunciation Tip of the Day  (University College London, UK)

The Internet Institute for Speech and Hearing

An Introduction to the International Phonetic Alphabet for the Pronunciation of English  (The Chinese University, Hong Kong)

Speechinaction (Birmingham, UK)

The Pronunciation Website (University of New England, Australia)

The Sounds of Spoken Language (University of Iowa, USA)

Transcribing English Words (Cardiff University, UK)

Vowels of British and American English  (University of Washington, USA) 

 

Other Sites of Interest 

The IATEFL Pronunciation Special Interest Group  (IATEFL) (this page is rather sorely in need of updating!)

The Regular English Pronunciation Project (University College London, UK)

 

Contacting the EPRU

For information on any of the projects or courses you've read about on this site


    Dr. Jane Setter
    Director, English Pronunciation Research Unit
    Department of Applied Linguistics
    University of Reading
    P.O. Box 218
    READING  RG6 6AA  UK

    Tel. +44 (0)118 378 6089
    Fax +44 (0)118 378 6669

    E-mail: j.e.setter@rdg.ac.uk

 

 
What we do
Short courses Teachers
Staff
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Contacting the EPRU
Page last updated February 14th, 2008
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