Our research investigates fundamental principles of language as well as language forms and usages found in specific contexts.
We are committed to theoretical and applied linguistic research and specialise in areas including corpus linguistics, discourse analysis, phonetics, and language learning, teaching and testing. Our research is supported by state-of-the-art facilities and we are home to the Spoken British National Corpus.
Julia Gillen was a Co-Investigator of an ESRC-funded project, 2022-2024. Formally known as “0-3 year olds’ language and literacy learning at home in a digital age,” the project employed multiple methods to investigate the experiences of very young children and their families in the home.
She is currently writing a paper on parents’ attitudes and collaborating with designer Lynn Taylor on an infographic. Public engagement has been crucial, as the project has generated considerable public interest.
Toddlers Tech and Talk
The Voice of the North is a project led by Professor Claire Nance in collaboration with Jamie Jenkinson of Jewellers Night School and Escape to Make. Their collaboration brought together 20 young people in six workshops relating to art, language and body in an exploration of regional identity and voice.
Combining ultrasound imaging of tongue movements with sculpture, poetry and digital art, the project enabled participants to engage with scientific and artistic concepts while reflecting on voice as both biological and cultural.
Voice of the North project
Dr Sam Kirkham’s Royal Society-funded project is developing new approaches to uncover the physical movements of the vocal tract that unpin speech.
Alongside Dr Anton Ragni (Sheffield) and Prof. Aneta Stefanovska (LU Physics), Sam is building machine learning models that predict tongue and lip movements from audio recordings, using a large database of MRI recordings. This will drive scientific progress on fundamental principles of speech, with the goal of developing new tools for visualising vocal tract movement, which could be used in phonetics teaching and speech therapy.
The Morecambe Bay Curriculum Storytelling and Writing Project is a collaboration with Uta Papen, Bethan Garrett, Carys Nelkon, and Irene Wise. It engaged teachers and children from seven schools in the Lancaster and Morecambe Bay area to help them create stories based on local themes and landmarks, buildings or events.
The goal was to develop place-based oracy and literacy activities that encourage children to write and perform their own stories. ‘Local Legends’, a booklet of stories, is used by the schools and by others to inspire storytelling and writing activities.
Local Legends
John Pill, along with Susan Sheehan (Huddersfield), investigated how professional bodies in the UK, including the Nursing and Midwifery Council and the Institution of Civil Engineers, maintain standards and ensure safe practice in their professions.
They recognise the importance of practitioners having strong communication and language skills. The research interviews covered the interests and concerns of the professional bodies and their decision-making around language proficiency.
A full report is available to download.
IELTS project reportStaff and students of LAEL make up a vibrant, rich and welcoming research community. Our active research centres and groups specialise in many areas of linguistics and organise regular meetings and events.
LAEL is home to state-of-the-art equipment for measuring eye movements, brain activity and articulatory dynamics during speech and language. We also make use of Lancaster’s data immersion suite to explore language in a range of live, real-world scenarios.
Research Facilities
