Dr Nicola Schmidt-Renfree
| Post: | Honorary Research Fellow (Brighton and Sussex Medical School) |
| Location: | TRAFFORD CENTRE (TCMR) |
Biography
I am currently researching what happens when we listen in a second language and how this differs from how we listen in our first language.
Previous research has included how people use language for strategic purposes, and my roles have included posts in Communciation and in English Language, and posts in teaching English for specific Purposes, English for Academic Purposes, and English as an Additional Language.
I have held lecturing posts at the Universities of Kent (2003-2010), Brighton (2002), and Ulster (1998-2002), in addition to holding teaching posts at a number of language schools and at two different secondary schools.
My main interest now is in developing methods for enhancing the learning and teaching of second language listening skills, which is the most difficult area of second language acquisition to develop proficiently.
International presentations given:
1. Conferences
2013 1st ELT in HE conference at the University of Zawia, Libya (invited to be the keynote speaker by the British Council) – on Embedding Generic Transferable Skills into English Language courses
2013 Quality Assurance and Mechanisms in Language Programmes in HE (hosted by the University of Kurdistan- Hewler, Iraq, and sponsored by the British Council) – on Quality Assurances of Language Programmes
2008 Learn Higher Assessment Symposium, Canterbury (hosted by University of Kent) - on Innovative forms of Assessment
2001 2nd Jordanstown Linguistics Conference (hosted by University of Ulster) - on Language and Power Relations
1999 International Linguistic Politeness Symposium, Bangkok (hosted by University of Chulalongkorn) - on Gratitude as a Ritual
1999 1st Jordanstown Linguistics Conference (hosted by University of Ulster) - on Politeness and Facework
1998 6th International Pragmatics Conference, Reims - on Politeness and Responses to Thanks.
2. Seminars
Feb 2007 SECL pop lecture, University of Kent - on Verbal Politeness Rituals
Nov 1999 Ulster Discourse Studies Group, University of Ulster - on Gratitude Rituals,
June 1999 Ulster Discourse Studies Group, University of Ulster - on Facework as Discourse
May 1998 WIP seminar, University of Aalborg, Denmark - on Responses to Thanks
Dec 1997 Semiotics Research Group, University of Aarhus, Denmark - on Information Processing, Prejudice and Fatigue
Nov 1997 University of Aalborg, Denmark - on Linguistic Politeness and Schemata,
May 1997 University of Brighton, WIP seminar on Language Routines
Nov 1996 MA TEFL & MA MALT seminar, University of Brighton - on Teacher Fatigue
Role
Ph.D. candidate in the the psycholinguistics of listening in a second language
Qualifications
PhD degree awarded in 2020 by the University of Sussex. I also hold a Master of Arts degree in English Language Teaching (University of Brighton), a Bachelor of Sciences degree in Human Sciences (University College London), a Postgraduate Certificate in Research Methodology, and a Certificate in Teaching English as a Foreign Language.
My research focuses on the psycholinguistics of listening in a second language. In particular, how a person listens, and how listening processes are different in one's second language.