Dr Alan Firth
Senior Lecturer in Applied Linguistics
- Email: alan.firth@ncl.ac.uk
- Telephone: +44 (0)191 222 5273
- Address: Room 2.04 KGVI
School of ECLS
King George VI Buiding
Newcastle University
Queen Victoria Road
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE1 7RU
United Kingdom
Research Interests
My work has focused on spoken discourse and social interaction, particularly in settings where people are pursuing institutional (e.g. work-related) goals (such as attempting to agree on terms of trade, resolve various kinds of problems on telephone helplines, and agree on child visitation rights in mediation meetings).
A second major research interest is second/foreign language use and learning, especially in non-instructional settings. I have called for a reconceptualization of the field of Second Language Acquisition research (for more details, see 'esteem indicators', below).
Much of my work (both empirical and theoretical) has been concerned with social interaction in English as a 'lingua franca' (a lingua franca being a contact or auxilliary language between people who do not share a mother tongue). The theoretical and methodological implications of English as a 'lingua franca' are, I believe, wide-ranging and profoundly important for sociolinguistics, SLA, and EFL/ESL research.
In terms of theory and methodology, I have been inspired by ethnomethodology and Conversation Analysis and, of late, by post-structural theory, and have attempted to bring these fields of knowledge to bear on my empirically-driven research. Throughout my work I have endeavoured to take seriously the view that language and communicative competence are socially-constituted and situationally constructed phenomena, and that dialogue underpins our social behaviour and practices.
PUBLICATIONS:
Firth, A. (in prep.). English as a 'Lingua Franca': Implications for Applied Linguistics.
Firth, A. (in prep.). On 'fragility' and 'robustness' in spoken interaction: The case of English as a 'lingua franca'.
Firth, A. (in prep.). The social organization of problem descriptions in calls to a technical support helpline.
Firth, A. & Cann, D. (in prep.). Learning on the Fly: Giving and getting instruction as aspects of expert-lay interaction.
Firth, A., Jenks, C. & Trinder, L., (in prep.). Opening Up Mediation Openings: How mediators initiate child-contact mediation meetings.
Firth, A., Trinder, L.,. & Jenks, C. (in prep.). ‘Mediators’ methods for managing anger: circumventing, curtailing and containing conflict in child contact conciliation’.
Firth, A. (in prep.) Talking Global: English as a Lingua Franca at Work (monograph)
Firth, A. Trinder, L. & Jenks, C. (forthcoming). Formulation as resolution: Some ways in which child-contact mediators pursue agreement (In preparation for Discourse and Society)
Jenks, C., Firth, A., & Trinder, L., Talking children into being in absentia? Submitted to Childhood.
Jenks, C., Firth, A., & Trinder, L. (forthcoming). Verbal sparring: displaying anger in child-contact disputes. Submitted to Discourse Studies.
Trinder, L., Firth, A. & Jenks, C. (forthcoming, 2009). ‘So presumably things have moved on since then?’ The interactional management of risk allegations in child contact dispute resolution. International Journal of Law, Policy and the Family.
Firth, A. (in prep). Discourse, Language, and Culture. Sage Publications: London (monograph)
Firth, A. (2010). Telephone Helplines. In: Schneider, Klaus P. & Barron, A.(Eds.). 'Pragmatics of discourse'. Mouton de Gruyter: The Hague.
Firth, A. (2009). Ethnomethodology. In Sigurd D’hondt (ed.), 'The Pragmatics of Interaction'. John Benjamins: Amsterdam (published July 2009)
Firth, A. & Emmison, M. (2009). Diagnosis as dialogue: Diagnostic work in calls to a technical support helpline. In Büscher, M., Goodwin, D. & J. Mesman (eds.) Ethnographies of diagnostic work: Dimensions of transformative practice. Palgrave: Oxford.
Firth, A. (2009). Doing not being a foreign language learner: English as a lingua franca in the workplace and (some) implications for SLA. International Review of Applied Linguistics, Special Issue, edited by Junko Mori and Numa Markee, 47: 127-156.
Firth, A. (2009). The Lingua Franca Factor. Intercultural Pragmatics. Special Issue on English as a Lingua Franca, edited by Juliane House and Istvan Kecskes, 6-2: 147-170.
Firth, A. (2008). Review of Rubdy, R. & Saraceni, M., eds. 'English in the World: Global rules, global roles', Applied Linguistics, 29, 2.
Firth, A. & Wagner, J. (2007). On Discourse, Communication, and (Some) Fundamental Concepts in Second Language Acquisition Research Modern Language Journal (Reprint of 1997 publication, in Special Focus Issue on: The impact of the ideas of Firth & Wagner on SLA), vol. 91: 755-770.
Firth, A. & Wagner, J. (2007). Second/Foreign Language Learning as a Social Accomplishment: Elaborations on a Reconceptualized SLA. Modern Language Journal (Special Focus Issue on: The impact of the ideas of Firth & Wagner on SLA), vol. 91: 798-817.
Firth, A. (2007). Review of Ferguson, G. 'Language Planning and Education', International Journal of Applied Linguistics, 17/3, 413-419.
Firth, A. (forthcoming). Spoken Discourse and Social Interaction. Oxford University Press/Hodder: London. (320 pages)
Baker, C., Emmison, M. & Firth, A. (2005). Calling for Help: Language and Social Interaction in Telephone Helplines. Edited by Carolyn Baker, Michael Emmison and Alan Firth. John Benjamins: Amsterdam (13 chapters, 344 pages).
Firth, A. Emmison, M. & Baker, C. (2005). Calling for Help: An Introduction. In: Calling for Help: Language and Social Interaction in Telephone Helplines (chapter 1). pp. 1-35.
Firth, A. & Emmison, M. (2005). Preface. Calling for Help: Language and Social Interaction in Telephone Helplines. pp. xv-xvii.
Baker, C., Emmison, M. & Firth, A. (2005). Calibrating for Competence in Calls for Technical Assistance. In: Calling for Help: Language and Social Interaction in Telephone Helplines (chapter 2). pp. 39-62.
Firth, A. (2003). Argument as Spectacle and Collusion: The mediatization of politics on CNN's Crossfire. In A. Firth (ed.) Language Travels: A Festschrift for Torben Vestergaard. Aalborg University Press: Aalborg, Denmark. 131-142
Firth, A. (2003). Language Travels: A Festschrift for Torben Vestergaard. Edited by Alan Firth. Aalborg University Press: Aalborg, Denmark. (2003)
Firth, A. & Wagner, J. (2003). On Discourse, Communication, and (Some) Fundamental Concepts in Second Language Acquisition Research. (Reprint of 1997 publication) In B. Seidlhofer (ed.) Controversies in Applied Linguistics. Oxford University Press: Oxford, UK. pp. 173-198.
Firth, A. & Wagner, J. (2003). SLA property: No Tresspassing! In B. Seidlhofer (ed.) Controversies in Applied Linguistics. Oxford University Press: Oxford, UK. pp. 232-236. (Reprint of 1998 article)
Baker, C., Emmison, M. & Firth, A. (2001). Discovering order in opening sequences in calls to a software helpline. In Alec McHoul and Mark Rapley (eds.) How To Analyse Talk in Institutional Settings. Continuum Press, London.
Firth, A. (1998). Review of Lynch, M. and Bogen, D. The Spectacle of History: Speech, Text and Memory at the Iran-Contra Hearings. Discourse & Society, April, pp. 417-20
Firth, A. & Wagner, J. (1998). SLA property: No Tresspassing! Modern Language Journal, 82, 1: 91-94. (1998)
Wagner, J. & Firth, A. (1997). Communication Strategies at Work. In G. Kasper and E. Kellerman (eds.) Communication Strategies : Psycholinguistic and Sociolinguistic Perspectives. Longmans, London, 323-344
Firth, A. & Wagner, J. (1997). On Discourse, Communication, and (Some) Fundamental Concepts in Second Language Acquisition Research. Modern Language Journal. 81,3: 285-300.
Firth, A. (1996). The Discursive Accomplishment of 'normality': On Conversation Analysis and 'Lingua Franca' English. Journal of Pragmatics. 26: 237-259
Firth, A. (1996). Review of Grimshaw, A.D. 'Collegial Discourse', and Grimshaw, A.D. 'What's Going on Here?' American Journal of Sociology, vol. 101, 5: 1487-93
Firth, A. (1995). Negotiating in the 'Virtual Marketplace': Making Sense of Telenegotiating. In: K. Ehlich and J. Wagner (eds.) The Discourse of Business Negotiation. Mouton de Gruyter, Berlin. pp. 127-149
Firth, A. (1995). The Discourse of Negotiation: Studies of Language in the Workplace. Oxford, Pergamon Press. (edited collection, 15 chaps., 436 pp.)
Firth, A. (1995). Preface. In: A. Firth (ed.) The Discourse of Negotiation. Studies of Languages in the Workplace. Pergamon Press, Oxford, pp. v-vii.
Firth, A. (1995). Introduction and Overview. In: A. Firth (ed.) The Discourse of Negotiation: Studies of Language in the Workplace. Pergamon Press, Oxford, pp. 3-39.
Firth, A. (1995). Talking for a Change: Negotiating by Telephone in Commodity Trading. In: A. Firth (ed.) The Discourse of Negotiation. Studies of Languages in the Workplace. Pergamon Press, Oxford, pp. 183-222.
Firth, A. (1995). 'Accounts' in Negotiation Discourse: A Single-Case Analysis. Journal of Pragmatics. 23/2: 199-226.
Firth, A. (1995). Multiple Mode, Single Activity: Telenegotiating as a Social Accomplishment. P. ten Have and G. Psathas (eds.) Situated Order: Talk and Other Embodied Activities. University of America Press, Washington DC, pp. 151-72.
Firth, A. (1995). Ethnomethodology. In J. Verschueren, J.-O. Blommaert (eds.) Handbook of Pragmatics. Benjamins. Amsterdam. pp. 269-278
Firth, A. (1995). Review of Figueroa, E. 'Sociolinguistic Metatheory', Pergamon Press, Oxford. Linguist, vol. 6: 1699.
Firth, A. (1994). Writing Projects in Linguistics. (1994). In A. Bennett, A. Niss, A. Firth & H. Halkier: Language and Cultural Skills: An Introduction to Study Skills and Methodology. Aalborg University Press. pp. 23-38
A. Bennett, A. Niss, A. Firth & H. Halkier (Eds.) (1994). Language and Cultural Skills: An Introduction to Study Skills and Methodology. Aalborg University Press
Firth, A. (1994). Ethnomethodology and Pragmatics. In E-U. Pinkert (ed.) Universalisme og interkulturel kommunikation (Universalism and intercultural communication). Aalborg, Aalborg University Press, pp. 105-118
Firth, A. (1992). Discourse at Work: Negotiating by Telex, Fax, and 'Phone. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Dept. of Languages and Intercultural Studies, Aalborg University.
Firth, A. (1990). 'Lingua Franca' Negotiations: Towards an Interactional Approach. World Englishes 9, 3: 69-80
Firth, A. (1990). Responding to Proposals: An analysis of 'alignment talk' in trading negotiations. Working Papers. 15, Dept. of Languages and Intercultural Studies, Aalborg University.
INVITED TALKS AND CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS:
The discursive and social organization of multi-modal trading negotiations. Paper given at the International Conference on Conversation Analysis and Ethnomethodology. University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands, June 1991.
'Accounts' in Talk. Paper given at the Rasmus Rask Symposium of Linguistics, Odense University, Denmark, March, 1993.
'Accounts' in Trading Discourse. Paper given at the International Pragmatics Association Conference, Kobe, Japan, July, 1993.
Analysing Discourse in Work Environments. Keynote Address given at Groningen University, The Netherlands. November 25, 1993.
'Accounts' in Trading Discourse. Invited paper given at Indiana University and Oregon University, USA, May, 1994.
Analysing Discourse in Work Environments. (Leader of) 5-day PhD seminar, York University, Toronto, Canada, May, 1994.
On Conversation Analysis and `Lingua Franca' English. Invited paper at Symposium on 'Conversation and Foreign Languages', Odense University, Denmark, 1 July, 1994.
Making the Deal: Agreement in Commodity Trading Negotiations. Paper presented at the World Congress of Sociology, Sociolinguistics section, Bielefeld, Germany, 18 July 1994.
The Relevance of Second Language Acquisition Research. Paper given at the TESOL Conference, Long Beach, California, USA, May, 1995, and as invited paper at the Dept. of English as a Second Language, University of Hawaii at Manoa, USA, May, 1995.
Talk, Texts and Multi-Modality. Invited paper, Dept. of Anthropology, University of Hawaii at Manoa, USA, May, 1995.
Manage the Mode, Resolve the Conflict, Make the Deal: On the Uses of Telecommunications in International Trade. Paper presented at the International Conference on Conflict Management, Elsinore, Denmark, 13 June, 1995.
Ethnomethodology and Pragmatics. Invited paper, Dept. of Linguistics, University of Århus, Denmark, September, 1995.
On Culture and Communication in the Workplace. Invited Keynote Address, International Conference on Communication and Culture in the Workplace, University of Sydney, Australia, November, 1995.
On the multi-modal character of international trade. Invited Presentation, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia, November, 1995.
How Important is 'Culture' in Intercultural Communication? Invited paper given at the Danish Association of Applied Linguistics, Odense University, January, 1996.
Talk, Texts and Intertextuality. Invited Presentation, Dept. of English, University of Oulu, Finland, February, 1996, and at University of Helsinki, Finland.
On the Multi-Modal Nature of Communication in the Workplace. Invited Presentation, Texas A & M University, 22 March, 1996.
Talking Technical: On the Dynamics of Professional Identities. Paper given at the Conference of the American Association of Applied Linguistics, Chicago, USA, March, 1996.
Talk as Strategic Interaction. Panel organiser, International Conference of the International Pragmatics Association, Mexico City, Mexico, July, 1996.
Talking Politics: On some strategic features of political discourse. Paper given at the International Conference of the International Pragmatics Association, Mexico City, Mexico, July, 1996.
Giving and Getting Instruction: On gestures and their relationship to talk. Paper given at the International Conference of the Association of Applied Linguistics, Jyvaskyla, Finland, August, 1996.
Spelling Names: On the notion of 'fragility' in talk. Paper given at the International Conference of the Association of Applied Linguistics, Jyvaskyla, Finland, August, 1996.
Discourse and Second Language Learning. Panel organiser (with Johannes Wagner), International Conference of the Association of Applied Linguistics, Jyvaskyla, Finland, August, 1996.
On Discourse, Communication, and (Some) Fundamental Concepts in SLA Research. Invited paper, the International Conference of the Association of Applied Linguistics, Jyvaskyla, Finland, August, 1996.
Talk as Strategic Interaction. Invited Paper, Dept. of English and Graduate School of Education, University of Queensland, May, 1997.
'Literacy' as an Interactive Phenomenon. Invited Paper, Graduate School of Education. University of Queensland, June, 1997.
How Important is 'Culture' in Intercultural Encounters? Invited paper to the Danish Association of Business School Teachers, Middlefart, November, 1997.
Towards an ecological perspective on discourse studies. Invited presentation at Odense University's Graduate School of Language and Social Interaction. March 6, 1998.
Exploring the intersections of talk, texts and (work) tasks. Paper given at the annual American Association of Applied Linguistics Conference. Seattle, Washington, USA. March 14, 1998.
Talk and its 'Professional' Context. Invited paper, Dept. of Linguistics, Vienna University of Technology, Austria. May 14, 1998.
The Discourse of Technology: Problem-solving in a software supportline. Invited paper. Dept. of Linguistics, University of Graz, Austria. May 17, 1998.
The Discourse of Negotiation: An appraisal of existing research and suggestions for new directions. Invited paper. Dept. of Linguistics, University of Vienna. May 18, 1998.
Pragmatics and talk-in-interaction. Panel organiser and discussant, International Pragmatics Association (IPrA) Conference, Reims, France, July, 1998.
On linguistic ownership: The case of 'lingua francas' (with Dennis Day). Paper given at the IPrA Conference, Reims, France, July, 1998.
Talk and the Institutional Context. Invited address to the Nordic Association of Language in Social Work. Aarhus, 13 November, 1998.
Talk as Verbal Crossfire: Interaction in a Televised Political Debate Programme. Paper presented at the conference on 'Media Broadcasts', Roskilde University, Denmark, March 28, 1999.
Presenting the 'Problem': How callers give reasons for calling telephone supportlines. Invited paper presented at the Copenhagen Business School, May 28, 1999.
The symbiosis of talk, texts, and work tasks in a telephone supportline service. Invited paper given at Macquarrie University, Sydney, Australia, 27 July, 1999.
Language and Social Interaction in Telephone Helplines. Invited paper, Copenhagen Business School, 11 May, 2000.
The discursive structure of opening sequences in calls to a software helpline. Paper presented at the symposium 'Calling for Help', Aalborg, 9 September, 2000.
Language and social interaction in calls to a software helpline. Invited paper presented at the Dept. of Linguistics, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, USA, January, 2001.
Epiphanies and other aspects of the work of call-takers on a software helpline. Invited paper presented at University of Southern Denmark (Odense), 30 March, 2001.
On the overall structural organisation of calls to a software helpline. Invited paper given at the data analysis workshop, Graduate School of Education, University of Queensland, Australia, February, 2002.
Some conceptual and empirical dilemmas in the study of intercultural communication. Invited paper, Aalborg Students' House, 6 March, 2002.
Aspects of structural organisation in helpline calls. Invited paper given at Roskilde University, Denmark, 28 March, 2002.
On social and 'achieved' structure in helpline calls. Invited paper given at Copenhagen University, Denmark, 8 April, 2002.
Fixing It: Aspects of problem resolution in calls to a software helpline. Paper given at the conference: Talk and the Moral Order. Stradbroke Island, Queensland, Australia. June, 2002
'Identity' as a rhetorical resource in social interaction. Paper given at the seminar: Identity and Discourse. Roskilde University Centre. October, 2002.
Giving and Getting Instruction. Paper presented at the Ethnomethodology and Conversation Analysis Conference, Manchester Metropolitan University, UK, July, 2003 (with David Cann)
Instruction-giving in telephone helplines as aspects of expert-lay interaction. Invited paper given at SUNY, Albany, New York, USA, 14 November, 2003
On the activity of instructing in calls to a computer support helpline. Invited talk, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia, July, 2004
Intercultural Communication and the Challenge of Conversation Analysis. Invited talk, Århus University, Denmark, 3 Sept., 2005
Callers' presentation of 'problems' in a computer software helpline. Paper given at the Culture, Language, Interaction and Communication (CLIC) conference, University of California, Los Angeles, USA. 25 May, 2006
English as a 'Lingua Franca': Implications for Applied Linguistics. Invited paper given at King's College London. 24 October, 2006
English as a 'Lingua Franca': Theoretical and Methodological Challenges for Applied Linguistics. Paper given at the symposium on 'English as a 'Lingua Franca''. Dept. of Languages, Culture and Aesthetics, Aalborg University, Denmark. 31 October, 2006
On the Methodological and Theoretical Implications of ‘CA for SLA’. Paper given at the 'Pragmatics and Language Learning' conference, Honolulu, Hawaii, 27 March, 2007.
Epiphanies and other aspects of diagnostic work in calls to a computer helpline. Keynote address, 'Ethnographies of Diagnostic Work' conference, Lancaster University, April, 2007
L2 Learning in Interaction, paper presented at the British Association of Applied Linguistics conference, University of Edinburgh, September, 2007
CA for SLA: Interfaces, intersections, and implications. Paper presented (with Paul Seedhouse) at the EUROSLA conference, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, UK, September, 2007
Of Mutual Benefit: On CA for SLA & SLA for CA. Paper presented at the Second Language Research Forum (SLRF) conference, University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, USA, 12 October, 2007
Doing not being a foreign language learner: Working in English as a ‘lingua franca’. Invited paper, presented at University of Wisconsin, Madison, USA, 16 October, 2007.
Doing not being a foreign language learner: Working in English as a ‘lingua franca’. Invited paper, presented at University of Birmingham, UK, 27 November, 2007
Doing not being a foreign language learner: Working in English as a ‘lingua franca’. Invited paper, presented at University of Luxembourg, 5 December, 2007
The Lingua Franca Factor. Paper presented at the 1st International Conference on English as a Lingua Franca. Helsinki University, Finland. 7 March, 2008
Solving Talk: Diagnosing problems in calls to a technical helpline. Invited paper, University of UNISINOS, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, 4 April, 2008
Diagnosing Discourse: On the micro-analysis of spoken interaction on a telephone helpline. Invited paper, University of UNISINOS, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, 10 April, 2008
Reconceptualizing SLA Research: Exploiting the 'social turn's' potential. Invited paper, University PUCI, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 11 April, 2008
The social practice of practising English: L2 learning in a cyber community. Paper given at the BAAL/CUP seminar, Newcastle University, UK, 20 June, 2008
Formulations in in-court mediation sessions. Paper given at the ESRC research seminar on 'Conflict Resolution and Mediation', Newcastle University, UK, 25 June, 2008
Invoking the child in absentia: How children get talked about in child-contact mediation meetings. Paper presented at International Sociological Association conference, Barcelona, Spain, 13 September, 2008
The public and private lives of additional language competence: Implications for a reconceptualised SLA. Plenary address, SLRF 2008 conference, Honolulu, Hawai'i, USA, 18 October, 2008
Learning how not to be an L2 learner: Some lessons from outside the L2 classroom. Invited paper, Southampton University, 5 November 2008
Other Expertise
I have worked in a consultancy capacity for a number of telephone helplines, in the UK, Australia, and Denmark, principally advising on call-handler competence and training. I have also advised companies, colleges and other institutions on negotiation behaviour.
Current Work
My research interests currently cluster around three areas:
(1) the application of conversation analytic methodology, ethnomethodology, and 'interactional' approaches to language to themes relating to second/foreign language acquisition and learning;
(2) the applied linguistic implications - both theoretical and methodological - of conceptualizing English as a 'lingua franca';
(3) uncovering and explicating aspects 'problem description' and 'problem diagnosis' in technical support telephone helpline interactions.
Selected Publications
- Firth, Alan. Spoken Discourse and Social Interaction : An Introduction. Oxford: Hodder Arnold, 2007.
- Firth, Alan & Wagner, Johannes. Second/Foreign Language Learning as a Social Accomplishment: Elaborations on a Reconceptualized SLA. Modern Language Journal 2007, 91(Focus), 800-819.
- Baker, C, Emmison, M. & Firth, A. Calibrating for competence in calls for technical assistance. In: Carolyn D. Baker, Michael Emmison, Alan Firth, ed. Calling for Help : Language and social interaction in telephone helplines. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company, 2005, pp. 39-62.
- Baker, Carolyn, Emmison, Michael & Firth, Alan, ed. Calling for Help: Language and social interaction in telephone helplines. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company, 2005.
- Firth, Alan & Wagner, Johannes. On Discourse, Communication, and (Some) Fundamental Concepts in Second Language Acquisition Research. In: Seidlhofer, B, ed. Controversies in Applied Linguistics. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003.
- Baker, Emmison & Firth. Discovering order in opening sequences: calls to a software helpline. In: Alec McHoul and Mark Rapley, ed. How To Analyse Talk in Institutional Settings : A Casebook of Methods. London: Continuum, 2001, pp. 41-56.
Future Research
I am currently in the process of applying for an ESRC grant to fund a 1-year research project that will investigate the communicative practices and competencies of emergency (999) call handlers. This project is being undertaken in collaboration with the North East Ambulance Service, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK. As Principal Investigator, I will be working with my colleagues Neil Jenkings, Tim Rapley and Chris Jenks. The project, if funded, will commence in April 2010.
Research Roles
I am editor-manager of the internet discussion and debate forum 'Languse' list.hum.aau.dk/mailman/listinfo/languse. Languse has over one thousand subscribers worldwide and is a major forum for information exchange and debate within the field of language and social interaction.
Postgraduate Supervision
I currently (co-)supervise 8 PhD dissertations (Adam Brandt, Hiromi Mitani, Jirapa Abhakorn, Pornpavee Sukrutrit, Amer Khafaji, Khalid Mohammed Alharthi, Li-Ting Cheng, Hsueh-Jui Liu) within the areas of spoken interaction and applied linguistics.
Esteem Indicators
My work (with Johannes Wagner) on reconceptualizing Second Language Acquisition research has twice been the centrepiece of a 'Special Issue' of 'Modern Language Journal' - in 1997 (MLJ 81/3) and 2007 (MLJ 91/5).
For details, please see here (nb. be sure to copy the following URL in its entirety, into your web browser):
2007: www.blackwell-synergy.com/toc/modl/91/s1
Invited talks and workshops at three Brazilian universities, March-April 2008, sponsored by a Brazilian government grant (Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sol, Porto Alegre, Universidade do Unisinos, Port Alegre, and PUC, University of Rio de Janeiro).
I have been invited keynote or plenary speaker on several occasions; recent invites include:
Plenary speaker at the SLRF 2008 conference (Exploring SLA: Perspectives, Positions, and Practices), Honolulu, Hawaii, USA (17-19 October 2008). See www.nflrc.hawaii.edu/slrf08/program.htm
(From the SLRF 2008 website:
About SLRF:
The Second Language Research Forum (SLRF) is a prestigious and internationally renowned conference which brings together researchers in second language (L2) research from all over the world. It is the premier conference on L2 research in North America providing a venue for established scholars and graduate students to present work on a wide variety of theoretical and empirical issues.)
Plenary speaker at the conference 'Living, working and studying in (a) vehicular language(s): Language, discourse, hybridity and identities', Turku, Finland, 26-28 September, 2008.
http://www.hum.utu.fi/oppiaineet/ranskankieli/tutkimus/konferenssit/vehicular.html
Plenary speaker at the international conference 'Ethnographies of Diagnostic Work', Lancaster University, April, 2007. See: www.ist-palcom.org/diagnosis
Described by ELF 2009 conference organisers as a 'key figure' in current English as a Lingua Franca research - see: www.soton.ac.uk/ml/research/elf.html
I am on the editorial panel of the 'Handbook of Business Discourse' (Edinburgh University Press) and regularly review manuscripts for a number of academic journals (e.g. Modern Language Journal, Language in Society, International Review of Applied Linguistics, Journal of Sociolinguistics, Applied Linguistics, Text and Talk, International Journal of Applied Linguistics, Language and Education, World Englishes) and publishers (e.g. Sage, Oxford University Press, Blackwells) within the fields of communications, applied linguistics, sociolinguistics, conversation analysis and discourse analysis. I was on the editorial board of 'Journal of Pragmatics' (1997-2006).
My work was featured in a front-page article in the Wall Street Journal (Global Chatter: World Speaks English, Often None Too Well. By Barry Newman. Wall Street Journal. (Eastern edition). New York, N.Y.: Mar 22, 1995. pg. A.1). Link to the article (please ensure you copy the following URL in its entirety): www.hum.aau.dk/~firth/WSJ.htm
My work on English as a 'lingua franca' was featured in a front-page article in the Danish national newspaper 'Weekendavisen' (Dec. 2006). Link to article (nb! in Danish - please be sure to copy the following URL in its entirety): www.weekendavisen.dk/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061208/IDEER/112080118
I have been external PhD examiner for University of Aarhus, Denmark, University of Durham, University of Lancaster, UK, University of Queensland, University of Melbourne, Australia
I am external examiner for Masters programmes in applied linguistics at the University of Birmingham (UK) and the University of Surrey.
Funding
September 2007, awarded ESRC Grant of £98,369, for 12-month project entitled:
Opening closed doors: a micro analytic investigation of dispute resolution in child contact cases
Research Team: Dr. Liz Trinder, Dr. Alan Firth and Dr. Chris Jenks
Brief description of the project:
The family courts in England and Wales are currently under intense scrutiny. Fathers' rights groups argue that courts are biased against divorced fathers trying to have contact with their children (O'Connor et al, 2005). Women's groups maintain that the family courts continue to put mothers and children at risk by ordering contact in cases where there has been a history of domestic violence (e.g. Saunders, 2004). At policy level, there has been a string of inquiries, consultation reports and proposals into the performance of the system (e.g. Children Act Sub-Committee, 1999, 2002; DCA, 2004; President of the Family Division, 2004; CAFCASS, 2005), with continuing debates about transparency (e.g. DCA, 2006; Ministry of Justice, 2007).
These controversies have highlighted the need for accurate information about the performance of the family justice system, particularly about parent-child contact (or 'access') after divorce. We already know something about the outcomes of child contact cases, or what decisions the courts usually make (e.g. Davis & Pearce, 1999; Smart & May, 2005; Trinder et al, 2006). What is not known, however, is how decisions are made or how those outcomes are achieved.
Are domestic violence allegations really ignored? If so, how does that happen? Are fathers really marginalised? And what does that look like and how does it occur?
Our aim in this study therefore is to advance theoretical and empirical understanding about precisely how courts make decisions in child contact cases and thereby inform policy and practice. We will do this by analysing audio recordings of actual court-based negotiations. Conversation analysis (CA), or the study of talk-in-interaction, has been highly effective in exploring contact negotiations outside of courts (e.g. Dingwall & Greatbatch 1991, 1993, 2001). We will extend this approach to look for the first time at decision-making within courts. Using CA methods, we will examine the transcripts, for example, to identify how proposals are elicited, disclosed, challenged, modified and developed during the dispute encounters, how sensitive topics, including allegations of abuse or harm, are raised and responded to and how the rights and needs of children and parents are discursively framed in the process.
Our data set for this study consists of audio recordings of fifteen 'in-court conciliation' sessions, collected in 2004 as part of an earlier study (Trinder et al, 2006), but never previously analysed. This is an important data set as tape recording at court is seldom permitted. The fifteen hours of recording (or approximately 600 pages of transcript) is a large amount of data for a CA study and therefore we will not require further data collection. In-court conciliation (or 'dispute resolution') is now the most common way for courts to deal with contact cases (CAFCASS, 2006) and so is an ideal tool for looking at court decision-making. Typically in-court conciliation consists of a meeting of up to one hour at court where a third party, either a judge or court social worker, attempts to help parents negotiate an agreement about contact (or access) arrangements in an attempt to avoid a contested hearing or trial.The research will have benefits for a wide range of users. The study will offer policy-makers much-needed empiricallygrounded descriptions of what actually happens in contact decision-making at court, rather than what people think happened. The study will generate specific messages to inform the training of court social workers, lawyers and judges, including, for example, handling domestic violence allegations. The findings will make an important theoretical and empirical contribution for socio-legal and conversation analysis scholars. We aim also to show the benefits of a CA approach and expect to use this study as a springboard for further work using a CA approach to explore talk and interaction within legal settings.
The project will commence in January, 2008.
Awarded ESRC Grant of £76,395 in March 2008
(with Drs. Peter Wallis, Mark Hepple and Chris Jenks)
This one-year project will analyse human-computer operated systems in order to understand how human voice-mediated interactions with computer technology are undertaken and how they may be improved. The research is empirical, and will draw upon naturally-occurring instances of human-computer interactions.
Industrial Relevance
Call-centre training, dispute resolution, workplace communication, cross-cultural communication in the workplace, detailed analysis of spoken interaction.
Background
After graduating and completing an RSA TEFL diploma I taught English in the UK and Denmark, and published English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teaching materials - two 'Readers', an English Language Teaching (ELT) textbook, videos for EFL teaching, and for 3 years was a regular columnist on the Danish FL teachers' magazine 'Sproglæreren' ('The Language Teacher'). I then embarked on an MA in Applied English Linguistics at the University of Birmingham, UK, and subsequently a PhD at Aalborg University, Denmark. As part of my PhD I spent a year at the University of Hawaii at Manoa and the East-West Center, Honolulu. I have spent sabbaticals at the University of York, UK, and the University of Queensland, Australia.
I moved to Newcastle University in March, 2007.
Roles and Responsibilities
Degree Programme Director, MA in Cross-Cultural Communication and Education.
Degree Programme Director, MA in Cross-Cultural Communication and International Marketing
Chair of Curriculum Review Committee, MA in Cross-Cultural Communication
Qualifications
Ph.D. in Applied English Linguistics, Aalborg University, Denmark
M.A. in Applied English Linguistics, University of Birmingham, UK
B.Ed. (Hons.) with specialism in English language teaching, University of Bradford, UK
R.S.A. T.E.F.L. Diploma in 'Teaching English as a Foreign Language', The Bell School of Languages, Cambridge, UK
Previous Positions
Associate Professor of Applied English Linguistics, Department of Culture and Languages, Aalborg University, Denmark
Director of the Post-Graduate programme on 'International and Intercultural Communication', Department of Culture and Languages, Aalborg University, Denmark
Languages
Fluent in Danish, very good knowledge of Swedish and Norwegian; working knowledge of Thai, Italian, German and French. I am struggling in Geordie.
Undergraduate Teaching
Undergraduate courses I have previously taught:
Introduction to the English Language * Introduction to Sociolinguistics * Introduction to Pragmatics * Introduction to Micro-Ethnography * Introduction to Discourse Analysis * Introduction to Conversation Analysis * Introduction to Applied Linguistics * Introduction to Second Language Acquisition * Introduction to Intercultural and International Communication * Communication at Work: Social Interaction in Institutional Contexts * Ethnography of Speaking * Teaching English as a Foreign Language * Qualitative Research Methods * Academic Composition Writing * Translation (English-Danish) * Oral Proficiency in English
Postgraduate Teaching
Graduate Courses I have previously taught:
Applied Conversation Analysis * Themes in Discourse Analysis * Micro-analysis and ethnography * Spoken Narrative Analysis * Anthropological Linguistics * Research Methods in Intercultural Communication * Theories in Intercultural Communication * Workplace Communication: Methods, Theories and Findings * Controversies in Applied Linguistics * The Discourse of Negotiation * Work Talk: Studying Institutional Interaction * Second/Foreign Language Pedagogy * Calling for Help: Discourse and Social Interaction in Telephone Helplines * Discourse and Identity * Talk and Chalk: Analysing the Language of Classroom Interaction * Reconceptualising Second Language Acquisition Research * Talking Global: English as a 'lingua franca'
PhD seminars and courses I have led:
Second Language Acquisition Reconceptualised * Conversation Analysis * Spoken discourse and social interaction * The discourse of negotiation: Methods and Approaches * Sociolinguistic Metatheory * Intercultural Communication * English as an International Language
Update October 2009: Students following my MA module 'English in the World' should consult the module website at: sites.google.com/site/englishintheworldsite
My teaching blog is located at: englishintheworldsite.blogspot.com