The majority of research in UoA 58, Linguistics is officially classified as world-leading, internationally excellent or recognised internationally in terms of originality, significance and rigour, having been placed in the three highest categories for quality in the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise.
| Quality Level | 4* | 3* | 2* | 1* | Unclassified |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| % of research activity | 15 | 25 | 40 | 15 | 5 |
The Linguistics and Language Science (LLS) research grouping at Newcastle is one of the largest UK, with a distinctively broad coverage of the field. Since 2001 our research has been characterised by growth, investment and substantial achievement; total externally funded research expenditure amounted to £1.6m, and a sum of £2.8m new award value.
Linguistics researchers are drawn from three Schools:
Presently, six specialists from SML are also submitting under UOAs 52, 53 and 55.
Our progression has been significantly enhanced by the addition of senior, and early-career staff. New appointments have resulted in strong cross-school resonance, an example of which is the appointment of Myles. A Chair in SML, her work in L2 acquisition bridges existing expertise and activities located within SELLL and SECLS, via her directorship of the Centre for Research in Linguistics and Language Sciences (CRiLLS).
Our research falls into three principal themes:
In pursuit of these themes staff work on a wide range of languages. They adopt diverse methodologies and theoretical perspectives, and share a strong commitment to grounding the study of language within a range of contexts; cognitive, social, historical, developmental, and clinical. For staff working on speech/language disorders and second language learning, there is also a strong focus on developing the evidence base underpinning practice.
CRiLLS adds to an already excellent infrastructure, with specialist facilities for phonetic and psycholinguistic experimentation, a speech and language analysis laboratory, and a newly-commissioned child language research laboratory equipped with state-of-the-art computer-based facilities and high quality audio-video equipment.
For clinical research, access to clients is facilitated by our two campus-based clinics (a Paediatric Speech and Language Clinic and the North East Aphasia Centre) both of which are run in collaboration with local NHS Trusts.
Our PhD completion rates have been excellent, with significant increase in MSc and PhD student numbers. A main objective for CRiLLS is ensuring graduate programmes benefit from substantial cohort staff supervision and expertise irrespective of the School.
The University's Robinson Library supports our research, by employing one of the most vigorous in acquisitions in the UK. It has excellent collections in relevant areas, and staff and students have on-line access to a comprehensive range of LLS journals and databases.
In addition CRiLLS provides a very successful annual cross-School conference, visiting speaker seminars, the Newcastle Postgraduate Conference in Theoretical and Applied Linguistics (AHRC funded in 2007) the ‘Distinguished Lectures in Linguistics’ series and collaboration with prominent international conferences.
We provide robust support systems for our ECRs; they are assigned a mentor, given one teaching-free research day per week, enjoy a research leave scheme, and are have low teaching/administrative duties and responsibilities by concentrating teaching into one semester.
Schools have a Research Committee responsible for monitoring research achievements, and ensuring that they adequately resourced. They also act as a channel for the implementation of University and Faculty policies, mentoring of early career academic and research staff, and interaction between Schools and the University’s Research Institutes/Centres.