vCardProf. Florence Myles

Prof. Florence Myles
Director, Centre for Research in Linguistics and Language Sciences (CRiLLS)

  • Email: Florence.Myles@ncl.ac.uk
  • Telephone: +44 (0)191 222 7483
  • Address: School of Modern Languages
    Room 5.3, Old Library Building
    University of Newcastle
    Newcastle upon Tyne
    NE1 7RU
    UK

Research Interests

My research interests are in the area of Second Language Acquisition, especially of French. I am particularly interested in morphosyntactic development, and in theory-building in the field. An underlying thread of all my work has been the development of theories of language learning and their empirical implications, and I am very interested in the interface between linguistic theory and processing in second language acquistion.
Recently, I have developed expertise in the use of ICT to assist second language acquisition research. I have directed a number of research projects funded by the AHRC and ESRC whose aim has been to construct an electronic database of French learner language oral corpora, containing a range of corpora from complete beginners to final year undergraduates, available on the web to the research community (www.flloc.soton.ac.uk). A similar database of Spanish Oral Learner Language is currently under construction (www.splloc.soton.ac.uk)

Other Expertise

Another research interest of mine is the development of criticality in university students, and I was co-director of a recent ESRC-funded project (2002-04) investigating this development in Modern Languages and Social Work Studies undergraduates (www.soton.ac.uk/~critical/index.htm).

Current Work

I am currently working on a book about the development of French in classroom learners, and I continue to develop FLLOC and SPLLOC, the French and Spanish Learner Language Oral Corpora databases, as well as the computerised procedures for the analysis of learner language data.

Selected Publications

More Publications

Projects

Future Research

I am planning to put together a project investigating foreign language learning in primary schools, and analysing the differences in the language acquisition process in learners of different ages.

Research Roles

I am Director of the Centre for Research in Linguistics and Language Sciences (CRiLLS; www.ncl.ac.uk/linguistics) and I am a member of the research committee of the School of Modern Languages. I have directed many research projects over the past few years.

Postgraduate Supervision

II have recently supervised 14 research students: a Universal Grammar based analysis of morphosyntactic development in French as a foreign language; a study of the role of native speaker / non-native speaker interaction in the undergraduate conversation class; an investigation of computer-assisted task-based learning in Spanish undergraduates; a study of web-based activities in the Spanish undergraduate classes; a study of interlanguage pragmatics in German L2; an investigation of the acquisition of verb-raising in French L2; a study of the role of anxiety in Chinese learners of English; an investigation of primary foreign language teaching in Kuweit; a study of cross-cultural issues in Chinese/English film subtitling; an investigation of grammatical development in L2 Mandarin Chinese; a study of the role of home-reading in L2 learning; a study of input enhancement in L2 German; a study of the role of working memory in L2 acquisition; an investigation of the cross-linguistic L2 acquisition of aspect.

Esteem Indicators

I am currently Vice-President of EUROSLA, and I was President of the AFLS (Association for French Language Studies; www.afls.net)
between 2004 and 2007.
I am Editor of the Journal of French Language Studies (CUP), and I am on the Editorial Board of Second Language Research, of the Revue Française de Linguistique Appliquée and of the EUROSLA Yearbook.
Member of the Linguistics Specialist group of the LTSN Subject Centre for Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies (2004 - )
Member of the Linguistics Strategy Group (national body comprising executive officers of the main linguistics associations in the UK)
I was a member of the QAA Benchmarking Group for Linguistics, and I have recently been external examiner in 10 universities (Undergraduate, Postgraduate and PhD programmes).

Funding

British Academy Studentship (MA and PhD)

Research awards:

ESRC
- Linguistic development of classroom learners of French (2001-2002)www.regard.ac.uk
- Development of criticality among undergraduates in two academic disciplines (2002-2004, with R. Mitchell, B Johnston and P. Ford)www.soton.ac.uk/~critical/index.htm
- Development of classroom language learning oral corpus (2002-2003, with R. Mitchell) www.regard.ac.uk
- Linguistic development in L2 Spanish: creation and analysis of a learner corpus (2006-2008; with R. Mitchell, Southampton and E. Marsden, York) www.splloc.soton.ac.uk
- The emergence and development of the tense-aspect system in L2 Spanish (August 2008- January 2010; with L. Dominguez and R Mitchell, Southampton)

AHRC
- French interlanguage corpora (2003-2004) www.flloc.soton.ac.uk
- The structure of French interlanguage: a corpus-based study (2005-2008; with R. Mitchell, Southampton) www.flloc.soton.ac.uk

Minor grants, e.g. British Academy Conference Attendance grant, Southampton University small grant etc.

Background

I was born in France, and I graduated from the University of Sheffield with a PhD in Second Language Acquisition in 1990, after completing an MA in French Language and Linguistics. I was appointed to a Lectureship in French at the University of Southampton in 1989, and promoted to a Senior Lectureship in 2000. I was Head of Linguistics at the University of Southampton from 1999 onwards. I took up the post of Professor of French Linguistics at the University of Newcastle in October 2004, and I am currently Director of the Centre for Research in Linguistics and Language Sciences (CRiLLS; www.ncl.ac.uk/linguistics) which regroups over 40 academics working in linguistics across the University.
I was President of the AFLS from 2003 to 2007 (Association for French Language and Linguistics, www.afls.net), and I am currently Vice-President of EUROSLA (European Second Language Association, eurosla.org)

Roles and Responsibilities

Director of the Centre for Research in Linguistics and Language Sciences (CRiLLS; www.ncl.ac.uk/linguistics)
Deputy Head of School, Modern Languages
Member of the Advisory Board, School of Modern Languages
Member of the Research Committee, School of Modern Languages
Co-Director, MA in Linguistics and Language Acquisition
Member of Humanities and Social Sciences Faculty Appointment Board

RAE Specail Advisor
Vice-President, European Second Language Association
Appointed by the AERES (Agence pour l'Evaluation de la Recherche et de l'Enseignement Supérieur ; government funded body charged with the evaluation of Research in France, roughly equivalent to RAE)
Member of Specialist Advisory Group for Linguistics, Subject Centre for Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies
Member of national Linguistics Strategy Group
Member of AFLS Research Committee (Association for French Language Studies)
Member of Editorial Board of Second Language Research (Arnold); 2006 -Member of Editorial Board, EUROSLA Yearbook, John Benjamins (2004 -)Member of Editorial Board, Revue Française de Linguistique Appliquée(2007 - )

Qualifications

BA (Hons) French Language and Literature, 1984, University of Sheffield
MA French Language and Linguistics, 1985, University of Sheffield
PhD French Second Language Acquisition, 1990, University of Sheffield

Previous Positions

1984-1989: Teaching Assistant, University of Sheffield

1987: Visiting Lecturer, Sheffield Polytechnic

1989 – 2004: Lecturer, then Senior Lecturer in French and Linguistics, School of Modern Languages, University of Southampton, Head of Linguistics since 1999.

Memberships

Member of AFLS (Association for French Language and Linguistics; President 2003-7; currently member of Research Committee)
Member of BAAL (British Association for Applied Linguistics)
Member of EUROSLA (European Second Language Association; Currently Vice-President)
Member of QAA benchmarking committee for linguistics (2000-2001)
Member of Specialist Advisory Group for Linguistics, Subject Centre for Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies
Member of national Linguistics Strategy Group

Honours and Awards

British Academy Studentship (MA and PhD)

Research awards:

ESRC
- Linguistic development of classroom learners of French (2001-2002)www.regard.ac.uk
- Development of criticality among undergraduates in two academic disciplines (2002-2004, with R. Mitchell, B Johnston and P. Ford)www.soton.ac.uk/~critical/index.htm
- Development of classroom language learning oral corpus (2002-2003, with R. Mitchell) www.regard.ac.uk
- Linguistic development in L2 Spanish: creation and analysis of a learner corpus (2006-2008; with R. Mitchell, Southampton and E. Marsden, York) www.splloc.soton.ac.uk/index.html

AHRC
- French interlanguage corpora (2003-2004) www.flloc.soton.ac.uk
- The structure of French interlanguage: a corpus-based study (2005-2008; with R. Mitchell, Southampton) www.flloc.soton.ac.uk

Undergraduate Teaching

I teach or contribute to a number of modules in general and French linguistics in the SML.

Postgraduate Teaching

I am module leader for Research Methodology in Language Acquisition; Introduction to Language Acquisition; Cross-linguistic L2 syntax.