Directory of Experts
Details for Dr Talia Isaacs
| Personal details | |||
| Name | Dr Talia Isaacs | ||
| Job title | Research Fellow |
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| Department | School of Education University of Bristol |
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| Personal web page | http://www.bristol.ac.uk/education/people/talia-isaacs/index.html | ||
| Contact details | This expert can be contacted via the University of Bristol Public Relations
Office. To help us deal with your request, please mention the Directory of Experts when contacting the Public Relations Office. work+44 (0)117 331 8092 email: public-relations@bristol.ac.uk |
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| Qualifications | BA, MA, PhD (McGill University), PgCert (Bristol) | ||
| Professional details | |||
| Membership of professional bodies | American Association of Applied Linguistics Association of Language Testers in Europe British Association for Applied Linguistics Canadian Association of Language Assessment - Founding Member European Association for Language Testing and Assessment - Expert Member International Association of Applied Linguistics International Association of Qualitative Inquiry - Founding Member International Language Testing Association |
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| Keywords | applied linguistics educational assessment second language acquisition foreign accents intelligible pronunciation oral communication language tests social integration |
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| Areas of expertise | My research centres on the assessment of second language speaking and listening, with a focus on examining oral communication breakdowns and strategies in workplace and academic settings. Taken together, my currently funded projects investigate how communicative efficiency is mediated by listener perceptual and attitudinal variables, with the overall goal of reducing language barriers and improving newcomers' oral communication skills to facilitate their social integration. |
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| Languages (other than English) |
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| Media experience | - 2014 BBC Somerset interview on UK regional accents - Results of "Bilingualism: Language & Cognition" paper (2012, with P. Trofimovich) were reported by Canadian media outlets, including the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) and Radio Canada International (French language interview). Topic: Teasing apart the aspects of speech that, while noticeable or irritating, do not impede listeners' understanding of foreign accented speech versus those that genuinely interfere with communication - Interview with Boni Sones (OBE) following the invited seminar "How do examiners reach judgements?" at Cambridge Assessment. Topic: Individual differences in raters' musical ability, phonological memory, and attention control and effects on their judgements of second language speech |
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