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Student Testimonials

The role of regional and social variation in speech processing: participant recruitment and speech annotation

Participating in the Research Experience Scheme has been a really valuable experience to have during my final year at Leeds. It has given me insight into the experimental process which I would have not gotten otherwise. Prior to being involved in the scheme, I hadn’t given a great deal of consideration to how research is conducted (despite reading plenty of research papers throughout my degree), for example I didn’t realise how the recruitment process can be more difficult than you might think, especially if your study requires a very specific kind of participant! It also provided a great opportunity to extend my knowledge of Praat outside of what is taught in core modules and learn how to use a forced-aligner which I didn’t know existed before. Overall, participating in the RES has shown me that research is a lot more fun than I’d initially thought and it’s very rewarding knowing that I’ve contributed to a real study in some way. As an extra bonus it also enabled me to develop skills that employers look for such as time management and organisational skills, which are always useful.

Abigail Folmer, Year 3, BA Linguistics and Phonetics

 

Coding children’s responses on tests of language ability

I thoroughly enjoyed participating in the Research Experience Scheme, finding it beneficial to my degree in many ways. Our main task was to accurately code data from videos of 4-year-old children completing various subtests from the CELF test of language ability using an Excel spreadsheet. We came across some technical difficulties along the way but these tested our problem solving skills and reflected the unpredictable nature of research. It was a great chance to develop skills valued by employers such as working as a team and time management as well as to find out what conducting research is really like and the ‘behind the scenes’ processes that are involved. I would definitely recommend the scheme, it is an enjoyable and rewarding experience as well as an invaluable opportunity to enhance your degree and gain an interesting insight into the research field that I would not have otherwise gained.

Katie Gascoigne, Year 1, BA English Language and Linguistics

The project I worked on briefly will take 3 years to complete and thousands of hours of work.  Much of that work is seemingly mundane and repetitive, but despite constant attention to detail is necessary.  Having to make decisions about how to interpret the child’s responses in the context of their developing language abilities, and doing this fairly and consistently was one of the challenges of being involved. What was most illuminating about taking part in the scheme was to get an insight into the process of how research is conducted.  Sometimes for an undergraduate assignment we read a 10-page research article, but I had never realised what an epic task it was doing the actual work to create those 10 pages of findings. Overall, it was a really positive experience, and I hope to get a chance in the future to contribute to something similar.

Jonathan Turner, Year 1, BA Linguistics and Phonetics

 

The Linguistic Survey of India

The main advantage of undertaking the Linguistic Research Experience was that it gave me skills to highlight to employers. For example, with it being independent of your degree it shows you are enthusiastic and self-motivated. My main task was to research the Linguistics department’s copy of The Linguistic Survey of India. An outline of the project was put in place and it was my own responsibility to achieve the targets. Part of my role involved contacting and questioning those who held information relevant to the research. This involved cold contacting leads; one interaction was an interview with a former head of department which I arranged and organised myself. It allows you to be more of a part of the Linguistics department and I would recommend it to anyone.

David Halliday, Year 2, BA Linguistics and Phonetics

David’s supervisor Dr Diane Nelson adds:

David did a great job with this project. He discovered original annotations and a signature by Daniel Jones, the original owner of the survey, considered by many to be the founder of modern phonetics in Britain. This makes the department’s copy of the Linguistic Survey of India a volume of historical importance.

 

Eye tracking whilst speaking

Taking part in the Research Experience Scheme as a research assistant was a beneficial way to finish my second year studying Linguistics and Spanish. I was very keen to see how the eye tracking software was going to be used when testing linguistic theories, since some of the recent 2014 graduates told me that they used advanced software on the scheme, then went on to use it in their own dissertation investigations.

As a research assistant I shadowed data collection using an eye tracker, making transcriptions of the recorded adult control group data, and checking the data for relevant adjectives to describe the differences between objects. Once the data was collected, I derived descriptive statistics from a prepared format. This was challenging due to the number of necessary processes in MS Excel. However, it was rewarding to test my own hypotheses about the data looking from the preliminary results. This was complemented by pen & paper linguistic competency tests and was a very interesting process. I enjoyed Cat’s explanation of the research aims and methods after performing a trial run.

This is an excellent progression from the Faculty of Arts Research Module where I collected data from the M&S Company Archive on campus. The data collection methods there were based on archive written data, as opposed to transcribing spoken data.

I would definitely recommend this scheme for anyone interested in how linguistic research is conducted. It is a great opportunity to see how results are collected, or even to become more familiar with the department itself (and the research it does) in preparation for final year projects. 

Samuel Ehrenstein, Year 2,  BA Linguistics and Spanish

 

Testing the acceptability of noun-noun compounds

How the RES changed my understanding of academic work

I am currently in my first year of a single honours Linguistics & Phonetics programme  and the purpose of one of my compulsory modules is to introduce new students to the process of setting up and conducting a research project in a strictly academic environment and complying with all the rules and expectations of the scientific context. Although I thought I understood the process, I only got a real insight into this process after taking part in the Research Experience Scheme. Helping Dr. Cecile De Cat with part of her research project on noun-noun compounds has really enabled me to see the process of handling a research project and I learned a lot, especially about the ethics and principles of it. I had to design a survey with the questions she had already prepared according to the needs of her project and along the way I was hindered by several issues. Some of them were:

  • How familiar should the people taking the survey be with the purpose of the project so as to not give biased answers but still use their answers in an ethically correct manner?
  • How do I make sure that the informants are really native speakers as is required by the project?
  • Is it necessary to write all questions if people are more likely to take the survey if it were short?

I also drew some conclusions which will definitely be very helpful for any future research projects I may take part in, like:

  • The entire survey is guided by the scientific method.
  • The entire survey has to comply with the expectations of academic writing and be written in strictly academic style and include citations where necessary.
  • Being a researcher is a job which requires not only consistent knowledge in the area but also a lot of creativity.

I think this has been a very beneficial experience for me and I am glad I took part in the RES, because it has made me consider many issues linked with the process of researching, but it has also helped me see that it is not so scary at all but rather quite a lot of fun!

Bissera Ivanova, Year 2, BA Linguistics and Phonetics

 

Dislocated Topics in Hostile Environments

My participation in the Research Experience Scheme in the department of Linguistics and Phonetics has confirmed for me my desire to pursue a research career after graduation. Through the scheme, there are frequent opportunities to work with academics in all sub-disciplines on research projects. Working with Dr De Cat on the Dislocated Topics in Hostile Environments project has given me a wonderful insight into how the research process operates ‘in the wild’. Having developed and conducted an investigation that will inform future publications puts me at a distinct advantage in my MA applications. It has been really exciting to work with the academics in the department on their own projects, and to see the other side of the work that they do that isn’t always that obvious to undergraduates.

I have relished having the opportunity to demonstrate the skills that I have developed throughout my degree, and put them to constructive use. My involvement in the Scheme has led to contribution to elements of other projects that are being conducted in the department, and I now plan to work with Dr De Cat in the summer on a self-directed project to develop a tool-kit to make this kind of data-gathering easier and faster. I think that participating in this scheme has really enhanced my degree, giving an extra facet that graduate employers and postgraduate admissions tutors seek.

Joe Rodd, Year 3, BA Linguistics and Phonetics

 

The Integration of Speech and Gesture in Communication Development

I’ve had a great experience working on the research project for Hannah Sowden and Cat Davies. It completely met my expectations and allowed me to develop some invaluable research skills. The RES scheme provided me with experience of recruiting participants and running an experiment in empirical conditions, I was given sole responsibility to do this and it was nice to be able to complete it with my own schedule. It also gave me lots of practice of explaining an experimental format to participants and providing a clear debrief at the end. In return for helping with the project, Hannah has helped me use experimental software for my dissertation project, and also gave me a tutorial in pivot tables and statistical analysis using SPSS. As a result of the RES scheme, I have managed to secure more work experience on other research projects that the department are running.

Clare Lally, Year 3, BA Linguistics and Phonetics