The Committee on the Committee
Compiled and edited by Jean-Marc Dewaele
Henriëtte Hendriks
1) What languages do you use?
Dutch to speak with my family and friends in the Netherlands; English for work and at work; French, for work, with some colleagues, and for fun; German, at the moment mainly with friends and for the fun of it; Polish, with friends (not very fluently, though); and Chinese (again, not very fluently) when in China and occasionally with Chinese students here at work. I use all of the above in research and for examples in teaching.
2) What languages do you usually dream in?
At the moment probably in English, but it does differ, as far as I know, depending who else / what else is in my dreams.
3) Where do you work?
At the Research Centre for English and Applied Linguistics at the University of Cambridge, UK.
4) What are your research areas?
First and second language acquisition and the comparison of the two, using the discourse level as primary level of comparison.
5) What would you consider to be your three best publications?
Hickmann, M., & Hendriks, H. (2006) Static and dynamic location in French and English. First Language, 26, 1, 103-135.
Hendriks, H. (2003) The use of nouns in reference maintenance: the seeming contradiction in adult second language acquisition. In (Ed.) A. Giacalone Ramat. Typology and Second Language Acquisition. Berlin: Mouton De Gruyter. Pp. 291-326.
Hendriks, H. (2000) The acquisition of topic marking in Chinese L1 and French L1 and L2. Studies of Second Language Acquisition: Special Issue on the structure of learner varieties, 22.3, 369-398.
6) Do you have hobbies outside Second Language Acquisition?
Yes. Music in general: pianoplaying; singing. Walking along the beech. Travelling (when for fun!). Photography.
7) What are your three favorite books?
At the moment: The Kite Flyer; All time: Kruistocht in spijkerbroek (Crusade in jeans) (by Thea Beckman); ik had een wapenbroeder (Maarten 't Hart).
8) Three favorite films?
The Children's Hour (William Wyler); Notting Hill (Roger Michell); The Muppets go to Hollywood (Stan Harris).
9) Three favorite composers?
Preisner; Bach; Karl Jenkins
10) Three favorite dishes?
Beijing duck (when in Beijing); Gu lao rou (when in Hangzhou); Zuurkool met unox rookworst (definitely in Eindhoven).
11) Three favorite applied linguists?
.......
12) Do you think your SLA research could have political and social implications?
Definitely, if only I could manage to make the relevant people listen to me long enough ...
13) What is it you like most about EUROSLA?
Openness to variation of approaches presented. And the fact that they are held in Europe (shorter travel times!).
14) How many EUROSLA conferences have you attended?
Probably about 10
15) What is your fondest memory of an episode at a EUROSLA conference?
I may have to keep that one to myself really ...
Jean-Marc Dewaele
1) What languages do you use?
Dutch with my wife and friends in Flanders and the Netherlands; English with colleagues, students, neighbours and most friends; French with Livia, with my parents and with some friends and colleagues; Spanish when I’m in Spain or watching films in that language, I’m not very fluent but I manage simple conversations and reading the newspaper.
2) What languages do you usually dream in?
English, French and Dutch depending on fluctuating language activation levels
3) Where do you work?
What used to be Virginia’s Woolf back-kitchen in the Department of Applied Linguistics, Birkbeck, University of London. It’s an evening college, so we only have mature students, and it leaves time during the day to do research and prepare classes (between 6 pm to 9 pm), typically two evenings a week.
4) What are your research areas?
Individual differences in second language production and in multilingual contexts. Psychological variables, sociolinguistic and sociopragmatic competence, multilingualism and emotion.
5) What would you consider to be your three best publications?
Dewaele, J.-M. & D. Véronique (2001) Gender assignment and gender agreement in advanced French Interlanguage: A cross-sectional study. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 4, 3, 275-297.
Dewaele, J.-M. (2005) Investigating the psychological and the emotional dimensions in instructed language learning: Obstacles and possibilities. In L. Ortega (ed.) Reconceptualizing research on L2 learning across education contexts, Special issue of The Modern Language Journal 89, 3, 367-380.
Dewaele, J.-M., Petrides, K. & A. Furnham (to appear - 2008) The effects of trait emotional intelligence and sociobiographical variables on communicative anxiety and foreign language anxiety among adult multilinguals: A review and empirical investigation. Language Learning.
6) Do you have hobbies outside Second Language Acquisition?
Yes. Sailing, skiing, cycling, walking, karate, discovering new places and new food.
7) What are your three favorite books?
The Music of Chance (Paul Auster), Norwegian Woods (Haruki Murakami), Sous les vents de Neptune (Fred Vargas)
8) Three favorite films?
Wild at Heart (David Lynch); Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Ang Lee); Trois couleurs: bleu (Kieslowski)
9) Three favorite composers?
Bach, Mozart, Purcell
10) Three favorite dishes?
Fruits de mer, Sushi, steak tartare (raw meat with spices and sauces) with Belgian fries
11) Three favorite applied linguists?
Claire Kramsch, Aneta Pavlenko, William Labov
12) Do you think your SLA research could have political and social implications?
Yes. One important aspect of our research is to inform the general public and politicians about the complexity of foreign language teaching and possible ways to make this an enjoyable and successful experience for learners. I also feel that at a more abstract level we need to promote the openness of mind, the tolerance of linguistic, cultural and individual differences, and the sociocultural benefits of foreign language learning.
13) What is it you like most about EUROSLA?
The friendly atmosphere in which junior and senior researchers from all around the world, and from different theoretical and epistemological traditions, meet to discuss their findings.
14) How many EUROSLA conferences have you attended?
With the exception of EUROSLA 3 in Sofia, I’ve attended them all.
15) What is your fondest memory of an episode at a EUROSLA conference?
Conference dinners, especially the ones with dances. It’s great to lay aside the theoretical and methodological arguments and go wild on the dance floor! The ceilidh after the dinner in Edinburgh stands out: Mike Sharwood Smith in a beautiful kilt, everybody whirling around to Scottish tunes, and the powerful experience of forming a chain, singing Auld Sang Lyne: brilliant!
Camilla Bardel
1) What languages do you use?
Swedish, Italian, English (also some German and French occasionally)
2) What languages do you usually dream in?
I guess I dream in Swedish, my L1, but according to my husband I say things both in Swedish and in Italian in my sleep.
3) Where do you work?
Stockholm University , department for French, Italian and classical languages
4) What are your research areas?
Second language acquisition of Italian, lexical and syntactic influences in third language acquisition, the lexicon of the advanced L2 learner, lexicography.
5) What would you consider to be your three best publications?
Bardel, Camilla & Falk, Ylva (frth), "The role of the second language in third language acquisition: the case of Germanic syntax". Second Language Research 23, 4, 459-484.
Bardel, Camilla (2006), "La connaissance d'une langue étrangère romane favorise-t-elle l'acquisition d'une autre langue romane? Influences translinguistiques dans la syntaxe d'une L3". Acquisition et Interaction en Langue Étrangère 24, pp. 149-180.
Bardel, Camilla & Lindqvist, Christina (2007), "The role of proficiency and psychotypology in lexical cross-linguistic influence. A study of a multilingual learner of Italian L3", in Chini, M., Desideri, P. Favilla, M. E. & Pallotti, G. (eds), Atti del VI Congresso Internazionale dell'Associazione Italiana di Linguistica Applicata, Napoli, 9-10 febbraio 2006. Perugia : Guerra Editore, pp. 123-145.
6) Do you have hobbies outside Second Language Acquisition? Which?
I would like to say opera, cinema, literature, choir singing and a few other things that I don't have much time left for.
Is it OK to say eating good food and drinking good wine...? (-;
7) What are your three favorite books?
Master i Margarita (Michail Bulgakov)
I beati anni del castigo (Fleur Jeaggy)
L'eredità di Eszter (orig. title: Eszter hagyatéka by the Hungarian author Sándor Márai)
8) Three favorite films?
Witness (Peter Weir)
Il viaggio di Capitan Fracassa (Ettore Scola)
Starwars , Episode IV (George Lucas)
9) Three favorite composers?
Bach, Corelli, Verdi
10) Three favorite dishes?
Trofie al pesto, Farinata di grano, Risotto ai carciofi
11) Three favorite applied linguists?
Paul Bogaards; Judith Kroll; Nick Ellis
12) Do you think your SLA research could have political and social implications?
Hopefully, the SLA research that goes on in Sweden may have implications at the level of Swedish language education system and planning.
13) What is it you like most about EUROSLA?
Despite of the fascinating diversity of themes that are brought up at the conferences, most people are working with the same basic issues.
14) How many EUROSLA conferences have you attended?
Six. (Barcelona, Paris, Lund, Basel, Dubrovnik, Newcastle)
15) What is your fondest memory of an episode at a EUROSLA conference?
The Newcastle Squaredance.
David Singleton
1) What languages do you use? English, French, German, Polish (basic), Spanish (basic), plus numerous other "smatterings"
2) What languages do you usually dream in? English, Very occasionally French
3) Where do you work? Trinity College Dublin
4) What are your research areas? The age factor, cross-linguistic influence, the lexicon, multilingualism
5) What would you consider to be your three best publications?
Singleton, D. (1999) Exploring the second language mental lexicon. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, xviii + 341pp.
Singleton, D. & L. Ryan (2004) Language acquisition: the age factor, Second Edition, Clevedon, Multilingual Matters, viii + 289pp.
Singleton, D. (2005) The Critical Period Hypothesis: a coat of many colours, International Review of Applied Linguistics (IRAL) 43, 269-285.
6) Do you have hobbies outside Second Language Acquisition? Which? Making music, writing poetry
7) What are your three favorite books? Three of my favourites rather than my favourite three: Le Rouge et le noir, The Lord Of The Rings, The Sea
8) Three favorite films? Again three of my favourites rather than my favourite three: The Magnificent Seven (John Sturges), The Quiet American (Phillip Noyce), The Lives Of Others (Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck)
9) Three favorite composers? Palestrina, Tallis, Monteverdi
10) Three favorite dishes?
Stir-fried prawns with ginger and scallions, boeuf
bourgignon, couscous with spiced lamb
11) Three favorite applied linguists?
Far too numerous to mention
12) Do you think your SLA research could have political and social implications? Yes - especially the multilingualism stuff
13) What is it you like most about EUROSLA? The people
14) How many EUROSLA conferences have you attended? All of them
15) What is your fondest memory of an episode at a EUROSLA conference?
Falling hopelessly in love (also my most painful memory)
Florence
Myles1) What languages do you use? French and English
2) What languages do you usually dream in? It depends where I am in my dreams!
3) Where do you work? Newcastle University, in the North East of England
4) What are your research areas? Second Language Acquisition, especially of French
5) What would you consider to be your three best publications?
Mitchell, R. & Myles, F. (2004; 2nd edition): Second Language Learning Theories. London: Edward Arnold.
Myles, F. 2004: From data to theory: the over-representation of linguistic knowledge in Second Language Acquisition. In Hawkins, R. & Towell, R. (guest editors) Empirical evidence and theories of representation in current research into second language acquisition, Special Issue of Transactions of the Philological Society 102, pp. 139-168.
www.flloc.soton.ac.uk: this is an extensive database of oral L2 French (over 4 million words, beginners to advanced), with transcriptions and parts of speech tagging, downloadable from the website.
6) Do you have hobbies outside Second Language Acquisition? Which?
Walking, eating/cooking, cycling, reading, gardening
7) What are your three favorite books? This is too difficult a question! I have many favourite books!
8) Three favorite films? ditto
9) Three favorite composers? I am completely hopeless when it comes to music!
10) Three favorite dishes? Coquilles St Jacques; raie au beurre noir; homard à l'armoricaine and many more - and not just seafood ... (even after 29 years living in the UK, my French roots are clearly visible here!)
11) Three favorite applied linguists? (it's probably better not to
Roger Hawkins, Ros Mitchell, Richard Towell (in alphabetical order!)
12) Do you think your SLA research could have political and social implications? Any SLA research has political and social implications in a broad sense.
13) What is it you like most about EUROSLA? Its academic rigour coupled with its friendly and supportive atmosphere
14) How many EUROSLA conferences have you attended? 10
15) What is your fondest memory of an episode at a EUROSLA
conference? The never ending daylight in Jyvaskyla in June 1992, my first Eurosla conference, where I made many friends.
Carmen Muñoz
1) What languages do you use?
Catalan and Spanish every day. English as well, most days. I use French well and enjoy pretending I can use Italian.
2) What languages do you usually dream in?
I don't remember the language of dreams; only the images
3) Where do you work?
At the University of Barcelona
4) What are your research areas?
Individual differences and Age in particular; foreign language learning
5) What would you consider to be your three best publications?
Muñoz, C. (2006) The Effects of Age on Foreign Language Learning: The BAF Project. In C. Muñoz (ed.) Age and the Rate of Foreign Language Learning. Multilingual Matters.
Muñoz, C. (2007) Age-related differences and second language learning practice". In R. DeKeyser (ed.) Practice in a Second Language. Perspectives from Applied Linguistics and Cognitive Psychology. CUP
Muñoz, C. (forthcoming) Symmetries and asymmetries of age effects in naturalistic and instructed L2 learning". Applied Linguistics.
6) Do you have hobbies outside Second Language Acquisition?
swimming
7) What are your three favorite books?
I greatly enjoyed these books in different moments of my life:
Bearn by L. Villalonga
La vida exagerada de Martín Romaña by Bryce Echenique
El corazón helado by Almudena Grandes
8) Three favorite films?
Cinema Paradiso (Giuseppe Tornatore), El hijo de la novia (Juan José Campanella), The Lives of Others (Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck)
9) Three favorite composers?
Bach, Carles Santos, Joan Manuel Serrat
10) Three favorite dishes?
pa amb tomaquet i anxoves
espinacs a la catalana
Spanish omelette
11) Three favorite applied linguists?
.......
10) Do you think your SLA research could have political and social implications?
It does. Our work on the effects of age on EFL has had an impact on the media and teachers. Recently, I was summoned to a parliamentary session to talk about early learning of English.
11) What is it you like most about EUROSLA?
Friendly atmosphere together with high quality; right size
12) How many EUROSLA conferences have you attended? 10
13) What is your fondest memory of an episode at a EUROSLA
conference? See question 11.
Gabriele Pallotti
1) What languages do you use?
Italian and English. I make pathetic attempts at using French, German, Spanish. I used to be able to interact in Moroccan Arabic. And wherever I travel I buy a grammar, a dictionary and a phrasebook, which allowed me to speak a few sentences in Dutch, Turkish, Chinese, Portuguese etc., all forgotten a week later.
2) What languages do you usually dream in?
Normally Italian, but sometimes even in the languages I know the least, including a few dreams in (my extremely basic variety of) Turkish.
3) Where do you work?
In a small office under the roof, with a wall completely made of glass, which makes me feel like a fish in an aquarium.
4) What are your research areas?
Socialization and L2 acquisition, Interaction and conversation analysis, Interlanguage variation, Research methodology and epistemology
5) What would you consider to be your three best publications?
Pallotti, G. (1998). La seconda lingua. Milano: Bompiani,
Pallotti, G. (2007), “An operational definition of the emergence criterion”. Applied Linguistics, 28, 361-382.
Pallotti, G. (2005) “Variations situationnelles dans la construction des énoncés en L2: le cas des autorépétitions”. Acquisition et Interaction en Langue Etrangère, 22, 101-130.
6) Do you have hobbies outside Second Language Acquisition?
Cooking, eating and drinking with friends, hiking, growing my own vegetables all year round, reading.
7) What are your three favorite books?
Foucault's pendulum (U. Eco)
Montedidio (E. de Luca)
La fiesta del cibo (M. Vargas Llosa)
8) Three favorite films?
Querelle de Brest (Werner Fassbinder)
Black cat, white cat (Emir Kusturica)
The Rocky Horror Picture Show (Jim Sharman)
9) Three favorite composers?
Bach, Beethoven, Chico Cesar.
10) Three favorite dishes?
Extremely hard question, three hundred would have been easier. Let's say: risotto with osso buco, fabada asturiana, pasta with sardines and wild fennel.
11) Three favorite applied linguists?
Me, I and myself.
12) Do you think your SLA research could have political and
social implications?
Oh yes. Like making teachers understand that having them copy encyclopedias is not the best way for immigrant children to learn a second language.
13) What is it you like most about EUROSLA?
Its touch of anarchy.
14) How many EUROSLA conferences have you attended?
Seven
15) What is your fondest memory of an episode at a EUROSLA
conference?
A night swim in Dubrovnik, after and before drinking several glasses of travarica.
Martin Howard
1) What languages do you use? English and French
2) What languages do you dream in? That would be telling!
3) Where do you work? Department of French, University College, Cork, Ireland
4) What are your research areas? (Socio)linguistic variation in both L1 and L2 French; study abroad; tense and aspect; advanced learner, as well as minority language issues in Canada
5) What would you consider to be your three best publications?
Not really for me to say!
- (2007) Edited volume Language Issues in Canada. Multidisciplinary Perspectives published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing, for the individual chapters by the contributing authors
- (2006) Variation in advanced French interlanguage: A comparison of three (socio)linguistic variables. Canadian Modern Language Review / Revue canadienne des langues vivantes 62(3), 379-400
- (2005) The emergence and use of the ‘plus-que-parfait’ in advanced French interlanguage published in J-M Dewaele, (ed) Focus on French as a Foreign Language: Multidisciplinary Perspectives, Clevedon, Multilingual Matters [Second Language Acquisition Series 10] pp.63-87, for the positive comments the chapter has received in reviews of the book published so far.
6) Do you have hobbies outside Second Language Acquisition? Which?
Apart from meeting EUROSLA friends, travel, travel, and more travel.
7) What are your three favourite books? I especially like Canadian literature by francophone immigrant writers for their talent at writing in the language of the other.
8) Three favourite films? Difficult to restrict it to just three, but I generally prefer foreign language films.
9) Three favourite composers? Depends on my humour.
10) Three favourite dishes? Just three! – more a case of the authentic cuisine to be enjoyed in any country I’ve visited.
11) Three favourite applied linguists? For them to guess, and me to know!
12) Do you think your SLA research could have political and social implications? I would like to think that my work on Study Abroad provides some insights into international exchange programmes……
13) What is it you like most about EUROSLA? The participation of both younger and more established researchers, along with the diversity of high quality papers presented.
14) How many EUROSLA conferences have you attended? My first was the Dublin conference held in 1995 – I have attended 8 others since then.
15) What is your fondest memory of an episode at a EUROSLA conference? Each conference holds special memories, especially the wonderful colleagues one gets to meet each year.
Rebekah Rast
1) What languages do you use?
English, French, Spanish
2) What languages do you usually dream in?
It depends on who's in my dream. I sometimes dream in languages I don't know.
3) Where do you work?
The American University of Paris
4) What are your research areas?
The first seconds, minutes and hours of SLA.
5) What would you consider to be your three best publications?
My recently published book entitled Foreign Language Input: Initial Processing is at the top of the list.
6) Do you have hobbies outside Second Language Acquisition? Which?
Flute, saxophone, following bicycle races around Europe, hanging out on beaches with palm trees
7) What are your three favorite books?
War and Peace , Where the Wild Things Are, To Kill a Mockingbird
8) Three favorite films?
Too many to list, but until about 10 years ago, I claimed my favorite film was The Sound of Music. Woody Allen's Manhattan has now taken its place. Could this have anything to do with being an ex-pat?
9) Three favorite composers?
Bob Marley and Mozart
10) Three favorite dishes?
Linguini al anything, gigot d'agneau avec gratin dauphinois, buttermilk doughnuts
11) Three favorite applied linguists?
Clive Perdue for discussions about French politics, David Singleton for good laughs, Michael Sharwood Smith for trying to figure out the meaning of it all.
12) Do you think your SLA research could have political and social implications?
No doubt about it.
13) What is it you like most about EUROSLA?
The dinners.
14) How many EUROSLA conferences have you attended?
About 8.
15) What is your fondest memory of an episode at a EUROSLA conference?
Finding a secluded bar hidden behind Dubrovnik's city walls overlooking the Adriatic with tables and chairs balanced on large rocks and underwater lighting and the moon and drinking some sort of potent local alcohol with EUROSLA colleagues.