Research about how we pronounce a second language isn’t new, but John Levis wants to increase its visibility. So he’s getting a few more people involved.
Levis, an associate professor of applied linguistics, is the editor of a new international scholarly publication hosted by Iowa State University. The Journal of Second Language Pronunciation is the first of its kind, and gives a “scholarly face” to a growing research field.
The journal will be devoted to research on how second language learners develop the pronunciation of their new languages. Levis said pronunciation development is key to understanding other aspects of language learning.
“It has taken a number of decades for research into pronunciation to build back into a major research field,” Levis said, noting that pronunciation research practically came to a halt in the 1960s. “As a quickly growing research field, studies are quantitative, qualitative, and pedagogically focused.”
Levis said with such growing interest, he anticipates rapid new developments.
“I’m excited to see pronunciation play a visible and influential role in applied linguistics research. I think the journal will spark a greater increase in research into second language pronunciation, both in the journal and in other journals that help address this area,” Levis said.
The idea for the journal emerged from “Pronunciation in Second Language Learning and Teaching,” an annual conference at Iowa State. Last year, the conference attracted more than 120 people from 16 different countries.
The journal is also backed by a diverse editorial advisory board, comprised of scholars from 10 countries. The Journal will be published twice annually by John Benjamins Publishing, an international publisher of books and journals in applied linguistics. The first edition is expected to print in early 2015.
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Contact: John Levis, Linguistics, (515) 294-7524, jlevis@iastate.edu Katherine Marcheski, klmarch@iastate.edu Steve Jones, Liberal Arts and Sciences Communications, (515) 294-0461, jones@iastate.edu