Professor Peter Garrett

Research

I research in sociolinguistics and the social psychology of language. I am particularly interested in the evaluative and attitudinal fields of language and communication. These include attitudes to language; persuasive communication and attitude change; and perceptions, evaluations and attitudes in intergenerational communication across the lifespan.

I have co-directed an ESRC-funded project investigating attitudinal and performance effects of mother-tongue use in bilingual education, and have also co-directed a funded research project on language attitudes in Wales.

On the Leverhulme-funded Language and Global Communication project at CLCR, my research included work on global attitudes to English, and comparing public perceptions of globalisation in different parts of the world. It also included research in the ‘Wales, Language and Globalisation’™ strand of the project.

In the period 2009-2012, I was conducting collaborative research with colleagues in Spain (Professor Josep M. Cots, University of Lleida, and Professor David Lasagabaster, University of the Basque Country). This was a project funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, entitled: Internationalisation and multilingualism in universities in bilingual contexts: Catalonia, The Basque Country, and Wales.

Since then, I have been researching with colleagues at the Universitat de Lleida and Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya on a follow-on project funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, entitled Interculturality, European citizenship and English as a Lingua Franca: between policies and practices in the international mobility programmes of universities.

I also participate in SLICE (Standard Language in Contemporary Europe). This is a consortium of European countries researching the different histories of language standardisation in different contexts, and contemporary moves away from and/or revisions of linguistic normativity, both in general spoken usage and in media contexts. SLICE is administered through the Copenhagen University LANCHART Centre (Danish National Research Foundation Centre for Language Change in Real Time) - http://lanchart.hum.ku.dk

Biography

I have been at the Centre for Language and Communication Research (CLCR) at Cardiff University since 1994. Prior to that, I was a lecturer in the Linguistics Department at Bangor University, during which time I was a co-founder of the Association for Language Awareness, and of its journal Language Awareness, now published by Taylor and Francis.

I was Editor of the journal Language Awareness from 1993 to 2008, and am currently on the Editorial Boards of Sintagma Journal of Linguistics, and Vigo International Journal of Applied Linguistics.

I have co-directed and researched in a number of funded research projects, including the Leverhulme Trust funded Language and Global Communication research programme carried out at CLCR between 2001 and 2006.

From 2009 to 2012, I was co-holder of a research grant from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation for a three-year project entitled Internationalisation and Multilingualism in Universities in Bilingual Contexts: Catalonia, The Basque Country and Wales. From 2013, I have been working on a new (follow-up) project funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, entitled Interculturality, European citizenship and English as a Lingua Franca: between policies and practices in the international mobility programmes of universities.

I also participate in SLICE (Standard Language in Contemporary Europe). This is a consortium of European countries researching the different histories of language standardisation in different contexts, and contemporary moves away from and/or revisions of linguistic normativity, both in general spoken usage and in media contexts. SLICE is administered through the Copenhagen University LANCHART Centre (Danish National Research Foundation Centre for Language Change in Real Time) - http://lanchart.hum.ku.dk

I was Visiting Professor at the University of Lleida (Catalonia) in the autumn semester of 2011. In the autumn semester of 2012, I was Visiting Professor at the University of Barcelona, and teaching postgraduate seminar courses in Language Attitudes at the University of the Basque Country and the University of Barcelona. In the autumn semester of 2014, I was Visiting Professor at Copenhagen University.

I am a member of the Economic and Social Research Council Peer Review College for the evaluation of research grant applications in Linguistics.

I am an Honorary Committee Member of the Association for Language Awareness.

Qualifications

2000: PhD (Language and Communication) Cardiff University, Cardiff, Wales, UK

1984: MA (Applied Linguistics) Bangor University, Bangor, Wales, UK

1983: PGCE (TESL) Bangor University, Wales, UK

1973: BScEcon London University, London, UK

Professional memberships

Honorary Committee Member of the Association for Language Awareness (ALA)

Founder member of the Association for Language Awareness (ALA)