Professor Kay Richardson Ph.D.

I teach a second year module called English Voices which focuses on public speaking.

In the English Department at Liverpool (also located in the School of the Arts) it is possible to study face to face spoken communication using language (i.e., private conversation). My own teaching focus tends more towards speech in performance - public speaking (speeches, lectures, comedy gigs), and always include the paralinguistic and kinesic aspects of performance as well as its linguistic aspects. Public speaking ties in better with a media studies context.

This module includes sufficient training in the phonological properties of English to allow students to identify one or two salient phonological forms of different British accents, and to talk in an informed way about rhyme effects in crafted public discourse. Beyond this, students learn how to talk about rhythm, intonation and voice qualities in speech, to relate body language to vocal delivery and to consider both vocal and non-vocal rhetorical qualities of public discourse. The module culminates when students prepare case studies of particular performances by particular speakers, touching on every aspect of what the module has covered.

I teach a third year module called Literacy and society, which focuses on the forms, uses and contexts of written language.

This is an eclectic module, but here are some of the things that students do. In relation to the forms of written language, students look at how different technological resources give rise to different written genres (e.g., emails versus traditional letters and postcards). In relation to the uses of written language, students take a critical view of PowerPoint as a resource for the communication of ideas in written form. In relation to the contexts of written language, students consider whether different social subcultures within the same society relate to written texts in different ways. On this module, graffiti is just as much of interest as published academic articles.