Personal statement
I joined Strathclyde in 2005 as a teaching fellow in Speech and Language Therapy with responsibility for the teaching of Clinical Phonetics and Phonology. I currently provide all Phonetics teaching alongside Clinical Linguistics (pragmatics, semantics, grammar, sociolinguistics).
My research interests involve collaborations with QMU and University of Glasgow in the areas of speech production and accent variation and change. In particular I am interested in the fine detailed articulation patterns of speech production in children with Down's syndrome and the application of articulatory techniques such as EPG and Ultrasound for intervention and teaching.
I am also interested in the application of technology and social media for teaching, learning and assessment. Further interests include the use of online techniques for the learning and teaching of phonetics skills, and the importance of public engagement within Speech and Language Therapy.
I am currently the Course Leader for the BSc Speech and Language Pathology programme.
Teaching
I am module leader and lecturer for the following:
B6118 Clinical Phonetics and Phonology
B6119 Anatomy and Physiology for Speech and Language Pathology 2
B6117: Linguistics 1 Introduction to Language and Communication
B6235: Linguistics 2 Clinical Phonetics and Linguistics
B6340: Linguistics 3 Sociolinguistics, Multilingualism and Speech Acoustics
I also provide supervision for 4th year undergraduate dissertations.
Research interests
My research interests have two separate strands. The first involves the investigation of specific articulation patterns in the discordered speech patterns in children with Down's syndrome. The second is concerned with the accent changes in the Glaswegian accent, and the contribution of media in these changes.
Professional activities
- Is anyone listening? An investigation of student engagement with course-related social media content
- Speaker
- 9/1/2019
- Current issues in the teaching of clinical phonetics
- Contributor
- 23/10/2018
- International Clinical Phonetics & Linguistics Association Conference
- Participant
- 23/10/2018
- External Examining
- Examiner
- 1/10/2018
- Clinical Phonetics Teaching Network (External organisation)
- Advisor
- 1/1/2018
- Explorathon 2017
- Participant
- 29/9/2017
More professional activities
Projects
- Evaluating the extent to which the Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCEs) impact on future student placement development
- Cohen, Wendy (Principal Investigator) Timmins, Claire (Co-investigator)
- When designing the current BSc (Hons) in Speech and Language Pathology, OSCEs were identified as having a role at a specific stage in student development. Using the Scottish Curriculum Qualifications Framework (SCQF, 2012) as a skills’ benchmark, there was a clear description in two skill sets (Practice, applied knowledge and understanding; Communication) at levels 8 and 9 of the framework that corresponded to 2nd and 3rd year level of undergraduate study in Scotland. Four specific clinical skills were identified as suitable for OSCE and these were introduced into the curriculum in academic session 2015/16. Each task was intrinsically linked to a specific skill that would be developed during the 2nd year clinical placement with class based support activities. The OSCEs were then timetabled to take place during the summer examination diet for 2nd year students. Student feedback has been positive since the introduction of the OSCEs, with students commenting on aspects related to their relevance to clinical practice, their understanding of what the OSCEs were assessing, parity across the cohort and the value of constructive feedback for future learning (Cohen & Timmins, 2017). External examiners have also commended the course team on the introduction of the OSCEs.
Recent studies have explored OSCEs from the learners’ perspective and in particular from the field of nursing. Nursing students have reported that OSCEs lead to increased self-directed learning and increased self-confidence (Ha, 2016) and that the constructive feedback learners receive contribute positively to their future learning and development.
The extent to which speech and language therapy students can implement the skills they have demonstrated during their 2nd year OSCEs has not been evaluated and this study proposes to undertake this type of evaluation. By sampling, anonymously, the current 3rd year SLP cohort, who have successfully completed their OSCEs it is hoped that we can understand whether or not students have been able to implement these skills successfully in practice. Through additional discussion with the clinical tutors who provide guidance and support to these students as they progress through their subsequent 3rd year placement we hope to understand more about the effect that OSCEs have on future student learning and development.
- 24-Jan-2018 - 31-Jan-2019
- Fine phonetic variation and sound change: A real-time study of Glaswegian (also Sounds of the City)
- Stuart-Smith, Jane (Principal Investigator) Timmins, Claire (Co-investigator)
- 01-Jan-2011 - 01-Jan-2014
- An online Ultrasound Tongue Imaging resource for Phonetics, Linguistics, and Speech Therapy teaching at Scottish Universities (Seeing Speech)
- Stuart-Smith, Jane (Principal Investigator) Timmins, Claire (Co-investigator) Scobbie, James (Co-investigator) Turk, Alice (Co-investigator) Durham, Mercedes (Co-investigator) Beavan, Dave (Co-investigator) Barras, Will (Co-investigator)
- This online resource is a product of the collaboration between researchers at five Scottish Universities: The University of Glasgow, Queen Margaret University Edinburgh, the University of Strathclyde, the University of Edinburgh and the University of Aberdeen. The resource will provide teachers and students of Practical Phonetics with synchronised ultrasound video, audio and 2D/3D diagrams of modelled speech and spontaneous speech (drawn from collected UTI and MRI corpora).
The website can be accessed at: http://www.seeingspeech.arts.gla.ac.uk/uti/ - 01-Jan-2011 - 20-Jan-2013
More projects
Address
Speech and Language Therapy
Graham Hills Building
Graham Hills Building
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