Staff Profile
Dr Nicole Whitworth
Lecturer
I am a hands-on interdisciplinary academic with experience in change management, strategy development, and strategy operationalisation. I have worked in formal and informal leadership roles with teams from a diverse range of disciplinary backgrounds, e.g. speech and language therapy, sociology, criminology, psychology, computing, and education. I have experience of working with external stakeholders such as professional bodies, e.g. Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists, the British Council, and Ofsted.
By background a phonetician and linguist, I hold a first class BA Hons and a PhD from the University of Leeds, and a PGCert in Higher Education from Leeds Beckett University where I am currently completing an MSc in Data Science. I have a proven track record of inclusive, student-centred teaching across phonetics, multilingualism, second language acquisition, and applied linguistics. I have over two decades of HE experience, consistently achieving >90% student satisfaction, and have led curriculum development at undergraduate and postgraduate levels, including MA TESOL. My research spans phonetic pedagogy, multilingualism, and computational linguistics, with successful leadership and collaboration on UK and EU-funded projects. I am an experienced PG Research supervisor.
- School – School of Education, Language and Psychology
- Email – n.whitworth@yorksj.ac.uk
- Research - View my work in RaY
Further information
Teaching
As a Lecturer in Linguistics and TESOL, I teach on modules in introductory linguistics, TESOL, multilingualism, and text analysis.
Courses I teach on:
- English Language and Linguistics BA (Hons)
- English Language, Linguistics and TESOL BA (Hons)
- TESOL MA
Modules:
- LAL6018M-A - TESOL: SECOND LANGUAGE TEACHING RESOURCES AND PRACTICES
- LAL5006M-A - ANALYSING TEXTS
- LAL4017M-A - INTRODUCTION TO LINGUISTICS AND MULTILINGUALISM
Research
My research area is in the acquisition of speech and speech production, focussing on vowels. I am particularly interested in how speech is acquired in multilingual populations and how accents affect the way individuals are perceived by others. I have recently devloped the prototype of a Python app for the acoustic analysis of vowels in clinical settings and am looking forward to developing this further. I also continue to research and publish on the pedagogy of teaching and learning clinical phonetics and linguistics.
Publications and conferences
Journal papers
Whitworth, N. (2024). Learning to Produce and Transcribe Cardinal Vowels: Speech and Language Therapy Students’ Perception of Task Difficulty. Clinical Linguistics and Phonetics. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699206.2024.2336252
Setter, J., Knight, R. & Whitworth N. (2023). Re-evaluating the assessment of phonetic skills: what we learned during the pandemic. Proceedings of the 20th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences, 7-11 August 2023.
Marshall, S., Hynan, A. & Whitworth, N. (2019). Perceptions of people who use AAC about the potential of speech-generating devices to express identity. Communication Matters Journal, 33(3), 38-40.
Whitworth, N. (2002). Speech rhythm production in three German-English bilingual families. Leeds Working Papers in Linguistics and Phonetics, 9, 175-205.
Whitworth, N. (2000). Acquisition of VOT, and vowel length by English-German bilinguals: A pilot study. Leeds Working Papers in Linguistics and Phonetics, 8.
Research reports
Tan, J., Whitworth, N. & Lander, V. (2022). Building Trust, Stepping Together: An evaluation of the online education work of Open Doors Education & Training with Gypsy, Roma & Traveller Communities. https://www.odet.org.uk/content/downloads/ODET-CRED-Building-Trust-Report-November-2022.pdf.
Willott, J., Whitworth, N. & Hann, N. (2022). ESOL needs analysis and placement for refugee learners: a toolkit for providers. Migration Yorkshire. https://www.migrationyorkshire.org.uk/refugee-integration-yorkshire-and-humber/esol-needs-analysis-and-placement-refugee-learners-toolkit-providers.
Book chapters
Knight, R., Setter, J. & Whitworth, N. (2021). Pedagogical approaches. In: R. Knight & J. Setter (eds.). The Cambridge Handbook of Phonetics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Whitworth, N. & Knight, R.A. (2014) The place of Clinical Phonetics & Linguistics in the SLT curriculum. In: N. Whitworth & Knight, R.A. (eds.). Methods in Teaching Clinical Linguistics and Phonetics. J&R Press, pp.
Whitworth, N. (2014) Acoustic phonetics. In: Whitworth, N. and Knight, R.-A. eds. Methods in Teaching Clinical Phonetics & Linguistics. Guildford: J&R Press, pp. 47–71.
Books
Whitworth, N. & Knight, R. (eds) (2014) Methods in Teaching Clinical Linguistics and Phonetics. J&R Press.
Doctoral Thesis
Whitworth, N. (2003). Bilingual acquisition of speech timing: aspects of rhythm production by German-English families [Doctoral Thesis, University of Leeds].
Blog entries
Whitworth, N. (2021). "Accent, identity and prejudice." Carnegie Education. https://www.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/blogs/carnegie-education/2021/05/accent-identity-and-prejudice/.
Whitworth, N. (2021). "Where do accents come from?" Carnegie Education. https://www.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/blogs/carnegie-education/2021/06/where-do-accents-come-from/.
Whitworth, N. (2021). "Scary Phonetics? Learning Cardinal Vowels." PhonEd: Phonetics Education. https://blogs.city.ac.uk/phoned/2021/07/28/scary-phonetics-learning-cardinal-vowels-part-1/.
Whitworth, N. (2014). "How Neanderthals help to assess our understanding of language and speech." Expert Opinion. https://www.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/blogs/expert-opinion/2014/01/how-neanderthals-help-to-assess-our-understanding-of-language-and-speech/.
Conference proceedings
Setter, J., Knight, R.-A. and Whitworth, N. (2023). Re-evaluating the assessment of phonetic skills: what we learned during the pandemic. Paper presented at the 20th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences, Prague
Whitworth, N. & Bray, M. (2015) Emergence of the vowel space in very young children with Down syndrome: An exploratory case study. Proceedings of the 18th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences, 10-14 August 2015.
Whitworth, N. (2003). Pre-vocalic boundaries in the speech of German-English bilinguals. Proceedings of the 15th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences (ICPhS), Barcelona.
Professional activities
I am the treasurer of the British Association of Academic phoneticians (BAAP). I hold membership of the International Phonetic Association (IPA). I am a Fellow of the HEA and a Fellow of the RSA.
I hold a Chartered Management Institute accredited postgraduate certificate in Strategic Leadership and Management.
