Conjoint A/Prof. Peter Peterson

Qualifications

• PhD, University of Newcastle, 1982
• Master of Arts, Victoria University of Wellington

Research

Research keywords

• English grammar
• Linguistics
• Second language acquisition
• Syntax

Research expertise

My major research interest area is English syntax, with particular focus on complex sentence structures including relative clauses, coordination, apposition and associated syntactic phenomena. I have established a theoretical account of coordination within a Lexical Functional framework, based on a (non-headed) set analysis of coordinate structures. This has led to a broader investigation of alternatives to endocentric (headed) configurations, leading to innovative analyses of apposition and certain sub-classes of relative clauses.

I am also engaged in research in Second Language Acquisition. A major project in this area has been the creation of a large database of learner English, a collection of taped conversations in English with migrants from non-English speaking backgrounds, probably the largest such collection in Australia. It has been used for undergraduate and Honours students research projects, as well as in my own research and teaching in Second Language Acquisition.

The two branches of my research interests form a natural unity since my central concern with Second Language Acquisition is in the development of morphological and syntactic structures in learner English.

Fields of Research

Centres and Groups

Centre

• Centre for Literary and Linguistic Computing (CLLC)

Administrative

Administrative expertise

2006- Assistant Dean (Teaching and Learning), Faculty of Education and Arts

2006 BA Program Convenor, Faculty of Education and Arts

2002-2005 Deputy Head of School, Convenor for Linguistics & Applied Linguistics, and Graduate Coursework Convenor, School of Language & Media

1987-2001 Head of Department, Department of Linguistics

1994-2002 Chair, Board of Studies in Speech Pathology

Teaching

Teaching keywords

• Children's Literature
• English grammar
• English language
• Linguistics
• Sociolinguistics
• Translation studies

Teaching expertise

Undergraduate teaching: all areas of Linguistics; Children's Literature. Classes ranging in size from 3 to 500. Consistently high SEC evaluations.

Postgraduate supervision: 10 completed PhDs; 3 in progress. Sociolinguistics; language acquisition; TESOL; linguistic theory; applied linguistics

Course development: developed courses in sociolinguistics, historical linguistics, conversational analysis, English grammar, Children's Literature, foundations of linguistics, etc.

Program development: initiated and developed Bachelor of Speech Pathology; BSpth/BA combined degree; GradDip Linguistics; Master of Applied Linguistics.