Papers by Christian Jensen
Onlineøvelser i udtaleundervisningen
Tidsskrift for Universiteternes Efter- og Videreuddannelse (UNEV), 2006
Using English as a medium of instruction at university level in Denmark: the lecturer's perspective
The observed inability of some Danish learners of English to identify the nucleus of a prosodic p... more The observed inability of some Danish learners of English to identify the nucleus of a prosodic phrase when looking for the "most prominent syllable in the phrase" was hypothesised to stem from one of two possibilities: (1) that the absence of an obligatory nucleus in Danish gives rise to a cross-linguistic difference in the perception of prominence, or (2) that the description of the nucleus as the most prominent syl lable is
The increasing use of English in research and higher education has been the subject of heated deb... more The increasing use of English in research and higher education has been the subject of heated debate in Denmark and other European countries over the last years. This paper sets out the various positions in the national debate in Denmark, and then examines the attitudes towards these positions among the teaching staff at the country's largest university. Four topics are extracted from the debate -one which expresses a positive attitude towards English and three independent but interrelated topics which express more negative attitudes. The responses from the university lecturers show that a majority agree with all positions, negative as well as positive. This finding indicates that the attitude may not form a simple one-dimensional dichotomy. The responses are broken down according to lecturer age and the proportion of teaching the lecturer conducts in English. The results show that younger lecturers and lecturers with a higher teaching load in English are more positive towards the increase in English medium instruction.
Transfer of sounds from L1 to L2 can obviously lead to inappropriate pronunciations, but assumpti... more Transfer of sounds from L1 to L2 can obviously lead to inappropriate pronunciations, but assumptions about the effects such transfer may have on native listeners are often based on intuition or casual observation. This paper investigates the effects of direct transfer of four Danish vowels into English through a forced-choice word identification experiment in which actual Danish words were presented to native English listeners as if they were attempts at producing English words. The results of the listening experiment are discussed in relation to predictions made on the basis of textbook descriptions and acoustic analyses of the Danish and English vowels. While some predictions were confirmed, at least one was refuted, and in total this study proved to be a useful supplement to the work on L2 perception which has been carried out within the frameworks established by James E. Flege and Catherine Best. Brought to you by | Copenhagen University Denmark Authenticated | 192.38.108.164 Download Date | 9/20/13 3:02 PM 2. For English (RP) we are employing Wells's (1982) reference words for lexical sets. We have devised similar keywords for Danish, shown here in bold (let 'easy', mat 'faint', kap 'cape', lok 'lock, tress'). Note that where there is a risk of confusion English vowels are preceded by "E" and Danish by "D".
Jensen, Christian et al. 2013. "Students' attitudes to lecturers' English in English-medium highe... more Jensen, Christian et al. 2013. "Students' attitudes to lecturers' English in English-medium higher education in Denmark." Nordic Journal of English Studies 13(1): 87-112.
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Papers by Christian Jensen