Lecturer in English Language and Linguistics

I am a Lecturer in English Linguistics, a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA) and a Researcher at the Centre for Research in English Language Learning and Assessment (CRELLA)

I regularly present at international conferences and I am a member of the International Pragmatics Association (IPrA) and The UK Association for Language Testing and Assessment (UKALTA).

My primary domain of interest and expertise as a cognitive linguist includes the realm of pragmatics, the use of prosody and nonverbal communication in utterance interpretation, and the role of multimodality in interlanguage and instructional pragmatics.

The second strand of my research focuses on analysing the pragmatics of discursive manipulation and deception in the context of online child sexual grooming, within the field of investigative and forensic text analysis, with a view to detecting and preventing cybercrimes.

Follow my research activity updates via my personal website

Other References

• ResearchGate
• LinkedIn
• Twitter

Qualifications

• Degree in Langues Etrangères Appliquées (LEA), Université de Lorraine, Metz, France, 2009
• BA English, Coventry University, 2009
• MA English Language Teaching (ELT), Coventry University, 2010
• PhD Linguistics, University of Brighton, 2021
• Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, 2021

Teaching Experience

I hold a BA in English and an MA in English Language Teaching from Coventry University. I have extensive experience in teaching English for Specific Purposes in professional contexts. I taught in Norway and in France, before relocating to the UK.

I completed my PhD in Linguistics in 2021 at the University of Brighton under the supervision of Dr Tim Wharton, Dr Kate Scott (Kingston University), and Professor Elly Ifantidou (National and Kapodistrian University of Athens). Prior to joining the University of Bedfordshire’s School of Education and English (SEE) in 2021, I taught English Language and Linguistics at the University of Brighton, Middlesex University, and University College London, and English for Academic Purposes at the University of Surrey, Royal Holloway University of London, and Lancaster University.

Teaching Expertise

• I teach across a range of our undergraduate and postgraduate courses and units as well as supervising UG and PG dissertations:
• Core Linguistics
• Applied Linguistics: including, Corpus Linguistics & Language Learning, Forensic Linguistics, Clinical Linguistics, and Online Pragmatics.
• Cognitive Linguistics; Psycholinguistics
• Applied Linguistics and TEFL
• Centre for Research in English Language Learning and Assessment (CRELLA)

Supervision Interests

Areas of enquiry for PhD supervision include, but are not limited to:

• Pragmatics
• Interlanguage and Instructional Pragmatics
• Pragmatics & prosody
• Multimodality (prosody and gesture in interaction)
• First and second language development, (social) cognition, pointing, salience and psychology
• Relevance theory
• Pragmatics of humour (irony & sarcasm in TV sitcoms) and comprehension of L2 humour
• Pragmatics of manipulative discourse (forensic linguistics)
• Pragmatic Stylistics: Linguistics and Literature in the English classroom
• or a combination of these areas

Broader Teaching & Research Interests

Linguistic variation and change (particularly at the level of sounds), New Zealand English, uptalk, literary nonsense and the teaching of linguistics, corpus pragmatics & forensic stylistics.

External voluntary roles

• Reviewer for the Journal of Corpus Pragmatics (2023-)
• Reviewer for Pragmatics & Cognition
• Reviewer for Cambridge University Press and Routledge (2024/2025-)

Memberships

• Centre for Research in English Language Learning and Assessment (CRELLA)
• UKALTA
• International Pragmatics Association (IPrA)
• Relevance Researchers’ Network

Publications

• Pienczykowski, B., Madella, P. ‘I was so Afraid All You Wanted from Me Was Sex’: A Corpus-Assisted Study in the Pragmatics of Manipulation in Online Child Sexual Groomers’ Discourse. Corpus Pragmatics 10, 11 (2026). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41701-025-00218-0
• Madella, P. (2024) ‘The One With All The Sarcasm: Pauline Madella discusses the pragmatics of Chandler Bing’s sarcastic humour’, Babel The Language Magazine, Issue 48, Aug. 2024, pp.12-16.
• Madella, P. (2024) ‘Ask a Linguist: What exactly is contrastive stress?’, Babel The Language Magazine, Issue 48, Aug. 2024, p.11.
• Madella, P. and Wharton, T. (2024), 'Non verbal communication and context: multi-modality in interaction', in Romero-Trillo, J. (ed.), The Cambridge Handbook of Language and Context. Cambridge University Press, pp. 419-435.
• Madella, P. (2023) Relevance and multimodal prosody: implications for L2 teaching and learning. Front. Commun. 8:1181805. doi: 10.3389/fcomm.2023.1181805.
• Romero-Trillo, J; Ramírez-Verdugo, D; Jiménez-Vilches, R.; Mestre-Mestre, E.; Avila, Ledesma, N.; Y. Sadeghi and Madella, P. 2022. Teaching English Prosodic Pragmatics APP (TEPP). Available in Google Play and Apple Store.
• Madella, P. and Romero-Trillo, J. (2019) Prosodic Pointing in inferential comprehension: the application of Relevance Theory to L2 listening instruction. Letrônica, 12(4). dx.doi.org/10.15448/1984-4301.2019.4.34157

Conference Presentations/ Invited Talks/ Workshops

• 2024 - 'Academic Career Journey', CRELLA PGR Workshop. Online.
• 2024 - "I was so afraid all you wanted from me was sex’: A corpus-assisted study in the pragmatics of manipulation in online child sexual groomers’ discourse", University of Bedfordshire's Annual Research Conference, Luton.
• 2024 – "Could we BE more white trash?" Prosodic and nonverbal cues to Chandler Bing’s sarcasm: where pragmatic and conversation analysis meet. EPICS XI 11th International Symposium on Intercultural, Cognitive and Social Pragmatics, Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Sevilla.
• 2023 - 'Mixed methods & triangulation in second language pragmatics research'. CRELLA PGR Workshop. Online.
• 2022 – Relevance in the L2 listener's mind: from exposure to prosodic pointing to pragmatic competence development. CRELLA. Online.
• 2021 - Relevance theory and L2 inferential comprehension: a multimodal approach to pragmatic development in L2 listeners. The Relevance Researchers’ Network. Available on YouTube
• 2021 – Beyond Language: a multimodal approach to pragmatic development in L2 listeners. Linguistics and Knowledge About Language in Education (LKALE) BAAL SIG event, Glasgow, UK (online).
• 2021 – Holistic and Inclusive Approaches to Teaching L2 English Pronunciation and Prosody Online [Teaching Englishes webinar, Middlesex University].
• 2020 – Multimodality and L2 inferential comprehension: a relevance-theoretic framework for teaching L2 hearers to trust paralinguistic input. 9th International symposium on intercultural, cognitive, and social pragmatics. Seville, Spain (online).
• 2020 – Making sense of Nonsense Literature: when Pragmatics and Literary Studies meet in the English classroom. UCM Predoctoral Conference on English Linguistics (UPCEL): English Linguistics and Diversity Awareness, Madrid, Spain.
• 2018 – A relevance-based approach to L2 listening instruction: developing pragmatic competence through awareness of prosody and gesture. BAAL Taking Risks in Applied Linguistics, York, UK.
• 2018 – Prosodic Pointing in inferential comprehension: the application of Relevance Theory to L2 listening instruction. Intercultural Pragmatics and Communication (INPRA), Nicosia, Cyprus.
• 2017 – Relevance Theory and the prosody-pragmatics interaction: a cognitive-pragmatic approach to L2 listening instruction. The Applied Linguistics Conference (ALANZ), Auckland, NZ.
• 2017 – The pragmatics of prosodic pointing: from enhanced cognitive abilities to social competence in L2 listeners. 2nd International UCM Predoctoral Conference on English Linguistics (UPCEL): Language in Society, Madrid, Spain.
• 2017 – Prosodic and gestural pointing: multi-modality in action. Beyond Meaning, Athens, Greece.

Contact Details

E: pauline.madella@beds.ac.uk

Bedford campus