Michelle Aldridge
Biographic Data
| ID | 3780562 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Michelle Aldridge |
| GIVEN NAMES | Michelle |
| FAMILY NAME | Aldridge |
| SIGNATURE | ALDRIDGE M |
| AFFILIATIONS | Cardiff University |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-6087-2589 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 20 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 6 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 20 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1991 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Linguistic Disadvantage of Children in Legal Contexts
This entry critically examines the linguistic experiences of child witnesses within the criminal justice system in England and Wales, with a particular focus on the effectiveness of Special Measures introduced under the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999 (YJCEA). These measures aim to enable children to provide their best evidence by mitigating the adversarial nature of legal proceedings. The entry reviews the phased approach to police …
Remembering Dr Janet Cotterill (1968–2022)
It is with great sadness, but many memories, that we write to commemorate the life and work of our colleague Dr Janet Cotterill. Her vigour and drive were illustrated by her significant achievements in her inspirational career, since Janet
Show me what happened’
This study investigates the manner in which two types of communication aids (wooden mannequins and line drawings) that are selected, introduced and managed in real intermediary-mediated police investigative interviews, improve the quality of evidence with vulnerable witnesses and victims with an intellectual disability. Multimodality interactional work carried out by the interviewing police officer, an intermediary and the vulnerable witness with…
Disambiguating ambiguity
This paper addresses inconsistencies in findings for children’s humour development by examining the ways in which five different ambiguity types (lexical, phonological, morphological, syntactic and idiomatic) have been interpreted and applied in earlier studies on humour comprehension. It identifies discrepancies in linguistic phenomena perceived to constitute each ambiguity type and highlights how differences have contributed to contrasting clai…
Nursing handovers as unbounded and scalar events
In this paper we analyse data from nursing handover meetings in terms of the interplay of different voices that operate at different interactional and institutional scales. We suggest, firstly, that the handover is not a single bounded event, as suggested in previous literature, but rather a gradual moving in and out of focus of a particular discourse activity; and, secondly, that while different phases within the handover as an extended event ar…
Conceptualising language awareness in healthcare communication
The paper develops the concept of language awareness (LA) by considering the material-social-discursive nexus of the communicative situation that affords professional practice. It also presents a mixed-methods study that provides a deeper and multi-layered understanding of LA in action and sets out a methodological framework for similar research in healthcare communication. Our study addresses: (i) the need for LA (re)conceptualisation in researc…
Police delivery of the opt-out procedure for children’s court evidence
Drawing on unique observational data from police training with child volunteers, this study evaluates the linguistic patterns used by officers for transmitting complex, legally-binding information to children during the opt-out procedure (which determines how children’s evidence is presented in court). It is shown that while the officers realise the information is difficult to explain and understand, they lack the skills to monitor and manage the…
A new perspective on word association
For many years, word association (WA) data has informed theories of the mental lexicon by analyzing the words elicited. However, findings are inconsistent and WA research is still waiting for ‘a breakthrough in methodology which can unlock its undoubted potential’ (Schmitt 2010. Researching vocabulary: A vocabulary research manual. Palgrave Macmillan, 248). In this paper, we offer a new perspective on WA by using keystroke logging (Inputlog, Leij…
Linguistic Disadvantage of Children in Legal Contexts
Talking with anyone in authority is a challenging prospect for most people. This claim is true for all in the legal setting but especially so for those who, for whatever reason, are not competent in language and communication. In this entry, we review the experiences of people who are linguistically disadvantaged within the legal setting.
Paedophiles and politeness in email communications
This paper offers an investigation into the general message structure and politeness strategies used in email communications between (now convicted) paedophiles in discussions of highly illegal practices and intent. In these emails, the interactants reveal telling characteristics of their ‘community of practice’. Consistent with the view from cognitive anthropology (Wenger, Communities of practice: Learning, meaning, and identity, Cambridge Unive…
In memoriam
Introduction
Linguistic Manipulations in Legal Discourse
With an emphasis on the linguistic experiences of sexual-assault witnesses in the British legal system (adult rape victims and child abuse victims), this paper is a consideration of how the lexical choices in the questions posed to a witness encourage a particular perception of her testimony. The concepts to be discussed include conceptual frames and smuggling information, and we offer a qualitative consideration of how the semantic features of a…
Conceptual manipulation by metaphors and frames
With an emphasis on the linguistic experiences of rape victims in the legal system, this paper is a consideration of recent innovations in semantic analysis that offer important methodological tools for the analysis of legal encounters. The concepts to be discussed include metaphor and frames, within the context of how questions are used in legal settings. Metaphor captures cultural stereotypes, encoded in a speaker's choice of descriptors, and i…
Interviewing child witnesses within Memorandum guidelines. A survey of police officers in England and Wales
Since 1991, the evidence‐in‐chief of child witnesses in United Kingdom (UK) criminal proceedings can be an initial video‐recorded interview between a police officer/social worker and the child witness. This paper reports on the results of a survey of the attitudes and opinions of police officers who conduct video interviews with child witnesses in 18 police forces in England and Wales. Notably, officers' views were sought on the conduct of interv…
Interviewing child witnesses within Memorandum guidelines. A survey of police officers in England and Wales
Since 1991, the evidence-in-chief of child witnesses in United Kingdom (UK) criminal proceedings can be an initial video-recorded interview between a police officer/social worker and the child witness. This paper reports on the results of a survey of the attitudes and opinions of police officers who conduct video interviews with child witnesses in 18 police forces in England and Wales. Notably, officers' views were sought on the conduct of interv…
Telling It How It Was
While a number of weaknesses have been identified in children's eyewitness, or evidential narrative accounts (e.g., Aldridge & Wood, 1998; Richardson, 1993; Walker & Warren, 1995), analyses of children's non-evidential narratives indicate that children as young as two years can be competent narrators (e.g., Fivush, Gray & Fromhoff, 1987). A variety of factors might contribute to the child's reported poorer performance in the evidential setting. F…
Child Language
What do parents expect? Children's language acquisition in a bilingual community
Parents play a decisive role in fostering and monitoring language development in their children. Furthermore, in bilingual settings, they make crucial choices about language, and decisions about whether to raise their children bilingually or monolingually in the early years. But what is the state of their knowledge about the normal course of language development and the advantages of bilingualism? A survey was made of 200 parents attending baby a…
How the language grows up
An outline of how children acquire English as a mother tongue
Paedophiles and politeness in email communications
This paper offers an investigation into the general message structure and politeness strategies used in email communications between (now convicted) paedophiles in discussions of highly illegal practices and intent. In these emails, the interactants reveal telling characteristics of their ‘community of practice’. Consistent with the view from cognitive anthropology (Wenger, Communities of practice: Learning, meaning, and identity, Cambridge Unive…
Introduction
How the language grows up
An outline of how children acquire English as a mother tongue
What do parents expect? Children's language acquisition in a bilingual community
Parents play a decisive role in fostering and monitoring language development in their children. Furthermore, in bilingual settings, they make crucial choices about language, and decisions about whether to raise their children bilingually or monolingually in the early years. But what is the state of their knowledge about the normal course of language development and the advantages of bilingualism? A survey was made of 200 parents attending baby a…
Child Language
Telling It How It Was
While a number of weaknesses have been identified in children's eyewitness, or evidential narrative accounts (e.g., Aldridge & Wood, 1998; Richardson, 1993; Walker & Warren, 1995), analyses of children's non-evidential narratives indicate that children as young as two years can be competent narrators (e.g., Fivush, Gray & Fromhoff, 1987). A variety of factors might contribute to the child's reported poorer performance in the evidential setting. F…
Interviewing child witnesses within Memorandum guidelines. A survey of police officers in England and Wales
Since 1991, the evidence‐in‐chief of child witnesses in United Kingdom (UK) criminal proceedings can be an initial video‐recorded interview between a police officer/social worker and the child witness. This paper reports on the results of a survey of the attitudes and opinions of police officers who conduct video interviews with child witnesses in 18 police forces in England and Wales. Notably, officers' views were sought on the conduct of interv…
Interviewing child witnesses within Memorandum guidelines. A survey of police officers in England and Wales
Since 1991, the evidence-in-chief of child witnesses in United Kingdom (UK) criminal proceedings can be an initial video-recorded interview between a police officer/social worker and the child witness. This paper reports on the results of a survey of the attitudes and opinions of police officers who conduct video interviews with child witnesses in 18 police forces in England and Wales. Notably, officers' views were sought on the conduct of interv…
Linguistic Manipulations in Legal Discourse
With an emphasis on the linguistic experiences of sexual-assault witnesses in the British legal system (adult rape victims and child abuse victims), this paper is a consideration of how the lexical choices in the questions posed to a witness encourage a particular perception of her testimony. The concepts to be discussed include conceptual frames and smuggling information, and we offer a qualitative consideration of how the semantic features of a…
Conceptual manipulation by metaphors and frames
With an emphasis on the linguistic experiences of rape victims in the legal system, this paper is a consideration of recent innovations in semantic analysis that offer important methodological tools for the analysis of legal encounters. The concepts to be discussed include metaphor and frames, within the context of how questions are used in legal settings. Metaphor captures cultural stereotypes, encoded in a speaker's choice of descriptors, and i…
In memoriam
Introduction
Paedophiles and politeness in email communications
This paper offers an investigation into the general message structure and politeness strategies used in email communications between (now convicted) paedophiles in discussions of highly illegal practices and intent. In these emails, the interactants reveal telling characteristics of their ‘community of practice’. Consistent with the view from cognitive anthropology (Wenger, Communities of practice: Learning, meaning, and identity, Cambridge Unive…
Linguistic Disadvantage of Children in Legal Contexts
Talking with anyone in authority is a challenging prospect for most people. This claim is true for all in the legal setting but especially so for those who, for whatever reason, are not competent in language and communication. In this entry, we review the experiences of people who are linguistically disadvantaged within the legal setting.
A new perspective on word association
For many years, word association (WA) data has informed theories of the mental lexicon by analyzing the words elicited. However, findings are inconsistent and WA research is still waiting for ‘a breakthrough in methodology which can unlock its undoubted potential’ (Schmitt 2010. Researching vocabulary: A vocabulary research manual. Palgrave Macmillan, 248). In this paper, we offer a new perspective on WA by using keystroke logging (Inputlog, Leij…
Conceptualising language awareness in healthcare communication
The paper develops the concept of language awareness (LA) by considering the material-social-discursive nexus of the communicative situation that affords professional practice. It also presents a mixed-methods study that provides a deeper and multi-layered understanding of LA in action and sets out a methodological framework for similar research in healthcare communication. Our study addresses: (i) the need for LA (re)conceptualisation in researc…
Police delivery of the opt-out procedure for children’s court evidence
Drawing on unique observational data from police training with child volunteers, this study evaluates the linguistic patterns used by officers for transmitting complex, legally-binding information to children during the opt-out procedure (which determines how children’s evidence is presented in court). It is shown that while the officers realise the information is difficult to explain and understand, they lack the skills to monitor and manage the…
Disambiguating ambiguity
This paper addresses inconsistencies in findings for children’s humour development by examining the ways in which five different ambiguity types (lexical, phonological, morphological, syntactic and idiomatic) have been interpreted and applied in earlier studies on humour comprehension. It identifies discrepancies in linguistic phenomena perceived to constitute each ambiguity type and highlights how differences have contributed to contrasting clai…
Nursing handovers as unbounded and scalar events
In this paper we analyse data from nursing handover meetings in terms of the interplay of different voices that operate at different interactional and institutional scales. We suggest, firstly, that the handover is not a single bounded event, as suggested in previous literature, but rather a gradual moving in and out of focus of a particular discourse activity; and, secondly, that while different phases within the handover as an extended event ar…
Remembering Dr Janet Cotterill (1968–2022)
It is with great sadness, but many memories, that we write to commemorate the life and work of our colleague Dr Janet Cotterill. Her vigour and drive were illustrated by her significant achievements in her inspirational career, since Janet
Show me what happened’
This study investigates the manner in which two types of communication aids (wooden mannequins and line drawings) that are selected, introduced and managed in real intermediary-mediated police investigative interviews, improve the quality of evidence with vulnerable witnesses and victims with an intellectual disability. Multimodality interactional work carried out by the interviewing police officer, an intermediary and the vulnerable witness with…
Linguistic Disadvantage of Children in Legal Contexts
This entry critically examines the linguistic experiences of child witnesses within the criminal justice system in England and Wales, with a particular focus on the effectiveness of Special Measures introduced under the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999 (YJCEA). These measures aim to enable children to provide their best evidence by mitigating the adversarial nature of legal proceedings. The entry reviews the phased approach to police …
Psychology (16 works) · Sociology (11 works) · Linguistics (9 works) · Interpreting and Communication in Healthcare (8 works) · Computer Science (7 works) · Political science (7 works) · Philosophy (6 works) · Language, Discourse, Communication Strategies (5 works) · Law (5 works) · Interview (4 works)