dr. H.H.G. (Bert) Weltens

Department of Language and Communication

Office hours: Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays (subject to occasional variation)  

Curriculum Vitae

Research interests

Sociolinguistics, psycholinguistics, language attriton and loss, language testing, research methodology.

Teaching (2006-now)

• Academic skills: oral presentation and report writing
• Pre-master language skills
• Introduction to linguistics
• Phonetics and phonology
• Pedagogical grammar
• Advanced Language Skills: Du-Eng translation and  business module
   

Research

In the past I have been working on - in chronological order - language variation, intonation learning, language attrition and loss, language testing, the bilingual mental lexicon, Dutch/English bilingualism, and bilingual education. Now I am working on language proficiency testing again: I want to investigate how the levels defined in the Common European Framework can be operationalised. Together with dr. John H.A.L. de Jong, who moved to Pearson Language Tests in 2005,  I am supervising a Pearson-funded PhD project carried out by Rebecca Present-Thomas.

Publications (selection)

• 1984 Edwards, V., P. Trudgill & B. Weltens: The Grammar of English Dialect. A Survey of Research. London: Economic and Social Research Council.
• 1986 Weltens, B., K. de Bot & T. van Els (eds.): Language Attrition in Progress. Dordrecht/Providence RI: Foris (Studies on Language Acquisition 2).
• 1989 Cheshire, J., V. Edwards, H. Münstermann & B. Weltens (eds.): Dialect and Education: Some European Perspectives. Clevedon, Avon: Multilingual Matters.
• 1989 Weltens, B.: The Attrition of French as a Foreign Language. Dordrecht/Providence RI: Foris (Studies on Language Acquisition 6). 
• 1991 Bot, K. de & B. Weltens: Recapitulation, regression, and language loss. In: H. Seliger & R. Vago (eds.), First Language Attrition: Structural and Theoretical Perspectives. Cambridge: C.U.P., 31-51.
• 1993 Schreuder, R. & B. Weltens (eds.): The Bilingual Lexicon. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins (Studies in Bilingualism 6).
• 1996 Kellerman, E., B. Weltens & T. Bongaerts (eds.): EUROSLA 6: A Selection of Papers = Toegepaste Taalwetenschap in Artikelen # 55. [Special issue of Applied Linguistics in Article Form]
• 2002 Hulsen, M., K. de Bot & B. Weltens: "Between two worlds": Social networks, language shift and language processing in three generations of Dutch immigrants in New Zealand. International Journal of the Sociology of Language 153: 27-52.
• 2009 Backus, A., M. Keijzer, I. Vedder & B. Weltens, Artikelen van de Zesde Anéla-Conferentie. Delft: Eburon.
• 2012 Present-Thomas, R., B. Weltens & J. de Jong: Syntactic complexity in written English of incoming university students. In. N. de Jong et al. (eds.), Papers of the Anéla 2012 Applied Linguistics Conference, 35-42.
  

Activities

I coordinated an item bank project (2006-2010) within the Department of Language and Communication, which was aimed at developing exercises and testing tools for the languages represented in the Faculty of Arts, in particular for teaching academic English. 

As of old, I am also active within the Dutch Association for Applied Linguistics, Anéla, nowadays as editor in chief of the Anéla journal, Dutch Journal of Applied Linguistics.

As of 1 August 2008, I'm chairing the English section of CvE, the institution responsible for the final exams in Dutch secondary schools.

I spend most of my spare time on my two main hobbies: my motorbike and listening to what most people consider loud rock music, such as Nirvana, Nickelback and Rammstein, but also Bowie, Led Zeppelin, Roxy Music and Madonna. And I also like some of the (relatively) modern stuff such DJ Tiësto and Lady Gaga.