Mary O'Brien
Positions
Professor, German
Faculty of Arts, School of Languages, Linguistics, Literatures and Cultures
Senior Associate Dean (Policy and Program Development)
Faculty of Graduate Studies
Contact information
Phone number
Office: 403.210.8542
Office (FGS): 403.220.4933
Background
Educational Background
B.A. German, Ohio State University, 1997
M.A. German, University of Texas, 1999
Ph.D. German, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2003
Research
Areas of Research
I am interested in how listeners react to non-native speech. This work primarily involves investigations of the notions of accent and comprehensibility. I am currently working on two SSHRC-funded projects with Pavel Trofimovich (Concordia) that investigate listener reactions to non-native speech and the extent to which various interventions might mitigate bias toward the speakers themselves.
I am fascinated by the sound system of the German language and have done quite a bit of work on how second language learners or German are able to perceive and produce German speech sounds and prosody (especially lexical stress and intonation). Much of my research focuses on what instructors can do to encourage more comprehensible second language German pronunciation. Together with Sarah Fagan (University of Iowa), I wrote a textbook entitled German phonetics and phonology: Theory and practice.
Participation in university strategic initiatives
Courses
| Course number | Course title | Semester |
|---|---|---|
| LANG 200 | Introduction to Second Language Learning | Winter 2023 |
Awards
- GSA Champion, University of Calgary Graduate Students' Association. 2022
- Excellence Award in Administrative Support – Senior Administration , University of Calgary Graduate Students' Association. 2021
- Teaching Excellence Award, University of Calgary Undergraduate Students' Union. 2021
- Honorary Lifetime Membership Award, Canadian Association of Second Language Teachers . 2020
- American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages Paul Pimsleur Award for Research in Foreign Language Education, American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages, NFMLTA, Modern Language Association. 2018
- Great Supervisor, Faculty of Graduate Studies. 2017
- Calgary Award, Community Achievement Award, Education, City of Calgary. 2013
- Killam Leadership in Teaching Award, University of Calgary. 2012
- Graduate Teaching Excellence Award, University of Calgary Graduate Students' Association. 2008
- Teaching Excellence Award, University of Calgary Undergraduate Students' Union. 2005
- Teaching Excellence Award (Honourable Mention), University of Calgary Undergraduate Students' Union. 2004
Publications
- Using task practice to reduce social influences on listener evaluations of second language accent and comprehensibility. Taylor Reid, K., Trofimovich, P., O’Brien. M. G., & Tsunemoto, A. International Journal of Listening. (2022)
- Comprehensible to whom? Examining rater, speaker, and interlocutor perspectives on comprehensibility in an interactive context. Nagle, C., Trofimovich, P., O’Brien, M. G., & Kennedy, S. . The Modern Language Journal. (2022)
- Lexical stress assignment preferences in L2 German. O'Brien, M. G., & Sundberg, R.. International Review of Applied Linguistics. (2021)
- Beyond linguistic features: Exploring behavioral and affective correlates of comprehensible second language speech. Nagle, C., Trofimovich, P., O’Brien, M. G., & Kennedy, S. . Studies in Second Language Acquisition. (2021)
- Using task practice to reduce social influences on listener evaluations of second language accent and comprehensibility. Taylor Reid, K., Trofimovich, P., O’Brien. M. G., & Tsunemoto, A.. International Journal of Listening. (2021)
- Ease and difficulty in L2 pronunciation teaching: A mini review. O'Brien, M. G.. Frontiers in Language Sciences. (2021)
- Exploring the stability of second language speech ratings through task practice in bilinguals’ two languages. Taylor Reid, K., O’Brien, M. G., Trofimovich, P., & Tsunemoto, A.. Journal of Monolingual and Bilingual Speech. 315-329. (2021)
- Second language comprehensibility as a dynamic construct. Trofimovich, P., Nagle, C. L., O’Brien, M. G., Kennedy, S., Taylor Reid, K., & Strachan, L. . Journal of Second Language Pronunciation. 430-457. (2020)
- Testing the malleability of teachers’ judgments of second language speech. Taylor Reid, K., O’Brien, M. G., Trofimovich, P., & Bajt, A. M. . Journal of Second Language Pronunciation. 236-264. (2020)
- Attending to second language lexical stress: Exploring the roles of metalinguistic awareness and self-assessment. O'Brien, M. G.. Language Awareness. 310-328. (2019)
- Social attitudes and speech ratings: Effects of positive and negative bias on multiage listeners’ judgments of second language speech. Taylor Reid, K., Trofimovich, P., & O’Brien, M. G. . Studies in Second Language Acquisition. 419-442. (2019)
- Rethinking perceptions of fluency. Dressler, A. & O'Brien, M. G.. Applied Linguistics Review. 259-280. (2019)
- Directions for the future of technology in pronunciation research and teaching. O’Brien, M. G., Derwing, T. M., Cucchiarini, C., Hardison, D. M., Mixdorff, H., Thomson, R., Strik, H., Levis, J. M., Munro, M. J., Foote, J. A., & Muller Levis, G. Journal of Second Language Pronunciation. 182-207. (2019)
- Producing lexical stress in second language German. Maczuga, P., O’Brien, M. G., & Knaus, J. . Die Unterrichtspraxis: Teaching German. 120-135. (2017)
- Methodological choices in rating speech samples. O'Brien, M. G.. Studies in Second Language Acquisition. 587-605. (2016)
- Dynamic localization in second language English and German. O’Brien, M. G., & Féry, C. . Bilingualism: Language and Cognition. 400-418. (2015)
- L2 learners’ assessments of accentedness, fluency and comprehensibility of native and nonnative German speech. O'Brien, M. G.. Language Learning. 715-748. (2014)
- Cross-linguistic differences in prosodic cues to syntactic disambiguation in German and English. O’Brien, M. G., Jackson, C., & Gardner, C. E.. Applied Psycholinguistics. 27-70. (2014)
- Making use of cues to sentence length in L1 and L2 German. O’Brien, M. G., Jackson, C. N., & Hendricks, A. K. E.. Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism. 446-475. (2013)
- Perceived accentedness and intelligibility: The relative contributions of F0 and duration. Winters, S., & O’Brien, M. G. . Speech Communication. 486-507. (2013)
- The interaction between prosody and meaning in second language speech production. Jackson, C., & O’Brien, M. G.. Die Unterrichtspraxis: Teaching German. 1-9. (2011)
- Impact of first language dialect on the production of second language German vowels. O’Brien, M. G., & Smith, L. C. . International Review of Applied Linguistics. 297-330. (2010)
- Virtual immersion: The role of CAVE and PC technology. O’Brien, M. G., Levy, R. M., & Orich, A.. CALICO Journal. 337-362. (2009)
- Exploration through virtual reality: Encounters with the target culture. O’Brien, M. G., & Levy, R. M.. Canadian Modern Language Review. 663-391. (2008)
- Pronunciation matters. O'Brien, M. G.. Die Unterrichtspraxis: Teaching German. 1-9. (2004)
- German phonetics and phonology: Theory and practice. O'Brien, M. G. & Fagan, S. M. B.. Yale University Press. (2016)
- Intonation in Germanic. O'Brien, M. G.. The Cambridge handbook of Germanic linguistics. 167-190. (2020)
- Targeting pronunciation (and perception) with technology. O'Brien, M. G.. Engaging Language Learners through CALL. 309-352. (2019)
- Investigating stress assignment. O'Brien, M. G.. Proceedings of the 10th Pronunciation in Second Language Learning and Teaching Conference. 70-81. (2019)
- Proceedings of the 8th Pronunciation in Second Language Learning and Teaching Conference (PSLLT 2017): The Role of Technology in L2 Pronunciation Research and Teaching. O'Brien, M. G., & Levis, J.. (2017)
- Pronunciation and technology. O’Brien, M. G. & Levis, J. M. . Proceedings of the 8th Pronunciation in Second Language Learning and Teaching Conference. 1-9. (2017)
- Prosodic cues to syntactic disambiguation in L2 German. Jackson, C., O’Brien, M. G., & Gardner, C. E. . Proceedings of the 35th Annual Boston University Conference on Language Development. 308-320. (2011)
- Phonological and phonetic realisation of different types of focus in L2 speech. O’Brien, M. G., & Gut, U. . Achievements and perspectives in SLA of speech: New Sounds 2010 Volume 1. 205-216. (2011)
- Proceedings of the 8th Generative Approaches to Second Language Acquisition Conference (GASLA 2006): The Banff Conference. O’Brien, M. G., Shea, C., & Archibald, J. . (2006)
- Mobilising knowledge on newcomers: Engaging key stakeholders to establish a research hub for Alberta. O’Brien, M., Cancino, B., Apasu, F., & Chowdhury, T. T. . Gateways: International Journal of Community Research and Engagement. (2020)
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