How British Conversation is Changing: Resonance, Engagement, and Social Class!
Tuesday 30th September 2025, 2:00 PM - 4:00 PM (London Time)
This short course explores how British people’s everyday conversations are shifting — and why it matters! Drawing on findings from the British National Corpora (1994 vs. 2014) and my recent study British Conversation is Changing (Applied Linguistics, 2024), we will look at how people re-use and acknowledge each other’s words, a process called resonance. Resonance is a powerful marker of verbal engagement: when it’s present, speakers treat one another’s talk as meaningful; when it’s absent, conversations can feel flat or disconnected.
We will discuss how resonance has increased among middle- and upper-class speakers, especially in professions tied to education, politics, and corporate life, while it has remained stable among working-class speakers. This reflects broader societal changes linked to ideologies of inclusivity, equality, and engagement in the workplace.
The course combines accessible explanations with real conversational examples, showing how shifts in interaction style can reveal changing social values. Participants will gain tools to analyze everyday dialogue, reflect on their own conversational habits, and understand how language change is not only about new words, but about how we connect with one another.
🏷️ Price £30 (UK VAT inclusive)
🎥 Recording automatically sent to all who book (even if you cannot attend live)
▶️ Rewatch as many times as you like
📜 Certificate of attendance available
Dr Vittorio Tantucci
Vittorio Tantucci is Senior Lecturer in Linguistics at Lancaster University and world-leading scholar in the field of Pragmatics, the study of verbal behaviour in context. His research focuses on cross-cultural and cognitive approaches to dialogue, with particular emphasis on intersubjectivity, resonance, (im)politeness, and reciprocity. He specializes in corpus-based methods and computational approaches to large datasets of real conversations to reveal how interaction changes across time, social groups, and languages.
Attend this course for as little as £22 as part of the Voice Professional Training CPD Award Scheme.
Learn MoreSorry, this is an archived short course...
We have plenty of upcoming short courses coming soon. See details of some of them below or look at the full list of short courses.
Monday 3rd August 2026
1:30 PM - 2:30 PM
Tuesday 4th August 2026
1:30 PM - 2:30 PM
Wednesday 5th August 2026
1:30 PM - 2:30 PM
Thursday 6th August 2026
1:30 PM - 2:30 PM
Friday 7th August 2026
1:30 PM - 2:30 PM
(London Time)
Level Two Certificate in Accents and Phonetics with Louisa Morgan
Louisa Morgan
Build on your foundational knowledge of accents and phonetics in this week‑long lunchtime course designed specifically for voice teachers. Whether you have completed our Level 1 Certificate or already possess a basic working knowledge of phonetics and accent work, this Level 2 course will help you deepen your skills, sharpen your analytical ear, and expand your practical toolkit for teaching.
Thursday 6th August 2026
5:00 PM - 7:00 PM
(London Time)
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Dr Silvia Ciancia
How do sex hormones define the human voice? Join Dr Silvia Cianca as she offers a comprehensive exploration of the vocal apparatus as a hormone-sensitive organ, analysing the physiological changes occurring at puberty as well as the changes induced by gender-affirming hormones initiated during adolescence. This session is specifically about the fascinating research on the influence of sex hormones on the voice, and the physical outcomes of gender-affirming care delivered to adolescents; it does not focus on vocal training itself.
Tuesday 11th August 2026
5:00 PM - 7:00 PM
(London Time)
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Dr Justin John Moniz
Join Dr Justin John Moniz as he examines ethical practice in voice teaching through a structured, evidence-informed framework for sustainable, student-centered pedagogy. Although voice teaching operates outside formal licensure models common to allied professions, teachers hold significant responsibility for students’ vocal function, artistic development, and long-term well-being. This course addresses that gap through a five-part paradigm grounded in the NATS Code of Ethics, contemporary research, and applied studio practice.