Interviewed by Vincent Tse

Dr. Ricky Chan is Assistant Professor at the HKU School of English. He obtained a BA&BEd double degree and an MPhil from HKU, and another MPhil and a PhD from the University of Cambridge. Here, he discusses his studies and research journey, shares his UK teaching experience and gives some advice to (potential) research students.

I know that you graduated from HKU’s BA&BEd programme. Many students in that programme become day school teachers. What is the reason you embarked on a journey of research instead of teaching?

I couldn’t have become an academic without the guidance and inspiration from my supervisor, Associate Professor Janny Leung. I always wanted to teach at secondary schools before I went to Cambridge. In my final undergraduate year, I did a research seminar course with Janny, who said I had the potential for doing academic research. I wasn’t totally convinced but at the time I thought, ‘Why not give it a try?’ I went on to do an MPhil with her and then she encouraged me to pursue further studies at Cambridge. I struggled for quite a while because I was not sure whether I had the right aptitude and determination for academic research. Also, studying abroad involves a lot of worries and doing a PhD is quite a risky move nowadays. But it was mainly because of Janny’s continuous support and encouragement that I made it this far. In hindsight I think I made the right decision because I love the intellectual challenges involved in academic research, and the fact that I am learning something new every day. I also enjoy the freedom to teach and research what I like.

You obtained your MPhil here from HKU, but you also went on to do another MPhil at Cambridge. For people who go to Cambridge, is this the normal path?

The Cambridge linguistics department used to take relatively few external PhD students. Students usually did a one-year MPhil with them first and only those with a distinction in the MPhil could move on to the PhD. But now things seem to have changed and they recruit more external students. For me there was an additional reason: when I was at HKU, my expertise was on psycholinguistics and second language acquisition, but I wanted to do a PhD in forensic phonetics. That’s why I did another MPhil in Cambridge, which equipped me with the necessary skills and knowledge for my PhD in experimental phonetics.

Your interests are in phonetics and second language acquisition. I know you did your MPhil with Dr. Janny Leung, but what were the initial reasons for you to pursue these interests instead of other fields in linguistics?

I was interested in the study of speech (phonetics) when I was an undergrad. My current research areas are mainly forensic phonetics – how the analysis of speech may be applied to forensic casework – and the implicit learning of speech patterns. I got interested in implicit language learning (i.e., learning language without awareness) when I did a research project on the implicit learning of word stress patterns with Janny. In the second year of my MPhil, I went to a conference in applied linguistics and was struck by a comment from a conference participant, who asserted that ‘applied linguists have been spending too much time in the classroom’. Then there was a session on language and law where I met Malcolm Coulthard, who initially worked on discourse analysis but moved to forensic linguistics later in his career. We had a chat which opened my mind to how the knowledge of linguistics can be applied to forensic cases. After that I started to think about how my expertise in phonetics may be useful for forensic casework as well. Later I found out that there is a famous forensic phonetician – Francis Nolan – at Cambridge. At the beginning of my MPhil in Cambridge, Francis told me that forensic phonetics is still a relatively young field and that most research has focused on English and some other European languages. That’s why I decided to embark on a research project in forensic phonetics that is relevant to the Hong Kong context.

You have touched upon some features of Hong Kong students. I know you also taught at Lancaster University. Do students there have any special features?

In Lancaster University and many other UK universities, the major assessment component in most academic courses is still the exam. I often got questions on what would appear in the exam and what would not. Also, in general, students have fewer contact hours in the UK and they are supposed to do more independent study. Based on my experience, students are not as active and inquisitive as you might have imagined or seen on TV. They tended not to speak in class, which – according to my colleagues – is because some students don’t want to stand out or appear affected and stagy.

Do you have any general advice for research students?

Well I can talk for a day on this, but here are a few pieces of general advice. First, you should not just rely on your supervisor. Learn to be independent and forge connections with other members at your department. They may be able to help you at some point in your career. Second, have a few backup plans. Nowadays it is not easy to land a tenure-track academic post, but fortunately, there are more non-academic jobs for postgraduates in English studies. Third, PhD students should have a clear publication plan. Learn how to ‘count backward’: you may need at least one publication before applying for academic jobs. Try to submit a manuscript to a journal at least six to twelve months in advance, depending on how long the publication process is in your field. Fourth, students should seek advice not only from senior scholars but also from junior scholars, because the struggles junior scholars are undergoing are quite relevant to postgraduate students. Fifth, think about how quantitative skills and the latest technological developments may help your research, such as digital humanities for the study of English literature and quantitative/statistical methods for sociolinguistics or discourse analysis.

You can visit Ricky’s HKU profile here.

Published on: December 3, 2018 < Back >