Leonardo Contreras Roa

Leonardo Contreras Roa is an Associate Professor in English Phonology at the University of Picardy Jules Verne, where he is affiliated with the CORPUS research unit (UR UPJV 4295) and the LIDILE research group (Linguistics, Engineering, Language Teaching). His academic career spans multiple French institutions including University of Rennes 2, University of Lille, Sorbonne Nouvelle Paris 3, and research positions at IRIT and CNRS. Originally trained in translation in Chile, his academic journey evolved toward linguistics, phonetics, and language teaching, reflecting his interest in how ideas move between languages and what is gained or lost in the process.

Dr. Contreras Roa's research interests center on the phonetics and phonology of second language acquisition, particularly examining interlanguage prosody of English learners with Spanish or French as their first language. His work spans acoustic phonetics, corpus linguistics, and the didactics of oral English. He investigates how rhythmic priming affects speech production in both typical speakers and those with Parkinson's disease, and explores the role of gesture in pronunciation learning. His research also extends to linguistic typology, reported speech strategies across diverse languages including West African and Turkic languages, and pathological discourse analysis.

His publication record demonstrates consistent productivity with multiple articles per year across diverse venues. His work shows a clear trajectory from foundational research on interlanguage prosody toward increasingly sophisticated investigations of rhythmic priming, gesture-speech interface, and clinical applications. The research employs both corpus-based and experimental methodologies, with growing emphasis on multimodal approaches to speech production and perception.

Dr. Contreras Roa teaches courses in oral English, phonetics, and English phonology at the undergraduate level, integrating his research expertise into his pedagogy. He has developed interactive scripts and tools for phonology instruction and explores innovative approaches to pronunciation teaching that incorporate rhythmic elements and gesture. His teaching philosophy appears informed by his research on affective factors in language learning, as evidenced by his work on promoting pleasure in language classrooms.

His current research involves multiple collaborative projects examining speech production mechanisms, cross-linguistic influences in pronunciation, and applications of rhythmic priming in both typical and pathological speech contexts. He maintains active collaborations across multiple institutions and disciplines, reflecting the interdisciplinary nature of his work at the intersection of linguistics, cognitive science, and language pedagogy.