Kathryn Brillinger has been teaching ESL for 20 years and involved in teacher training in pronunciation for 8 years. She completed a BA in Exceptionality in Human Learning and a post-graduate certificate in TESL at the University of Toronto. She obtained her MEd with a specialization in TESL from Brock University and her research was in why ESL teachers don’t teach more pronunciation. Kathryn ran a business specializing in advanced pronunciation and cross-cultural communication for 7 years and had clients at many large technology firms in the Toronto area. She served as an Assistant Chief Rater for the TSE (Test of Spoken English) for 11 years and later coached many foreign-trained professionals needing to pass the TSE for accreditation in Canada. She is now a full-time professor in the Communications department at Conestoga College in Kitchener.

Her major interest is in the impact of pronunciation and paralinguistic features on the learning, retention and use of English as a second or additional language. She is especially interested in how such matters impact on those in the teaching and helping professions.