Special Announcement

23 Apr 2025

The Office of the Department of English and Communication has moved to 9/F, PolyU Hung Hom Bay Campus, 8 Hung Lok Road, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong w.e.f. 14 April 2025.

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Academic Staff

Prof. Ming Curran
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Prof. Nate Ming Curran

Assistant Professor

PolyU Scholars Hub
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Research Overview

Broadly speaking, my current research is focused on three areas: 1) language teaching in the gig economy; 2) intercultural communication and identity; and 3) AI-generated discourse and popular discourse about AI. My work is situated at the intersection of applied linguistics, media studies, and cultural studies. I am actively recruiting PhD students interested in the topics above.

Education and Academic Qualifications

  • Master of Arts in Asian Studies, University of California Berkeley
  • Doctor of Philosophy, University of Southern California
  • Bachelor of Arts in International Studies and East Asian Studies, University of Wisconsin Madison

Academic and Professional Experience

  • Instructor, University of Southern California (2020)
  • Consortium on Media Policy Studies Fellow: Korean Economic Institute of America (2017)

Teaching Areas

  • Intercultural Communication
  • New Media and Society
  • Popular Culture
  • Research Design
 

Research Interests

  • Intercultural Communication
  • Gig Economy
  • Cosmopolitanism
  • Motivations for Language Learning

Research Output

  1. Zeng, W. & Curran, N.M.* (forthcoming). Discriminated against or uniquely advantaged? Non-native English speaker teachers on online tutoring platforms. RELC Journal.

  2. Wang, J. & Curran, N.M*. (forthcoming). Self-branding and the commodification of regional difference on Douyin. Applied Linguistics Review. (Special issue “Platformization of language education” edited by Nate Ming Curran and Christopher Jenks).

  3. Curran, N.M. & Jenks, C. (forthcoming). Introduction. Applied Linguistics Review (Special issue “Platformization of language education” edited by Nate Ming Curran and Christopher Jenks). 

  4. Gu, B. & Curran, N.M.* (forthcoming). English tutors’ emotions, agency, and identity development in the aftermath of China’s Double Reduction Policy. Education Linguistics.

  5. Zeng, W. & Curran, N.M.* (forthcoming) Iterative self-branding: Chinese language teachers’ understanding and rationalization of working on online tutoring platforms. International Journal of Applied Linguistics. 

  6. Curran, N.M., Gu, B., Jenks, C. & Zhen, L. (In press). AI and native speakerism: The intersections of technology, language assessment, and linguistic objectivity. RELC Journal.

  7. Curran, N. M., & Ladegaard, H. J. (2025). Editorial. Language and Intercultural Communication, 25(3), 309-318. (Special issue, Interculturality, linguistic diversity, and social inclusion: current issues and future challenges” edited by Nate Ming Curran and Hans J. Ladegaard).

  8. Sun, W., Curran, N.M., Kim, J., Zhuo, L. & Lee, C. (2025). “I want to be part of them”: A phenomenological study of Chinese ping-pong players seeking nostalgic leisure experience in Korea.” Leisure Sciences.

  9. Wang, J. & Curran, N.M*. (2025). Language teachers’ use of social media platforms and online tutoring platforms: A scoping review. Asian Englishes. 

  10. Curran, N.M. (2024). Foreign English teachers’ intercultural reactions to China’s “Double Reduction” policy. World Englishes. (Special Issue “World Englishes and Intercultural Communication" edited by Christopher J. Jenks) 

  11. Curran, N.M. (2024). Language learners or hallyu fans? Identity and Korean language learning in the digital wilds. Journal of Language, Identity & Education.

  12. Wang, J. & Curran, N.M*. (2024). Competing for views and students: The implications of platformization for online language teaching. TESOL Quarterly.

  13. Curran, N. M., Istad, F., & Chesnut, M. (2024). Standing out and fitting in: Korean coffee entrepreneurs’ strategies for survival. Food, Culture & Society, 1-20.

  14. Istad, F., Kim, M. J., & Curran, N. M. (2024). Banal Koreanness: National imagery in multicultural-themed television shows.Critical Studies in Television,19(2), 219-237.

  15. Panaligan, J. H., & Curran, N. M. (2023). Adapt, acquire, diffuse, learn: Filipino online English tutors as intercultural bricoleurs. Language & Communication, 91, 21-31.

  16. Curran, N. M. (2023). Banal nationalism and conversational cosmopolitanism: the potential of online language education for intercultural communication. Language and Intercultural Communication, 23(3), 333-346.

  17. Curran, N.M. & Jenks, C. (2023). Gig Economy Teaching: On the Importance and Dangers of Self-Branding in Online Markets. Applied Linguistics

  18. Chesnut, M., Curran, N.M. & Kim. S. (2023). From Garbage to COVID-19: Theorizing Multilingual Commanding Urgency in the Linguistic Landscape. Multilingua: Journal of Cross-Cultural and Interlanguage Communication

  19. Curran, N.M. (2023). Discrimination in the Gig Economy: The Experiences of Black Online English Teachers. Language & Education.

  20. Curran, N.M. (2023). "More like a friend than a teacher”: Ideal Teachers and the Gig Economy for Online Language Learning. Computer Assisted Language Learning.

  21. Istad, F., Kim, M.J. & Curran, N.M. (2022). Producing Multiculturalism: Casting and Editing Migrants in Korean Reality Television. Continuum—Journal of Media & Cultural Studies

  22. Panaligan, J. & Curran, N.M (2022). “We are cheaper, so they hire us”: Discounted nativeness in online English teaching.  Journal of Sociolinguistics. [SSCI; IF = 1.340]

  23. Curran, N.M., Zhen, L. & Galperin, H. (2021). Pop cosmopolitanism and online language learning: findings from a discrete choice experiment. Information, Communication & Society. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2021.1934068  

  24. Curran, N.M., & Chesnut, M. (2021). English fever and coffee: Transient cosmopolitanism and the rising cost of distinction. Journal of Consumer Culture, https://doi.org/10.1177/1469540521990869

  25. Curran, N.M. (2020). Neoliberalism from Above and Cosmopolitanism from Below: A Korean English Meetup Group in the United States. Communication, Culture & Critique.

  26. Chesnut, M. & Curran, N.M. (2020). Americano, latte, or English: What do menu languages in Korean coffee shops tell us about the meaning of English today? English Today.

  27. Kim, D.O., Curran, N.M. & Kim, H. (2020). Digital Feminism and Affective Splintering: South Korean Twitter Discourse on 500 Yemeni Refugees. International Journal of Communication, 14, 4117-4135.

  28. Kim, H., Curran, N.M. & Zhen, L. (2020). Welcoming Difference or Reinforcing the Status Quo? The Influence of Multicultural Television Viewing on Multicultural and Gender Attitudes in South Korea. Journal of Intercultural Communication Research, 49(6), 600-616

  29. Curran, N.M. (2020). “Intersectional English(es) and the Gig Economy: Teaching English Online.” International Journal of Communication, 14, 2667–2686.

  30. Curran, N.M., Sun, J. & Hong, J. (2019). Anthropomorphizing AlphaGo: Content Analysis of the Framing of Google DeepMind’s AlphaGo in the Chinese and American Press. AI & Society.

  31. Hong, J. & Curran. N.M. (2019). Artificial Intelligence, Artists, and Art: Attitudes Toward Artwork Produced by Humans vs. Artificial Intelligence. ACM Transactions on Multimedia Computing, Communications and Applications.

  32. Curran, N.M. & Gibson, J. (2019). Conflict and Responsibility: Content Analysis of American News Media Organizations’ Framing of North Korea. Media, War & Conflict.

  33. Curran, N.M. (2019). A reflection on South Korea’s broadband success. Media, Culture & Society, 41(3), 385–396.

  34. Curran, N.M. (2018). English, Gatekeeping, and Mandarin: The Future of Language Learning in South Korea. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism.

  35. Curran, N.M. (2018). Learned Through Labour: The Discursive Production of English Speakers in South Korea. English Today, 34(3), 30-35

  1. Gibson, J. & Curran, N.M. (in press). The Photographs Tell the Story: Visual Representations of North Korea. In Hollihan T.A. (Ed). Engaging the Hermit Kingdom: Diplomatic and Mediated Arguments in the North Korean Crisis. New York: Palgrave McMillan.

  2. Riley, P., Baik, J., Curran, N.M & Kim, H. (in press). North Korean Media Diplomacy: From Rocket Man to the Red Carpet. In Hollihan T.A. (Ed). Engaging the Hermit Kingdom: Diplomatic and Mediated Arguments in the North Korean Crisis. New York: Palgrave McMillan.

Esteem Measures

  • 2024: FH Outstanding Young Teacher Award
  • 2023: Dean's Award for Research Excellence
  1. 2025-27 (PI) Hong Kong Research Grants Council (GRF) “Leveling the playing field: Language and gender on online tutoring platforms (OTPs)” (HKD $439,900)
  2. 2024-25 (PI) PolyU Faculty of Humanities Interdepartmental Grants “Linguistic and cultural miscommunication between tourists and hosts in Hong Kong: An interdisciplinary perspective” (HKD $590,000)
  3. 2023-26 (PI) Hong Kong Research Grants Council (ECS) “Discrimination and self-branding on online language tutoring platforms: An Applied Linguistics approach” (USD $395,600)
  4. 2023-24 (PI) Academy of Korean Studies “From foreign luxury to domestic necessity: Coffee culture in Korea today” (HKD $104,000).
  5. 2020-22 (PI) Academy of Korean Studies “Foreign Languages, Cultures, and the Future of Korean Cosmopolitanism.” Principal Investigator. (HKD $82,700)

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