Systemic Functional Linguistics Part 1, Volume 1

The first of 8 volumes of collected works by our Chair Professor Christian M.I.M. Matthiessen published by Equinox Publishing is out! Prof. Matthiessen is one of the world's leading scholars in Systemic Functional Linguistics #SFL and the series is about the nature, the functions and the structure of human language seen from a number of points of view within the framework of contemporary scientific thought. It covers about 35 years of work by him. This Volume 1 is titled Systemic Functional Linguistics Part 1 which focuses on "The challenge of theorizing language: theoretical cartography." It provides the foundation of the whole series as well as introducing and summarising SFL. The painting on the book cover is by Prof. Matthiessen's father. More about the book and buy the hard copy or eBook at discount: click here Stay tuned for our update on the release of Volume 2!

Open for application: Junior Research Mentoring Programme (deadline: 13 April 2021)

Want to be part of our research projects and learn more about language research? Our Department is offering four practical and interesting research projects under the Junior Research Mentoring Programme organised by the Academic Registry. S.4 & S.5 / Grade 10 & Grade 11 / Year 11 & 12 students are welcome to apply: Project 1: Changes in Verbal and Non-verbal behavior as Proficiency in English Develops (Research Leader: Dr Renia Lopez) Project 2: Cultural Values in Public Service Advertisements in Hong Kong (Research Leader: Dr William Feng)  Project 3: Language, Social Media, and Time (Research Leader: Dr Dennis Tay)  Project 4: Leveraging ‘Uncertainty’ during a Health Crisis: A Comparative Analysis of the Use of Hedges in the Speeches of Four International Political Leaders During 2020 (Research Leader: Dr Margo Turnbull)  The research projects allow students to get helpful insights into our BA (Hons) in English and Applied Linguistics programme as well as to create a unique experience in language research. Application deadline: 13 April 2021 Project period: May - August 2021 Click here for more information.

Virtual Presentation of the Stephen Evans Awards 2020

In recognition of the contributions of the late Prof. Stephen Evans, former associate head of our Department, the Department has introduced the Stephen Evans Awards since 2018. For the 2020 awards, we are glad to have his beloved wife Mrs Kerry Evans, our Head Prof. Hans Ladegaard, and Associate Head Prof. Bernadette Watson, to virtually present the awards on 17 March 2021. ‘I feel humbled and honored to receive this award and my journey at PolyU started with Prof. Stephen Evan's support and encouragement. I was really shattered to know about his untimely demise before I started my PhD. This award meant a lot to me and it has inspired me to work more.’ - Dr Madhu NEUPANE, The Stephen Evans Best Paper 2020 Awardee (Title of paper: Supervisory feedback across disciplines: does it meet students’ expectations?) ‘I look on this award as a memento that would always remind me of the significant role that Prof. Stephen Evans played towards my academic development in the seven months that I had him as my supervisor. He made an indelible impression on my mind not only as an academic aficionado but more importantly as an empathetic and benevolent human being. He is still very much my memory.’ - Dr Mark NARTEY, The Stephen Evans Best Thesis 2020 Awardee (Title of thesis: Discourse and political myth-making: A critical discourse study of Nkrumaism) The Tribute volume to Stephen Evans – “Approaches to Specialized Genres” was presented to Mrs Evans at the last part of the presentation. The special volume was edited by two former PhD students of Prof. Stephen Evans and our Dr Dennis Tay with an aim to connect Prof. Evans' intellectual legacy. It highlights the value and the growing trend of a multi-perspective and inter-theoretic approach to genre research. Click here for the replay of the virtual presentation.  

The 26th Congregation of the Faculty of Humanities

Congratulations to all our graduates! The 26th Congregation of the Faculty of Humanities, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University will be held virtually on 27 March 2021. Keep in touch with other fellow ENGL alumni and the Department by joining Department of English Alumni Association (DEAA)!

Update your PolyU alumni profile

Dear ENGL Alumni, We hope you are still able to recall the many positive experiences and moments you had with the Department of English at PolyU, and the many friendships you developed with your professors and peers. We here at the Department would very much like to re-engage and reconnect with you. PolyU will be celebrating its 85th Anniversary in 2022. We would like to cordially invite you to come back to your alma mater and join us and your fellow classmates in celebrating and commemorating your many achievements. We would also like to keep you up to date with the latest news and any future happenings. Please take a few minutes to update your alumnus profile and help us build a strong and healthy alumni network with you and PolyU. You will get access to MS Office 365 and 5TB OneDrive storage for free with a PolyU Connect email account! Click here to act now! Best wishes, The Department of English The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Replay: Global Business English in Asia by Dr Jane Lockwood

The webinar took place on 1 March 2021 with our Dr Jane Lockwood as the speaker. Traditional Business English books cannot reflect changes in the real world. She shared how her forthcoming book “Developing global business English in Asia” teaches localised business English in Asia. Abstract: For decades business English teaching materials have been ‘materials, rather than research led’ (Maggie St. John, 1980). Publishers have been cautious in changing the course book content and approaches which have traditionally relied heavily on American business and cultural norms, and assumed everything in business is done face to face. Increasingly scholars are contesting much of what is included in traditional business English books as not reflecting real life in business, not being authentic and not focusing on the changing nature of communication exchange (see for example Bhatia, 2010; Gimenez, 2014; Lockwood & Song, 2016). However, one of the biggest complaints of business English teachers at college level in Asia, is that course books are not tailored to the needs of Asian business English students where they need to use English when they graduate and work in Asia. Developing global business English in Asia (Routledge - forthcoming) has been designed to meet the needs of teachers and students at college level across Asia wanting relevant, realistic and research-based materials. This online seminar was jointly organised by the Department of English and Research Centre for Professional Communication in English, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University.  

Improving Second Language Writing: Across the Disciplines Resources for Content Teachers

Our Dr Renia Lopez found that writing instruction following a teaching and learning cycle, or any other type of cycle, where feedback and a chance to integrate it is given to students, did help them improve their academic writing. She noticed that more interactive co-deconstruction approach is more effective, and that pushing students to think about the writing instruction contents through simple exercises also enhances their awareness and confidence levels. The research and its findings were reported in her contributed chapter "Improving Second Language Writing Across the Disciplines: Resources for Content Teachers" in the new book Teaching Language and Content in Multicultural and Multilingual Classrooms: CLIL and EMI Approaches (pp. 191-122), published by Palgrave Macmillan and also available at Springer. About the book: click here About Dr Renia Lopez: click here

Win a Cash Prize: Logo Design Competition for New ENGL Logo (deadline: 26 March 2021)

We are proud to announce the retitling of the Department to the Department of English and Communication with effect from 1 September 2021. The abbreviation of the Department will remain "ENGL". This retitling marks a new milestone for the Department, and we invite all PolyU staff, students, and alumni of ENGL to participate in a competition to design a new logo for the Department! The competition runs until 26 March 2021. The winner will be contacted by email on 30 April 2021. The selected winner will receive a cash prize of HK$1,000. We are looking for creative ideas that capture the values and mission of our Department and that emphasise its commitment to excellent education and research on language and communication in applied contexts like education, business, and healthcare, where English remains the international language of choice. The new title also recognizes that the academics in the Department are interdisciplinary and represent diverse research areas and methodologies. Click here to submit your best design NOW!

Replay: Introducing MSDIP: A Method for coding source domains in metaphor analysis by Dr Gudrun Reijnierse

This is a replay of the webinar took place on 8 February 2021 with Dr Gudrun Reijnierse as the speaker. She introduced a source-domain coding method in metaphor analysis, with examples from Corpora of Historical American English and Contemporary American English. Abstract: Conceptual metaphor analysis is an important part of many metaphor studies (e.g., Ahrens & Jiang, 2020; Dodge, Jisup, & Sitckles, 2015; Steen, 1999, 2011), because conceptual metaphors are considered to provide a window onto human thinking (Lakoff & Johnson, 1980). Over the years, however, the analytical process of attributing source-domain to linguistic metaphors has received relatively limited attention (Deignan, 2016). In this talk, we introduce a systematic, reliable method for source-domain coding in metaphor analysis. This method is based on the assumption that metaphorical words can have multiple potential source domains that need to be identified. The method is illustrated through various examples from the Corpus of Historical American English and the Corpus of Contemporary American English. We also report the results of a series of reliability tests to show that the method constitutes a reliable tool for source-domain identification. Finally, we illustrate situations in which the linguistic context or aspects related to genre or time of publication may restrict the range of potential source domains. In such cases, linguistic and/or contextual information thus serve to further specify the source domain. This online seminar was jointly organised by the Department of English and Research Centre for Professional Communication in English, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University.  

Latest issue of newsletter published: ENGLink Autumn 2020

Headline:  HK$1.19M Granted for Research Projects