English Debate Club won a finalist prize in the International Islamic University Malaysia Open 2023

We are pleased to announce some good news from the English Debate Club. Two members participated in the International Islamic University Malaysia Open 2023 in December of last year and successfully won a finalist prize by demonstrating excellent logical thinking skills and outstanding teamwork. This was the result of their hard work, dedication, and strategic collaboration. In bringing home this prize, they have brought pride to our club, department, and university. Congratulations to them and to our newly established club. We are looking forward to future achievements from club members. 

Dr Warren Mok appointed as Honorary Professor at the Department of English and Communication

We are pleased to announce the appointment of Dr Warren Mok, a world-renowned tenor, as our Honorary Professor, effective 15 January 2024. With his exceptional expertise in Language Arts, Opera, and Musical Performance, Dr Mok will play a vital role in advising our Department. His outstanding contributions to the field of music and his passion for promoting arts and culture will greatly benefit our students and faculty.  Dr Mok is appointed under the Honorary Professorship scheme which aims to enable the University to seek expert advice from renowned scholars in other institutions or eminent practitioners in related professions.

New book on domestic workers talk: language use and social practices in a multilingual workplace

This new co-authored book by our Dr Anne Schluter published by Multilingual Matters, presents an ethnographic study into power, language policy, and communication from the perspectives of the Brazilian-American employer as well as the company’s Hispanophone and Lusophone employees. The study is set in a multilingual cleaning company that serves Anglophone customers in the upper- (middle-) class suburbs of New York City. Power asymmetries in internal communication play into the employer’s legitimated domination over her employees; moreover, her L1 Portuguese and her command of English both represent important forms of linguistic capital. Employees’ resourcefulness and multicompetence – rather than quantifiable levels of English-language proficiency – determine the extent to which they rely on language brokering to facilitate communication with customers, directly impacting their individual agency. This book contributes to current debates on extra-linguistic modes of communication in multilingual settings and thematic analyses of care work, migration, and the role of English. Furthermore, it adds to the growing literature devoted to the sociolinguistics of migrant domestic workers. More information about the book can be found on the website HERE.

New paper on Korean coffee entrepreneurs’ strategies for survival

This new joint article by our Dr Ming Curran, published in Food, Culture & Society, draws on his research into South Korea's vibrant coffee culture. The research, funded by the Academy of Korean Studies, aims to better understand the social meanings of coffee and coffee shops in contemporary Korean culture. In this paper, Dr Curran and his two collaborators, Dr Felicia Istad and Dr Michael Chesnut, explore the strategies that hands-on owners of coffee shops, or "coffee entrepreneurs", use to pursue success in Seoul's ultra-competitive coffee market. Drawing on two rounds of interviews with 9 coffee entrepreneurs, they find that these entrepreneurs feel immense pressure to ensure both that their shops "stand out" amongst competitors and also "fit it" by keeping up with the latest trends. Dr Curran will present his research on Korean coffee shop culture in January at the 1st annual "Language of Food" conference at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University. More information about the article can be found on the website HERE.

New paper on discursive construction of online teacher identity and legitimacy in English language teaching

This new paper by our Dr Jenifer Ho, published in Learning, Media and Technology, a journal under Taylor & Francis, explores the process of identity construction among online English teachers on YouTube. The study analyses banner images, biographies, and semi-structured interviews of online teachers, and proposes a framework for understanding how online English teachers who teach publicly on YouTube strategically constructs their identities. The findings reveal that online English teachers on YouTube strategically position themselves within various identity constructs, such as professional teachers and entrepreneurs, to emphasise their unique role as online English teachers. This highlights the fluid and multifaceted nature of identity construction for online teachers as they navigate the complex landscape of the online English language teaching marketplace. The study underscores the need to acknowledge the significant effort online teachers invest in shaping and foregrounding their professional identities. This research also contributes to a more nuanced understanding of the identity work online teachers undertake to legitimise themselves as language teaching professionals in the digital context. Open access to the article from HERE. 

New article of audience design and pragmatic conceptions of moves and upvotes during advice-giving on Reddit

This new paper by our Dr Rickey Lu, published in a Science Direct journal of Elsevier, investigates how advice-giving is conducted on Reddit, one of the most globally popular online sites where advice interactions routinely occur. The study involves building a corpus of Reddit advice-giving comments, which was analyzed for the types of moves that appeared. The data was then quantified in order to conduct statistical analyses to explore advice-giving variations by topic, as well as determining the association between moves and upvotes (a digital affordance on Reddit that users can use to interact with comments and posts, akin to the Facebook 'like'). Results show that advice-giving on Reddit is sensitive to the advice topic, and certain moves used during advice-giving are also correlated to variations in upvote scores. Dr Lu argues that these results indicate how different audiences of the advice interaction perceive the interactional goal of advice, highlighting how advice-givers and the audiences of Reddit often have conflicting views on how advice should be given. Ultimately, these findings underscore a need to explore advice from beyond a purely discursive level, by taking into account the mediated features of online platforms where advice often now increasingly take place. Open access to the article from HERE.

Joint article of Dr Molly Pan and Prof. Dennis Tay recognised as a Editors' Choice article in Lingua

An article written by our Dr Molly Pan and Prof. Dennis Tay titled, "The effectiveness of metaphors in Chinese video advertisements for depression: An experimental study", has been recognised as a Editors' Choice article in Lingua, a Science Direct journal of Elsevier. This research paper delves into the uncharted territory of the impact of metaphors in video advertisements for depression-related products. The study explores how metaphors can shape viewers' perceptions, cognitive and affective elaboration, attitudes towards the advertisement, and even their purchase intentions. The research methodology involved an experimental survey with 299 participants and semi-structured interviews with 29 individuals. The findings reveal that needs-highlighting metaphors outperformed other conditions in terms of cognitive elaboration, affective elaboration, attitudes towards the ad, and purchase intentions, irrespective of the product types. For experience products, features-highlighting metaphors proved to be the most effective, while for search products, they generated the lowest scores. The interviews showed that metaphors activated mental images, elicited a range of emotions, and significantly influenced the persuasive power of advertisements. However, it's crucial to note that reinforced negative appeals may lead to negative perceptions. The article is available HERE (free download till end December 2023).

New article on cognitive-linguistic difficulties in adults with Long COVID: A follow-up study

This new article by our Professor Louise Cummings published in Language and Health, a Science Direct journal under Elsevier, examines the impact of Long COVID on cognition and language. The study assessed 41 adults with Long COVID using a test protocol of 12 language tasks over a 6-month period. Findings reveal that while improvements occur in verbal fluency and the informativeness of spoken discourse, difficulties in immediate and delayed verbal recall persist long after the onset of COVID symptoms. These language difficulties may contribute to a lack of work return in these adults. The study highlights the need for speech-language pathology services and occupational health policies to support individuals with Long COVID. Long COVID, a debilitating illness that affects functioning for months and even years after infection, has significant implications for long-term health. Open access to the article from HERE.

Professor Hu Guangwei ranks among the World’s Top 2% Scientists

Our Prof. Hu Guangwei has been ranked again among the world's top 2% most-cited scientists in the newly released list compiled by Stanford University! Based on career-long data, Prof. Hu is one of the top 50 scholars worldwide in the field of languages and linguistics. He has been on the top 2% of most cited scientist lists for five consecutive years since 2019. Congrats to Prof. Hu on this well-deserved recognition! We are incredibly proud of his unwavering dedication and commitment to advancing knowledge in his field.

New joint paper on a scoping review of clinical mnemonic devices

Clinical handovers have been a concern for patient safety since the publication of To Err is Human in 1999. While mnemonic devices have been created to ensure safe handovers, no universal framework describes their clinical processes and functions. In this scoping review under the Oxford University Press, Dr Amos Yung and Prof. Bernadette Watson from our International Research Centre for the Advancement of Health Communication and Dr C S Pak (MBBS) developed a taxonomy from 42 identified handover mnemonics. The taxonomy contains three processes and twenty functions, including medical history, medical evaluation, care plans, and patient information. Communication manner and information validation were also identified. This taxonomy may aid medical practitioners in creating a clinical handover mnemonic appropriate for their workplace. More information about the paper can be found on the website HERE.