LSPPC Webinars
Feburary, 2025: LSPPC Webinar (register here)
Situating English Medium Instruction Research and Development
Speaker: Ernesto Macaro
Date: Wednesday, 12th February 2025
Time: 5:00-6:00pm HKT (UTC/GMT+8)
Abstract:
There has been a global and rapid expansion of English-taught programmes (English Medium Instruction – EMI) in universities in non-anglophone countries. Although this expansion has been matched by an equally substantial growth in EMI research, there is a continuing debate regarding where this research is situated in the broader fields of Applied Linguistics and of Education (Rose et al 2021). This presentation will provide comprehensive data of EMI’s relationship with research in English for Academic Purposes (Macaro & Aizawa 2024) and who is involved in EMI research (Macaro & Aizawa 2022). It will conclude with a discussion as to the benefits of collaboration between all the stakeholders involved in EMI.
Bios:
Ernesto Macaro is Emeritus Professor of Applied Linguistics at the University of Oxford in the Department of Education. Before becoming a teacher educator and researcher in language learning he was a language teacher for 16 years. His research has focused on second language learning strategies and on the interaction between teachers and learners. He now applies these foci to classrooms where academic content is being taught through English (English as a medium of Instruction – EMI). He has published widely on these topics.
Archived Webinars
October, 2024: LSPPC Webinar
Can OpenAI write as rhetorically as humans do? A discourse study of human- and ChatGPT-generated research article abstracts in Applied Linguistics (Click here to view the webinar recording)
Speakers: Becky S. C. Kwan, Thomas H. T. Chan, Belinda W. S. Ko, Chris Y. H. Kwan
Date: Friday, 18 October 2024
Time: 4:00pm - 5:00pm HKT (UTC/GMT + 8)
Abstract
Since its release by OpenAI in 2022, ChatGPT has shaken up the entire world. With claims that it can replace humans in performing various writing tasks, a new line of research has emerged to examine the extent to which ChatGPT can generate human-like research articles. Results of the studies have so far been mixed, with some pointing to high degrees of similarity while some showing notable differences. The inconclusive findings are attributable to the various evaluation methods employed, some of which involve human-judgement that relies on expert intuition while some adopt detection methods that untrained automatic or machine-learned algorithms with parameters focusing on different linguistic features. The various methods have their own strengths and pitfalls, but one common issue that stands out is that their evaluation parameters rarely reflect scholarship in the field of English for Research and Publication Purposes (ERPP) that forms the bedrock of current research writing instruction. Hoping to address this theoretical lacuna in the existing studies and exploring what the field of ERPP can offer, we employed a discourse analytic approach to evaluate ChatGPT-generated article abstracts by tapping into theory of rhetoric in research communication and existing empirical findings about the rhetorical move structures of human-generated abstracts. Our data comprise abstracts of articles published in applied linguistics journals and those generated by ChatGPT. The results reveal noticeable differences between the two corpora. In this webinar, we will elaborate some of the observations and draw implications for future evaluation studies. We will also share thoughts for critical instruction in ERPP in contexts where students are allowed to use ChatGPT.
Bios
Becky S. C. Kwan was Associate Professor of English at the City University of Hong Kong where she taught a variety of courses on applied linguistics, English for academic purposes and in particular research writing for publication at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. She retired in July 2024 and will rejoin the university in 2025 as Adjunct Professor in the College of Business. Her areas of research include thesis writing, academic discourse, genre analysis and doctoral publishing. Her work has appeared in English for Specific Purposes, Ibérica, Journal of English for Academic Purposes, Higher Education, and Studies in Higher Education. Recently, she has also developed a strong interest in mentoring novice researchers in thesis writing and writing for publication purposes.
Thomas H. T. Chan is Assistant Professor of English in the Department of English Language and literature at Hong Kong Shue Yan University where he teaches undergraduate courses on linguistics and academic writing. His doctoral thesis focused on a cross-move and cross-paradigm analysis of the semantic content of citations in literature reviews of research articles. His research interests encompass genre analysis, citation analysis, academic discourse, corpus-based discourse analysis. His work has appeared in English for Specific Purposes, Ibérica, and Journal of English for Academic Purposes.
Belinda W. S. Ko is Teaching Consultant of English at the City University of Hong Kong. She has taught courses on applied linguistics, English for academic purposes and English for professional communication at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. In her PhD thesis, Belinda develops a psycho-narratological approach to deconstruct the speeches of Donald Trump in his 2016 US presidential campaign. Belinda’s research interests lie in discourse studies, particularly in taking a narrative approach to the analysis of social and political discourses.
Chris Y. H. Kwan is a part-time lecturer in the Department of English Language and Literature at Hong Kong Shue Yan University, where he teaches English for academic and professional purposes to undergraduate students. With a keen interest in applied English studies, he obtained his MA (with Scholastic Award and Distinction) in Language Studies at Hong Kong Baptist University in 2014, followed by his PhD in Applied Linguistics at the University of Hong Kong in 2023. His research areas include discourse analysis, pragmatics in language teaching and learning, and second language writing. As a language teacher-cum-researcher, he has published in Language in Society, RELC Journal, Studies in Self-Access Learning Journal, and The Asian Journal of Applied Linguistics. He also serves as Assistant Editor of The Asian Journal of Applied Linguistics, and a reviewer of a number of applied linguistics journals.
April, 2024: LSPPC Webinar
A Conversation on Digital Genres and Open Science Practices
Panel Conveners: María-José Luzón and Sofía Albero Posac
Date: Tuesday, 30 April 2024
Time: 4:00 – 5:30 pm HKT (UTC/GMT + 8)
Abstract
This online conversation features a panel of experts in digital genres for academic communication, led by Dr. María-José Luzón (University of Zaragoza) and Dr. Sofía Albero Posac (San Jorge University, Zaragoza). The full panel includes:
María José Luzón (University of Zaragoza)
Sofía Albero Posac (University of San Jorge, Zaragoza)
Erdem Akbas (Erciyes University)
An Cheng (Oklahoma State University)
Christoph Hafner (City University of Hong Kong)
Ken Hyland (University of East Anglia)
Kevin Jiang (Jilin University)
Jean Parkinson (Victoria University of Wellington)
Julia Valeiras (University Jaume I, Castellón)
The conversation will revolve around the use of digital genres to support Open Science practices. These practices involve making scientific data and knowledge freely available to other researchers but also to wider publics, thus democratizing access to science; improving transparency, that is, representing research in a way that facilitates reproducibility and enables peer control; and sharing the whole research process to improve collaboration. Digital genres exploit the affordances of the medium (e.g., hypertextuality, multimodality, wide reach, interactivity) to support open science practices which contribute to improving research efficiency and to public understanding of science. The panel will discuss topics related to science communication online (e.g., open-access journals, transparent peer review, multimodal communication, public communication of science), prompted by questions to be submitted by the audience in advance. See the Special Issue of Ibérica for recent research on Digital genres and Open Science practices by the panel of experts:
https://revistaiberica.org/index.php/iberica/issue/view/55
LSPPC Conversations
LSPPC Conversations adopt an interactive webinar format that aims to engage participants in conversation with experts in LSP & Professional Communication. The format will typically consist of a 10-15 minute orientation to a topic(s) presented by the invited guest(s), followed by discussions for the rest of the session.
Your questions for the panel by April 23, 2024
Please send questions about digital genres and open science practices by entering your questions in this online form. Selected questions will be addressed in the webinar. Please note that it may not be possible to address all questions in the time available.
Bios
María-José Luzón is a Senior Lecturer (PhD) at the University of Zaragoza. She has published extensively on corpus linguistics, English for Academic Purposes, academic writing by multilingual scholars, and digital academic genres. Her current research focuses on the analysis of digital genres for science communication and dissemination. Recent books include Digital genres in academic knowledge production and communication: Perspectives and practices (Multilingual Matters, 2022) and Genre networks. Intersemiotic relations in digital science communication (Routledge, 2023).
Sofía Albero-Posac is a lecturer (PhD) at San Jorge University, where she teaches English for Specific Purposes in different degrees. Her research interests include science dissemination, scientific and academic communication, multimodality, emerging digital genres, genre ecologies and English for Specific Purposes pedagogy. In her PhD she conducted a genre analysis of video abstracts in the field of medicine and biology under the supervision of María-José Luzón, with whom she has also co-authored contributions related to digital academic communication and digital ethnographies.
March, 2024: Department of English, CityU / ISGS-HK / LSPPC Joint Webinar
This webinar is jointly presented with Department of English, City University of Hong Kong and International Society for Gesture Studies - Hong Kong.
"Use gesture at least three times" and other advice for students of oral presentations: Empirical bases, prevalent concepts, and worldviews in contemporary gesture pedagogy
Speaker: Simon Harrison, City University of Hong Kong
Date: Monday, 25 March 2024
Time: 4:00 pm – 5:00 pm HKT (UTC/GMT + 8)
Abstract
Abundant studies of oral presentations have recently addressed the intimate relation of spoken language and gesture, their authors often discussing the implications of this intimacy for preparing students for assessed speaking activities and professional communication. This talk samples empirically-informed proposals and classroom materials relevant to teaching about gesture in the context of oral presentations. I situate these proposals and the results on which they are based within their varied theoretical and methodological traditions. My interdisciplinary perspectives work to reveal diverse assumptions about gestures, and relatedly, different views of what it means to be competent or skilful in our encounters with an audience. By bringing these proposals into one space, the talk shares several options for teaching about gesture, along with the understandings of presentations they each value and promote.
Bio
Simon Harrison is Assistant Professor in the Department of English at City University of Hong Kong. His research explores embodied and relational understandings of language, communication, and culture across diverse settings and scales, with a focus on spoken language interactivity and gesture.
January, 2024: Department of English, CityU / LSPPC Joint Webinar
This webinar is jointly presented with Department of English, City University of Hong Kong.
The language service competitiveness of Chinese Hong Kong: Evaluation and suggestions
Speaker: Wang Lifei, Beijing Language and Culture University
Date: Monday, 29 January 2024
Time: 4:00 pm – 5:00 pm HKT (UTC/GMT + 8)
Abstract
This lecture adopts detailed data and comprehensive index evaluation methods to evaluate the language service competitiveness of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. The results show that the environment of the language service industry in the Greater Bay Area is good. The total output value of language services in the Greater Bay Area reached 12.45983 billion yuan in 2022. Hong Kong plays an important role in language service industry. Finally, several suggestions are put forward to promote language service capabilities in the Greater Bay Area.
Bio
Wang Lifei is professor of School of Translation and Interpreting, and Dean of Academy of International Language Services, Beijing Language and Culture University, China. He is Chairman of Professional Committee for Business English of China Shippers’ Association, and a committee member of LSPPC. He published extensively in business language, language service and language education.
December, 2023: LSPPC Webinar
Academic publishing and the Attention Economy (click here to view the webinar recording)
Speaker: Ken Hyland, Honorary Professor at the University of East Anglia
Date: Wednesday, 6 December 2023
Time: 5:00 pm – 6:00 pm HKT (UTC/GMT + 8)
Abstract
With the explosion of information and constant bombardment of news, advertising and social media, the ‘Knowledge Economy’ has given way to the ‘Attention Economy’, which treats human attention as a scarce commodity. In the digital age, moreover, papers are products competing for readers’ limited attention in a context of massively greater competition. This is particularly relevant for academics as attention can function as currency as well as capital when its qualitative value is turned into measurable units. This is, in essence, the role played today by publication and citation. Propelled by metrics-driven career incentives, scholars are constantly pushed to gain the attention, and approval, of reviewers, editors, readers, funders and promotion boards and this means rhetorically promoting our work to be as noticeable as possible. In this review paper, I elaborate this point and argue, through the examination of recent research into academic discourse, how the attention economy has come to dominate how research is presented.
Bio
Ken Hyland is an Honorary Professor at the University of East Anglia. He has published 295 articles and 29 books on writing and academic discourse with 83,000 citations on Google Scholar. According to the Stanford/Elsevier analysis of the Scopus database, he is the world’s most influential scholar in language and linguistics. A collection of his work, The Essential Hyland, was published in 2018 by Bloomsbury. He is the Editor of two book series with Routledge and Bloomsbury, is a visiting professor at Jilin University and a Foundation Fellow of the Hong Kong Academy of the Humanities. He was founding co-editor of the Journal of English for Academic Purposes and co-editor of Applied Linguistics.
October, 2023: LSPPC Webinar: Best Paper Award Winners
This year, the Asia-Pacific LSPPC Association presented the inaugural Christopher N. Candlin Award for the Best Paper by Early Career Scholars. The winners were Anoud Abusalim and Sichen Xia. In this webinar, the two winners will present their work.
Speakers: Anoud Abusalim, Sichen Xia
Date: Tuesday, 3 October 2023
Time: 4:00 pm – 5:00 pm HKT (UTC/GMT + 8)
Coloniality and ERPP Practices in the Global South
Speaker: Anoud Abusalim, American University of Sharjah
Abstract
The talk discusses some of the effects of coloniality on social sciences research writing and publishing in the Arab World by employing the empirical accounts of 11 EAL and 11 NES scholars in social sciences (SS) and science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) disciplines about their ERPP practices. The talk answers critical questions about the ERPP challenges EAL and NES academics face when writing about their local issues. The talk asserts the necessity of critically approaching the buzzing conversation on decolonization in ESP and ERPP scholarship by recognizing the experiences of EAL and NES scholars with decoloniality.
Bio
Anoud Abusalim is a senior instructor in the English department at the American University of Sharjah (AUS), UAE, with a PhD in Educational Research from Lancaster University. Anoud has been teaching writing courses, in English, for multilingual students, primarily Arabic-speaking students, in addition to teaching professional writing and communication courses for more than 10 years at the American Unversity of Sharjah (AUS). Her research investigates English for Research Publishing Purposes (ERPP) practices for EAL and NES academics and knowledge production practices in the Global South. She has published on the experiences of Arabic-speaking academics in publishing their research in English and the disparities in the global research scene.
Explaining science to the non-specialist online audience: A multimodal genre analysis of TED talk videos
Speaker: Sichen Xia, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen
Abstract
Digital technologies have impacted scientific communication by facilitating developments in forms of expression for scientific genres and contributing to a diversified audience. Recently, various digital scientific genres that target both specialists and non-specialists have emerged, requiring authors to recontextualize scientific knowledge to meet the needs of a wider audience. One such genre is the TED talk video. In this talk, I will present an exploratory study of the genre and illustrate how science is explained to the non-specialist online audience through generic and multimodal resources in the digital multimodal genre.
Bio
Dr. Sichen Xia is Lecturer at the School of Humanities and Social Science, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen. Her research interests include genre analysis, multimodality, popularization, and digital literacy. She has published on these topics in journals such as English for Specific Purposes, RELC Journal, and Ibérica. Her research monograph Popularizing Science in the Digital Era is published with Routledge Multimodality Series.
April, 2023: LSPPC webinar
Impact of digital genres on genre theory (click here to view the webinar recording)
Speaker: Sujata Kathpalia, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
Date: Wednesday, 12 April, 2023
Time: 4:00 – 5:00 pm HKT (UTC/GMT + 8)
Abstract
This talk will explore the impact of digital genres on the concept of genre. The observations related to genre theory will be based on the analysis of print and digital media genres and supported by related research in genre studies. At first, a conventional two-tier analysis of genre analysis will be presented as it focuses on basic issues related to generic integrity and text-internal features at the functional, semantic, and rhetorical levels of analysis. Following this, the challenges in genre theory related to text-external factors will be addressed and explained, such as the problem of genre identification based on communicative purposes, erosion of the genre move construct, and the complex phenomena of genre bending, embedding, and mixing that are characteristic of genres in the real world. Finally, an attempt will be made to explain how the concept of gene needs to be extended to study and explain new media genres which are an outcome of web-based technology. To summarise, a multidimensional and multiperspective genre analysis of internet genres will be recommended for future studies to build on existing research and to keep pace with the new internet technology and software developments.
Bio
Sujata S. Kathpalia is a senior lecturer at the Language and Communication Centre at the Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. She has designed several foundation and advanced English for Specific Academic Purpose (ESAP) courses using the genre-based approach and she teaches these ESAP courses to both undergraduates and postgraduates. Her research interests include genre analysis, academic writing, code-switching, and English language teaching, and she has published extensively in journals such as Asian ESP Journal, Educational Studies, English World-Wide, ESP Today, Journal of English for Academic Purposes, RELC Journal, System, and World Englishes. She is the co-editor of a special issue in World Englishes titled ‘World Englishes and Cross-cultural Advertising’ (2019). Her recent publication is a Routledge book titled ‘Persuasive Genres: Old and New Media’ (2022).
February, 2023: LSPPC webinar
A Conversation on Research and Practice in English for Business Purposes
Panel Conveners: Catherine Nickerson, Clarice Chan
Date: Wednesday, 22 February, 2023
Time: 4:00 – 5:30 pm HKT (UTC/GMT + 8)
This online conversation features a panel of experts in English for Business Purposes, led by Prof. Catherine Nickerson (Zayed University) and Dr. Clarice Chan (University of St Andrews). It brings together scholars and practitioners and aims to encourage a dialogue on how best to incorporate research findings into the classroom. The full panel includes:
Catherine Nickerson (Zayed University)
Clarice Chan (University of St Andrews)
Peter Davidson, Senior Instructor, Zayed University
Julio Gimenez, Principal Lecturer, University of Westminster
Anne Kankaanranta, Senior University Lecturer, Aalto University
Lisa Leopold, Freelance Editor and EAP/ESP Practitioner
Uma Tadema, Business English Trainer, English in Emden
Zuocheng Zhang, Senior Lecturer, University of New England
Prof. Catherine Nickerson
Dr. Clarice Chan
The panel will address prominent themes in Research and Practice in English for Business Purposes, prompted by questions to be submitted by the audience in advance.
LSPPC Conversations
LSPPC Conversations adopt an interactive webinar format that aims to engage participants in conversation with experts in LSP & Professional Communication. The format will typically consist of a 10-15 minute orientation to a topic(s) presented by the invited guest(s), followed by discussions for the rest of the session.
Your questions for the panel by February 15, 2023
Please send questions about research and practice in English for Business Purposes by entering your questions in this online form. Selected questions will be addressed in the webinar. Please note that it may not be possible to address all questions in the time available.
November, 2022: LSPPC webinar
From E-commerce to Social Commerce: Analysing Multimodal Professional Discourse in the Chinese Context
Speaker: Dezheng (William) Feng, Department of English and Communication, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Date: Wednesday, 16 November 2022
Time: 4:00 – 5:00 pm HKT (UTC/GMT + 8)
Abstract
As discourse and communication in various professional contexts have become increasingly multimodal, it is important for analysts to investigate how meaning is realised through the deployment of a wide range of semiotic resources. In this talk, I will introduce how a social semiotic approach to multimodality can contribute to the analysis of professional discourse in the Chinese context, with reference to my forthcoming book Multimodal Chinese Discourse: Understanding Communication and Society in Contemporary China. Against the background of the rapid digital transformation of business and widespread consumerism in contemporary China, I will focus on two emerging professional discourse types in business, namely, branding in e-commerce and social commerce. A prominent feature emerging from the analysis is the blurred boundary between professional discourse and personal discourse. E- (and social) commerce has facilitated the decentralization of discourse production and allows laypersons or quasi-professionals to create professional practices that are different from the traditional institutional discourse in business. E-shop representatives and wanghong women have created new and hybrid forms of identity that transcend professional boundaries through their interdiscursive performance. They navigate between an expert identity and a peer identity through tactical appropriations of multimodal semiotic resources. The findings provide new understandings of professional discourse in the multimodal new media context.
Bio
Dezheng (William) Feng, PhD, is Associate Professor and Associate Director of the Research Centre for Professional Communication in English at the Department of English and Communication, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. His research focuses on the analysis of various media and communication practices from the perspectives of pragmatics, discourse analysis and multimodality. His recent publications have appeared in journals such as Journal of Pragmatics, Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, Teaching and Teacher Education, Discourse and Communication, and Visual Communication. He serves as Book Review Editor of Journal of English for Academic Purposes and editorial board member of international journals such as Multimodality and Society and Designs for Learning. His monograph Multimodal Chinese Discourse: Understanding Communication and Society in Contemporary China is to be published by Routledge in 2023.
September, 2022: Department of English, CityU / LSPPC Joint Webinar
This webinar is jointly presented with Department of English, City University of Hong Kong.
Corpora and Language Policy in Intercultural and Multimodal Workplaces
Speaker: Eric Friginal, Department of English and Communication, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Date: Monday, 26 September 2022
Time: 4:00 – 5:00 pm HKT (UTC/GMT + 8)
Abstract
In this presentation, I argue for the important role of applied corpus linguistics as a methodological approach in language and social research, contributing linguistics-based explications of workplace discourse with critical language policy implications. Over the past two decades, I have been exploring real-world, recorded, and transcribed texts from domains such as outsourced customer service call centers, healthcare, tourism and hospitality, global aviation, international maritime industry, and talk in multi-cultural and multimodal workplaces. My theoretical and analytical framework emphasizes the identification of discursive practices from corpora across socio-cultural structures and task dimensions of talk in these settings, focusing especially upon speakers’ understanding of role-relationships, discoursal goals and objectives, cultural and racial identities, and power dynamics at work (Baker, 2021; Friginal, 2020; Egbert, Biber, & Gray, 2022; Vine, 2020). Applied corpus linguistics is understood to include the use of corpus resources, techniques, and tools in order to, for example, examine patterning in public discourses so as to obtain novel understandings of how language is used and construed in specific contexts (Thompson & Friginal, 2020). I will share results of interrelated studies exploring corpus distributions and their macro and micro societal and policy implications, especially highlighting emerging mismatches between linguistic realities (i.e., from corpora) and industry expectations.
Bio
Eric Friginal is Professor and Head of Department of English and Communication at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Before moving to Hong Kong, he was Professor and Director of International Programs at the Department of Applied Linguistics and ESL at Georgia State University. He specializes in applied corpus linguistics, quantitative research, language policy and planning, technology and language teaching, sociolinguistics, cross-cultural communication, discipline-specific writing, and the analysis of spoken professional discourse in the workplace. His recent publications include The Routledge Handbook of Corpus Approaches to Discourse Analysis (2020), co-edited with Jack Hardy; Advances in Corpus-based Research on Academic Writing: Effects of Discipline, Register, and Writer Expertise, co-edited with Ute Römer and Viviana Cortes (2020); English in Global Aviation: Context, Research, and Pedagogy, with Elizabeth Mathews and Jennifer Roberts (2019); and Corpus Linguistics for English Teachers: New Tools, Online Resources, and Classroom Activities (2018). He is the founding co- editor-in-chief of Applied Corpus Linguistics (ACORP) Journal (with Paul Thompson).
April, 2022: LSPPC webinar
A conversation with Henry Widdowson
Date: Thursday, 14 April 2022
Time: 5:00 – 6:00 pm HKT (UTC/GMT + 8)
This online conversation features Henry Widdowson, Professor Emeritus, University of London Institute of Education and Honorary Professor, University of Vienna. In this conversation, Prof. Widdowson will address prominent themes in the fields of LSP and Professional Communication, prompted by questions to be submitted by the audience in advance.
LSPPC Conversations
LSPPC Conversations adopt an interactive webinar format that aims to engage participants in conversation with an expert in LSP & Professional Communication. The format will typically consist of a 15-20 minute orientation to a topic(s) by the invited guest(s) followed by 40-45 minutes of discussion.
Your questions for Prof. Widdowson by March 24, 2022
Please send questions about prominent themes on relevant LSP and Professional Communication topics by entering your questions in this online form. Selected questions will be addressed in the webinar. Please note that it may not be possible to address all questions in the time available.
February, 2022: LSPPC webinar
Exploring and Illuminating the Leadership Conceptualization Process (click here to view the webinar recording)
Speaker: Kevin Knight, Kanda University of International Studies, Japan
Date: Tuesday, 22 February 2022
Time: 4:00 – 5:00 pm HKT (UTC/GMT + 8)
Abstract
What is leadership? How do you capture leadership and bottle it? What are the challenges that you might have while trying to do so? In this webinar, I try to answer some of those questions as I share my account of exploring and illuminating the leadership conceptualization process. Under the guidance of Christopher Candlin, I have argued that a key to understanding leadership is to recognize that leadership is itself a conceptualization drawing on a number of positions, experiences, practices, and ideologies (Knight, 2015; Knight & Candlin, 2015). Leadership conceptualizations are co-constructed and contextually bound. In a study in which my research objective was to investigate how leadership is discursively constructed, without defining leadership a priori but allowing it to emerge from the data, my underlying motivation was to empower my English as a second-language (L2) learners in Japan to create and tell their own leadership stories (Knight, 2015). Two prompts in Knight (2015) used in the semi-structured interviews of 20 leaders in the public, private, and academic sectors were adapted to create the ESP Project Leader Profiles, which include the stories of 55 featured leaders about their leadership communication in their ESP projects around the globe (Knight, forthcoming). In a work in progress, I have been using a different theoretical lens as I explore leadership as an empty signifier and reflect on how my role as a researcher has influenced the leadership conceptualization process itself, and in Knight (forthcoming), as an insider and leader in the ESP community of practice in TESOL International Association, my aim has been to illuminate the context in which the profiles were created and written, and also how the leadership conceptualization process was designed in the profiles, for the professional development of ESP practitioners worldwide. I would like to argue that such illumination (including the influence of the researcher) is necessary to understand the leadership conceptualization process.
References:
Knight, K. (2015). Analysing the discourses of leadership as a basis for developing leadership communication skills in a second or foreign language. (Identifier: mq:42732) [Doctoral dissertation, Macquarie University]. http://hdl.handle.net/1959.14/1055529
Knight, K. (forthcoming). English for specific purposes project leader profiles: The leadership communication of 55 ESP project leaders. Hong Kong: Candlin & Mynard.
Knight, K., & Candlin, C. N. (2015). Leadership discourse as basis and means for developing L2 students into future leaders. In P. Shrestha (Ed.), Current developments in English for academic and specific purposes: Local innovations and global perspectives (pp. 27–50). Reading, UK: Garnet.
Bio
Dr. Kevin Knight (PhD in Linguistics, MBA, MPIA, BA) is Professor in the Department of International Communication (International Business Career major) and has also worked in the Career Education Center of Kanda University of International Studies in Chiba, Japan. In the English for Specific Purposes Interest Section (ESPIS) of TESOL International Association (TESOL), he has served as Chair, English in Occupational Settings (EOS) Representative, and ESPIS Community Manager. He is currently editor of ESP News (the ESPIS newsletter). He was also a member of the Governance Review Task Force (GRTF) appointed by the TESOL Board of Directors. In addition, he has been a TESOL blogger in the area of English for Specific Purposes (ESP). In 2021, after being nominated by the leaders of the ESPIS, he was selected as the recipient of the 2022 D. Scott Enright TESOL Interest Section Service Award. In the Asia-Pacific LSP and Professional Communication Association (LSPPC), he is a member of the Executive Committee and has taken on the leadership role of Outreach Officer. He has more than 30 years of professional experience working for private, public, and academic sector institutions including Sony and the Japan Patent Office (International Affairs Division). His doctoral research on leadership communication (i.e., discourse) as a basis for leadership development was under the supervision of Emeritus Professor Christopher Candlin and Dr. Alan Jones.
December, 2021: ISGS Hong Kong / LSPPC Joint Webinar
This webinar is jointly presented with International Society for Gesture Studies - Hong Kong.
Multimodal Conduct in the Legal Order
Speakers: Gregory Matoesian (University of Illinois at Chicago) and Kristin Enola Gilbert
Date: Thursday, 2 December 2021
Time: 9:00 – 10:00 am HKT (UTC/GMT + 8)
Abstract
Researchers in language and law or what is now referred to as forensic linguistics rarely, if ever, mention the role of multimodal conduct in legal settings such as trials, plea bargains, police training evaluations and so on. By the same token, despite the proliferation of gesture studies over the past several decades researchers rarely, if ever, mention their role in the legal institution. Our work demonstrates in concrete detail the role of multimodal conduct in the law, and how both gesture studies and forensic linguistics may benefit by looking at multimodal conduct in legal settings. Our talk will cover our recent publication from Cambridge University Press, Multimodal Conduct in the Law, as well as the even more recent Multimodal Performance and Interaction in Focus Groups (John Benjamins) and our work in progress tentatively titled (in honor of Michael Silverstein) “Practicing Linguistics (and Embodied Conduct) Without a License: Multimodal Oratory in Legal Ritual.”
Bios
Gregory Matoesian is a Professor in the Department of Criminology, Law, and Justice at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He is author of Reproducing Rape: Domination through Talk in the Courtroom (1993, University of Chicago Press), Law and the Language of Identity (2001, Oxford University Press), co-editor (with Elizabeth Mertz and William Ford) of Translating the Social World for Law (2016, Oxford University Press), co-author (with Kristin Gilbert) of Multimodal Conduct in the Law: Language, Gesture and Materiality in Legal Interaction (2018, Cambridge University Press) and co-author (with Kristin Gilbert) of Multimodal Performance and Interaction in Focus Groups (2021, John Benjamins).
Kristin Enola Gilbert received her Ph.D. from the Department of Criminology, Law, and Justice at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Her current work focuses on language and multimodal conduct in focus group evaluations of community policing training. She is co-author (with Gregory Matoesian) of Multimodal Conduct in the Law (2018, Cambridge University Press), co-author (with Gregory Matoesian) of Multimodal Performance and Interaction in Focus Groups (2021, John Benjamins) and has published peer-reviewed articles in Gesture, Multimodal Communication, Narrative Inquiry, and Discourse and Communication.
October, 2021: LSPPC webinar
Accounting for Interdiscursivity in Covid-19 Discourse (click here to view the webinar recording)
Speaker: Vijay K Bhatia, The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Date: Wednesday, 13 October 2021
Time: 4:00 – 5:00 pm HKT (UTC/GMT + 8)
Abstract
In this webinar, I would like to focus on some of the key aspects of interdiscursive appropriation across numerous disciplinary, ideological, commercial as well as economic perspectives in Covid-19 discourse prompting a range of competing and often confusing narratives making it almost impossible to interpret on the part of its intended audiences, including medical practitioners, healthcare workers, government agencies, political leaders and especially ordinary citizens. It seems that the current pandemic crisis has given rise to discourses that are increasingly complex in terms of interdisciplinarity, multidimensionality and hybridity. Drawing on the concept of Interdiscursivity as defined in Critical Genre Theory (Bhatia: 2017), I would like to argue that any satisfactory analysis to account for such interdiscursive complexity would essentially require a multiperspective and multidimensional analytical framework.
Reference:
Bhatia, Vijay K (2017): Critical Genre Analysis: Interdiscursive Performance in Professional Practice, London, Routledge.
Bio
Vijay Bhatia retired as Professor from City University of Hong Kong and is now Adjunct Professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and Visiting Professor at the Hellenic American University in Athens (Greece). Some of his research projects include Analyzing Genre-bending in Corporate Disclosure Practices, and International Arbitration Practice: A Discourse Analytical Study, in which he led research teams from more than 20 countries. His research interests include, (Critical) Genre Theory, Analysis of academic and professional discourses, particularly in legal, business, promotional, and new media contexts; ESP and Professional Communication; simplification and easification of legal and other public documents. Three of his monographs on genre analysis, Analysing Genre: Language Use in Professional Settings (1993), Worlds of Written Discourse: A Genre-based View (2004), and Critical Genre Analysis: Interdiscursive Performance in Professional Practice (2017) are widely used in genre theory and practice.
Website: www.vjkbhatia.com
March, 2021: HAAL/LSPPC joint webinar
This webinar is jointly presented with the Hong Kong Association for Applied Linguistics.
Feedback and doctoral student writing
Speaker: Brian Paltridge, Department of English, City University of Hong Kong
Date: Thursday, 11 March 2021
Time: 6:00 – 7:00 pm HKT (UTC/GMT + 8)
Abstract
Feedback is an important way through which doctoral students learn the expectations of writing at their particular level of study. It is also through feedback that students are inducted into the community of practice of their discipline. This feedback is provided by the student’s supervisor/s during their period of study as well as by examiners on completion of the degree. While a number of studies have examined supervisor feedback and examiner feedback, a matter that is still underexplored is how supervisors and examiners ask students to make changes to their work and the language they use do this. This presentation examines the feedback that doctoral students get on their work from both supervisors and examiners. In particular, it examines features of this feedback that students might find difficult to interpret and, as a result, respond to.
Bio
Brian Paltridge is a visiting professor in the Department of English at the City University of Hong Kong. He is author of Discourse Analysis (third edition, Bloomsbury, 2021), The Discourse of Peer Review (Palgrave Macmillan, 2017) and, with Sue Starfield, Thesis and Dissertation Writing in a Second Language (second edition, Routledge, 2020) and Getting Published in Academic Journals (University of Michigan Press, 2016). He is currently writing a book with Sue Starfield titled Change and Stability in Thesis and Dissertation Writing to be published by Bloomsbury and, with Matthew Prior, editing The Routledge Handbook of Second Language Acquisition and Discourse. He is an editor emeritus for the journal English for Specific Purposes and a former editor of TESOL Quarterly.
