English Language research

Overview

The English Language and Communication group is an enthusiastic and dedicated group interested in various aspects of language and language teaching.

Regular research seminars are held during the academic year where staff members as well as invited speakers present their research to staff, undergraduate and postgraduate students.

There are currently three PhD students and one MA by Research student within the group.

The research interests of individual members are diverse but cluster around three general themes:

• Language acquisition and language learning, with focuses on monolingual and bilingual language acquisition and second language learner narratives.
• Meaning and interpretation, with focuses on cognitive and lexical semantics and pragmatic processing.
• Text, power and society, with a focus on critical discourse analysis, especially from a cognitive perspective.

Our members have:

• published with leading houses such as Palgrave.
• regularly presented research at international conferences.
• served on various scientific committees and editorial boards.

In support of this research, and creating an exciting environment in which to work, the group has also been active in organising international conferences including:

• the 2nd Critical Approaches to Discourse Analysis across Disciplines conference
• the 3rd UK Cognitive Linguistics conference

We are happy to receive proposals for masters and doctoral research in any area of focus within the group.