Author: Adam

Paul Seedhouse leads ‘Video-Enhanced Observation’ project, funded by EU

paulseedhouseA team of researchers, led by Paul Seedhouse, has recently been awarded €270K from the ‘Erasmus Plus KA2 Strategic Partnerships for School Education grant’. The project, which also includes Paul Miller and Jon Haines (School of ECLS, Newcastle University), brings together six partners from five countries, and aims to improve the quality and efficiency of education and training by using ‘Video Enhanced Observation‘ (VEO), an innovative technological approach to support initial teacher training and continuing professional development.

veo-educate

Continue reading Paul Seedhouse leads ‘Video-Enhanced Observation’ project, funded by EU

MARG schedule for 2015-16 semester 1

This semester’s MARG data session schedule is now set! As ever, we have a wide range of exciting interactional contexts for us to examine, analyse and discuss. Over the course of the coming semester, staff and students will be presenting their audio-video data, typically from second language and/or international settings, for collaborative analyses and discussion.

MARG schedule 2015-16 sem 1 photo

As ever, MARG data sessions take place during term-time on Wednesdays at 4-6pm. This academic year, all data sessions will take place in KGVI Building, room 2.11. Email MARG co-ordinator Kirsty Blewitt for further details.

We will doubtless have more updates about MARG in the weeks and months to come. You can read our first blog post about MARG here.

 

About Micro-Analysis Research Group (MARG)

marg logo

MARG (pronounced ‘marge’, perhaps confusingly!) began in the School of ECLS way back in spring 2007. At that time, the newly-arrived Alan Firth and Chris Jenks (now of University of South Dakota) decided that the School should take more advantage of the growing team of researchers and students interested in language, discourse and social interaction. Along with Paul Seedhouse and Steve Walsh, the team began to meet on a weekly basis, along with PhD students, to jointly analyse pieces of audio/video data of real life spoken interaction.

marg1In the ten years since, MARG has grown in size and stature, now being regularly attended by 15-20 staff and students from the school and other parts of the university. MARG also regularly welcomes visitors from other universities, both in the UK and overseas, and has developed a worldwide reputation for being an exciting forum for the collaborative analysis of social interaction, particularly in settings related to second language learning and use, and typically from the research approach of ethnomethodological conversation analysis. Continue reading About Micro-Analysis Research Group (MARG)

Adam Brandt and ALC students attend HUMAN workshop and conference in Ankara, Turkey

HUMAN

Last month, Adam Brandt and ALC research students, Nur Binti Abdullah and Kazuki Hata, attended the ‘Social Interaction and Applied Linguistics PGR Conference and Workshop 2015‘ at Hacettepe University in Ankara, Turkey. The events were organised by members of HUMAN (Hacettepe University Micro-Analysis Network), including former ALC students Olcay Sert and Hatice Ergul, and involved leading researchers and research students interested in language and social interaction.

Organisers Ufuk Balaman and Olcay Sert, alongside Evelyne Berger

On day one, three PGR workshops were held, including one led by Adam Brandt and Hatice Ergul on Membership Categorisation Analysis. Day two saw a large number of research student presentations, including two by current ALC students on their PhD research (as well as two presentations by former MA students, Yusuke Arano and Mike Grez).

Johannes Wagner begins his morning plenary

Day two was also marked by three plenary presentations by leading L2 social interaction researchers Johannes Wagner (University of Southern Denmark), Simona Pekarek-Doehler (University of Neuchatel) and Numa Markee (University of Illnois, Urbana-Champagne). Both the plenaries and the student presentations involved high quality, cutting-edge research at the intersection of social interaction and applied linguistics, and led to many lively discussions and debates.

HUMAN director Olcay Sert introduces Simona Pekarek-Doehler ahead of her plenary talk
HUMAN director Olcay Sert introduces Simona Pekarek-Doehler ahead of her plenary talk

The HUMAN team deserve great credit and thanks for putting together such an interesting and exciting event (both academically and socially), and the ALC team look forward to working with them all further in the future!

Rachelle Vessey conference presentation on ‘hashtag politics’

UntitledIn early September, Rachelle Vessey travelled to Hamburg to present as part of a session on “Hashtag politics” at the Language in the Media conference.

Her paper, entitled “The language politics of Twitter in Canada”, followed papers focusing on Hong Kong and France for a truly international approach to the communicative functions of hashtags in political contexts. Continue reading Rachelle Vessey conference presentation on ‘hashtag politics’

ALC staff and students present at BAAL Annual Meeting 2015

BAAL 6

Earlier this month, the ALC team made a big impact at the BAAL Annual Meeting 2015 in Aston University. Three staff members and eight research students presented, with even more of our students in attendance.

Continue reading ALC staff and students present at BAAL Annual Meeting 2015

New publication by Alina Schartner on ‘the effect of study abroad on intercultural competence’

RMMMAlina Schartner‘s latest article – ‘The effect of study abroad on intercultural competence: a longitudinal case study of international postgraduate students at a British university‘ – has been published in the Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development.

Continue reading New publication by Alina Schartner on ‘the effect of study abroad on intercultural competence’

New publication on ‘topic’ by Paul Seedhouse and Sumita Supakorn

s18686311Paul Seedhouse and Sumita Supakorn have recently had their paper on ‘Topic-as-script and topic-as-action in language assessment and teaching‘ published by Applied Linguistics Review.

Continue reading New publication on ‘topic’ by Paul Seedhouse and Sumita Supakorn

New ‘Pastagate’ publication by Rachelle Vessey

Rachelle Vessey’s latest article – ‘Food fight: conflicting language ideologies in English and French news and social media’ – has been published in the Journal of Multicultural Discourses.

PastagateThe article explores the role of language ideologies in news and social media by examining representations of a language controversy in Canada known as “Pastagate”. It can be read in full here.

 

 

 

Rachelle Vessey presents at Corpus Linguistics 2015 conference

Vessey profile picLast month, Rachelle Vessey presented a paper on ‘Corpus Linguistics and Superdiversity’ at Lancaster University’s Corpus Linguistics 2015 Conference. Rachelle’s paper was part of a workshop on ‘Corpus Linguistics and Social Media’, which included many esteemed CL researchers, including former AL staff member, Dr Dawn Knight.

Continue reading Rachelle Vessey presents at Corpus Linguistics 2015 conference

ALC staff present at IIEMCA 2015 conference in Denmark

iiemcaposter
IIEMCA International Conference 2015

Three members of our ALC team recently attended the IIEMCA International Conference 2015, which was held at the University of Southern Denmark in Kolding.

The theme of the conference – ‘Living the Material World’ – brought together leading researchers from the field of ethnomethdology (EM), conversation analysis (CA), and interaction analysis more broadly, to examine and discuss the role that objects play in face-to-face interaction in a wide variety of settings. Continue reading ALC staff present at IIEMCA 2015 conference in Denmark

New book chapter by Alina Schartner & Tony Young

9781137397478Alina Schartner and Tony Young have a chapter entitled ‘Culture Shock or Love at First Sight? Exploring the Honeymoon Stage of the International Student Sojourn‘ in the recently published collection, ‘Transcultural Interaction and Linguistics Diversity in Higher Education: The Student Experience’. Continue reading New book chapter by Alina Schartner & Tony Young

A (relatively!) new appointment in the ALC Section: Dr Alina Schartner

10923190_10153276824087193_6193711588618266383_nFollowing on from our profile about recently appointed Lecturer, Dr Chris Leyland, here is some further information about Dr Alina Schartner, who also joined us as Lecturer in Applied Linguistics in early June. Alina kindly answered a few quick questions recently… Continue reading A (relatively!) new appointment in the ALC Section: Dr Alina Schartner

A (relatively!) new appointment in the ALC Section: Dr Chris Leyland

picture.phpIn early June, we were delighted to welcome Dr Chris Leyland and Dr Alina Schartner to the ALC team. Many of us know Chris and Alina from their previous associations with the Section (as students, for example). But for those of you know don’t know them, I asked the latest members of our team a couple of quick questions recently. Here are Chris’ responses… Continue reading A (relatively!) new appointment in the ALC Section: Dr Chris Leyland