MARG – Applied Linguistics & Communication @ Newcastle University

Faculty Research Group status for MARG

Micro-Analysis Research Group (MARG) has been awarded Faculty Research Group status for three years (pending one year review). As most of you will know, MARG members analyse social interaction using video recordings taken from a wide range of real-life workplace and everyday settings. Group convenors from ECLS are Adam Brandt, Chris Leyland and Paul Seedhouse, with other Applied Linguistics & Communication staff and students regularly attending the weekly data analysis workshops (‘data sessions’).

MARG has been running in ALC for over 10 years, with strong ties to similar research groups across Europe, and in Japan, Turkey and the US. But this is the first time formal recognition has been received from Faculty. With this official status, MARG will be aiming to further develop cross-School and cross-Faculty collaboration, facilitated with the help of co-convenors Dr Neil Jenkings (School of Geography, Politics & Sociology) and Professor Andrea Whittle (Newcastle University Business School). There are already some exciting events and activities planned from September 2017 onwards – watch this space!

You can read about other Faculty Research Groups in the Newcastle University’s Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences here.

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.

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 (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.

In 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)