Centre for Language, Discourse & Communication

The Centre for Language, Discourse and Communication is a globally influential centre for language research with exceptional strengths in discourse studies and sociolinguistics.

The over-arching research theme in the Centre is ‘Identities and Mobilities’, which reflects its core strength in research on (multingual) identities in a variety of everyday, institutional and mediated contexts.

The Centre offers extensive research training and supervision on a range of (socio)linguistic methods and frameworks, including: cognitive linguistics, conversation analysis, corpus-assisted discourse studies, discourse & sociolinguistic approaches to social media communication, identities-in-interaction, narrative analysis and small stories research.

You can find more information about our people, publications, events and themes below.

Members

Clyde Ancarno

Lecturer in Applied Linguistics

Nick Andon

Visiting Lecturer

Sara Bonin

Full-time visiting research student

Simon Coffey

Senior Lecturer in Modern Languages Education

Guy Cook

Emeritus Professor of Language in Education

Melanie Cooke

Senior Teaching Fellow in ESOL and Applied Linguistics

Martin Dewey

Senior Lecturer in Applied Linguistics

Louise Eley

Teacher of Linguistics

Dorota Gaskins

Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Alexandra Georgakopoulou

Professor of Discourse Analysis & Sociolinguistics

Simon Gibbons

Senior Lecturer in English Education Director of Teacher Education

Angela Hakim

PhD candidate

Jill Hohenstein

Reader in Psychology and Language Development

Jane Jones

Senior Lecturer in Modern Foreign Languages (MFL) Education

Olivia Knapton

Lecturer in Linguistics; Programme Director, BA English Language and Linguistics

Constant Leung

Professor of Educational Linguistics

Bethan Marshall

Senior Lecturer in English Education

Danny Norrington-Davies

Visiting Lecturer in TESOL/Applied Linguistics

Kieran O'Halloran

Reader in Applied Linguistics

Eva Ogiermann

Senior Lecturer in English Language and Applied Linguistics

Vincent Pak

PhD candidate

Eloi Puig-Mayenco

Lecturer in Applied Linguistics

Ben Rampton

Professor of Applied and Socio Linguistics

Christina Richardson

Lecturer

Celia Roberts

Emeritus Professor of Applied Linguistics

Gabriella Rundblad

Reader in Applied Linguistics

Christos Sagredos

PhD candidate

Vasiliki Saloustrou

PhD candidate

Lavanya Sankaran

Lecturer in Language Education

Naomi Smart

1+3 Student

Laurie Smith

Visiting Lecturer and Research Associate in Education

Pippa Sterk

MPhil student in Language, Discourse and Communication

Anja Stumpf

PhD candidate

Beatrice Szczepek Reed

Head of School and Professor of Language and Education

Chris Tang

Lecturer in International Education & Applied Linguistics

Christopher Tribble

Visiting Lecturer in Applied Linguistics

Paula Villablanca

PhD candidate

Marie Willoughby

International House Teaching Fellow

Ursula Wingate

Reader in Language in Education

Siqing Zou

PhD candidate

CORONAWARENESS - Preventing COVID-related illness when social distancing measures are relaxed and tightened in ethnic minority communities with a strong oral tradition

This project aims to prevent COVID-related illness in ethnic minority communities by increasing awareness of appropriate social distancing measures.

Hub for Education and Language Diversity

The Hub for Education and Language Diversity (HELD) is a collaboration between academic, professional and third sector organisations.

'Come to a screeching halt': Can change in teacher education during the COVID-19 pandemic be seen as innovation?
Ellis, V., Steadman, S. & Mao, Q., 7 Aug 2020, In : European Journal Of Teacher Education. 43, 4, p. 559-572 14 p. Research output: Contribution to journal - Article. DOIs: https://doi.org/10.1080/02619768.2020.1821186
Conceptualising politeness in Greece and Great Britain
Ogiermann, E. & Saloustrou, V., Jul 2020, In : Glossologia. 28, p. 1-25 Research output: Contribution to journal - Article
Reconceptualizing mirroring: Sound imitation and rapport in naturally occurring interaction
Szczepek Reed, B., 28 May 2020, (Accepted/In press) In : JOURNAL OF PRAGMATICS. Research output: Contribution to journal - Article
Negotiating embodied space in anxiety narratives
Knapton, O., 5 May 2020, (Accepted/In press) In : Metaphor and the Social World. Research output: Contribution to journal - Article
Requests by Chinese EFL learners and native speakers of English: the case of formulaic expressions
Meng, J. & Szczepek Reed, B., 4 May 2020, (Accepted/In press) In : East Asian Pragmatics. 6, 1 Research output: Contribution to journal - Article
Mediating communication - ELF and flexible multilingualism perspectives on the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages
Leung, C. & Jenkins, J., 30 Apr 2020, In : Australian Journal of Applied Linguistics. 3, 1, p. 26-41 15 p. Research output: Contribution to journal - Article. DOIs: https://doi.org/10.29140/ajal.v3n1.285
Putting translanguaging into practice: A view from England
Costley, T. & Leung, C., 27 Apr 2020, (Accepted/In press) In : SYSTEM. 39 p. Research output: Contribution to journal - Article
A media brew of implied, hidden and unknown risk claims: cognitive discourse analysis of public health communication
Tang, C. & Rundblad, G., 16 Apr 2020, Applying Linguistics in Illness and Healthcare Contexts. Demjén, Z. (ed.). 1 ed. London: Bloomsbury Academic, p. 244-270 Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding - Chapter
Sri Lankan Tamil experiences of the home-land and host-land: the interaction between language and diasporic identity
Sankaran, L., 28 Mar 2020, (Accepted/In press) In : Language in Society. Research output: Contribution to journal - Article
Quantified storytelling: A narrative analysis of metrics on social media
Georgakopoulou-Nunes, A., Iversen, S. & Stage, C., 17 Mar 2020, (Accepted/In press) London: Palgrave Macmillan. Research output: Book/Report - Book

View all publications

Language Teaching Forum

The Language Teaching Forum seminar series provides a forum for language teachers of all levels to engage with theory and research of relevance to language teaching practices. Speakers will present original empirical research or theoretical perspectives on a range of issues and applications.

Language Teaching Forum seminar series

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Health Communication Lab

The Health Communication Lab is an interdisciplinary group for researchers who have a broad interest in the intersection between health and healthcare and communication and language.

Health Communications Lab seminar series

Corpus research in linguistics and beyond

Corpus linguistics is concerned with the study of large collections of electronically available written and/or spoken texts. The seminars will explore challenges, issues and opportunities faced by research that extends the scope of corpus linguistics.

Corpus Research in Linguistics and Beyond seminar series

Language, Mind and Society

Language, Mind and Society is a seminar series aimed at staff and students interested in the latest research on language, mind and society. Our seminars are open to all staff and students from across King’s and the University of London.

Micro-Discourse Analysis data sessions

Hands-on data sessions that are designed to help students sharpen their sensitivity to the fine details of interaction, and to improve their practical skills in micro-analysis.

Micro-Discourse Analysis data sessions event series

Academic Literacies

The Academic Literacies Group is concerned with enhancing the pedagogic response which higher education institutions make to the needs of all their students.

King's College London student at Guy's Campus, New Hunt's House computer room

Digital text and discourse

Advances in computing power and storage have opened up opportunities for research into language and communication at scale, and increasingly, qualitative investigation is enhanced by quantitative exploration of large collections of digital text or ‘corpora’.

Close up of doctor with clipboard and stethoscope

Discourse, communication and health

Our research on language and health spans spoken, written and multimodal forms of communication in health contexts.

Discourse, interaction and identity

Our research examines the way in which identities and relations are produced in language practice, and explores the theoretical, methodological and practical implications.

English in the school curriculum

We research the models and assumptions that English teachers operate with, on their changing perceptions of language use and on the role of language across the curriculum.

Language, ethnicity and class

Our work on globalisation, diaspora, ethnicity and migration connects the empirical analysis of language and discourse to contemporary cultural theory

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Pyschology and cognitive processes

Our research on language and mind is naturally interdisciplinary, with a focus on language and cognition in a range of social, educational and communication contexts.

Second/foreign language teaching

Our work in the field of Second/Additional Language looks at English language teaching and modern foreign languages.

Contact us

Please get in touch with us if you would like to know more about the Centre:

beatrice.szczepek.reed@kcl.ac.uk

alexandra.georgakopoulou@kcl.ac.uk

Centre for Language, Discourse & Communication

Members

CORONAWARENESS - Preventing COVID-related illness when social distancing measures are relaxed and tightened in ethnic minority communities with a strong oral tradition

Hub for Education and Language Diversity

Language Teaching Forum

Health Communication Lab

Corpus research in linguistics and beyond

Language, Mind and Society

Micro-Discourse Analysis data sessions

Academic Literacies

Digital text and discourse

Discourse, communication and health

Discourse, interaction and identity

English in the school curriculum

Language, ethnicity and class

Pyschology and cognitive processes

Second/foreign language teaching

Contact us

Faculties & departments