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 links to the school-wide theme ‘Globalisation and Identity’. The theme reflects our core strength in research on (multilingual) identities in a variety of everyday, institutional and mediated contexts. Our work also closely engages with the cross-school theme ‘Curriculum, Pedagogy and Assessment’ through our work on language assessment and second language learning and teaching; with the theme ‘Professionalism and Workplace Practice’ through our comparative and historical work on language teacher education and development; and with the theme ‘Diversity, Inclusion and Social Justice’ through our work on health and risk communication.
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.
Publications
Activities
Language, Discourse & Communication Research Seminar Series
The Language, Discourse & Communication Research Seminar Series provides a forum for language teachers of all levels to engage with theory and research of relevance to language teaching practices. Speakers present original empirical research or theoretical perspectives on a range of issues and applications.
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.
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.
LDC Doctoral Lab (LDCDL)
The LDC Doctoral Lab is a forum led by and focused on doctoral researchers, capitalising on their interests and organisational initiative. Especially for PhD students, these sessions are an opportunity to discuss research projects in a friendly and supportive environment.
LDC PGR Blog
The LDC PGRs Blog provides a space for postgraduate research (PGR) students in Language, Discourse and Communication (LDC), as well as guest bloggers from across the School of Education, Communication & Society, to share reflective accounts of experiences as PGR students and early career researchers and to disseminate and discuss research in progress.
Working Papers in Urban Language and Literacies
This series focuses on linguistic practice, literacies and mediated communication in diverse and stratified urban settings. It publishes research committed to developing sociolinguistic, applied and educational frameworks for the analysis of urban language, literacies, interaction and learning. It also develops modes of intervention in language policy and practice that are productively tuned to the realities of contemporary urban life.
Writing Group for Academic Publishing
This group, chaired by Professor Pat Mahony, meets monthly (on the first Wednesday of each month, 12.30-1.30pm) to support ECS staff and PhD students in getting their work published. Each month, one member circulates their draft of an article or book chapter and the rest of the group provide feedback in a constructive and supportive way. We aim to help the author to improve their paper in preparation for submission as well as support broader learning on the process of academic publishing. If you would like to join, please contact Dr Clare Coultas: clare.coultas@kcl.ac.uk.
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.
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.
Themes
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.
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’.
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
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.
Publications
Activities
Language, Discourse & Communication Research Seminar Series
The Language, Discourse & Communication Research Seminar Series provides a forum for language teachers of all levels to engage with theory and research of relevance to language teaching practices. Speakers present original empirical research or theoretical perspectives on a range of issues and applications.
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.
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.
LDC Doctoral Lab (LDCDL)
The LDC Doctoral Lab is a forum led by and focused on doctoral researchers, capitalising on their interests and organisational initiative. Especially for PhD students, these sessions are an opportunity to discuss research projects in a friendly and supportive environment.
LDC PGR Blog
The LDC PGRs Blog provides a space for postgraduate research (PGR) students in Language, Discourse and Communication (LDC), as well as guest bloggers from across the School of Education, Communication & Society, to share reflective accounts of experiences as PGR students and early career researchers and to disseminate and discuss research in progress.
Working Papers in Urban Language and Literacies
This series focuses on linguistic practice, literacies and mediated communication in diverse and stratified urban settings. It publishes research committed to developing sociolinguistic, applied and educational frameworks for the analysis of urban language, literacies, interaction and learning. It also develops modes of intervention in language policy and practice that are productively tuned to the realities of contemporary urban life.
Writing Group for Academic Publishing
This group, chaired by Professor Pat Mahony, meets monthly (on the first Wednesday of each month, 12.30-1.30pm) to support ECS staff and PhD students in getting their work published. Each month, one member circulates their draft of an article or book chapter and the rest of the group provide feedback in a constructive and supportive way. We aim to help the author to improve their paper in preparation for submission as well as support broader learning on the process of academic publishing. If you would like to join, please contact Dr Clare Coultas: clare.coultas@kcl.ac.uk.
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.
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.
Themes
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.
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’.
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
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: