Centre for Language, Discourse & Communication (LDC)

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.

Members

Clyde Ancarno

Lecturer in Applied Linguistics

Nick Andon

Visiting Lecturer

Sara Bonin

PhD candidate

Gabriela Bulla

Post-doctoral researcher

Simon Coffey

Senior Lecturer in Modern Languages Education

Guy Cook

Emeritus Professor of Language in Education

Melanie Cooke

Lecturer in English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) Education

Martin Dewey

Senior Lecturer in Applied Linguistics

Louise Eley

Teacher of Linguistics

Joe Fagan

Senior Lecturer in Applied Linguistics Education

Dorota Gaskins

Leverhulme Trust Early Career 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 in Language Education

Celia Roberts

Emeritus Professor of Applied Linguistics

Gabriella Rundblad

Professor of Language & Cognition

Christos Sagredos

PhD candidate

Vasiliki Saloustrou

PhD candidate

Lavanya Sankaran

Lecturer in Language Education

Naomi Smart

PhD candidate

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

Magdalena Tracz-Ganachari

PhD candidate

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.

Language, (In)security and Everyday Practice (LIEP)

LIEP is an interdisciplinary collaboration between sociolinguists and researchers in peace, conflict and security studies.

A government booklet front cover that says: Coronavirus. Stay at home. Protect the NHS. Save lives.

Social learning about COVID-19 vulnerability and social distancing in high density populations: the case of UK urban dwelling Bangladeshis

This study investigates how UK Bangladeshis access, understand and share information about social distancing in the COVID-19 pandemic.

Teacher standing at the front of a class

Sustaining teacher quality and retention post-pandemic

This project examines the impact of the substantial changes and sustained disruption caused by Covid-19 to the development of secondary school teachers.

The Newbolt Report and its Contexts
Gibbons, S., 1 Jan 2022, (Accepted/In press) The New Newbolt Report: One Hundred Years of Teaching English in England. Green, A. (ed.). Oxford: Routledge Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding - Chapter - peer-review
Stress and Rhythm
Cantarutti, M. & Szczepek Reed, B., 2022, In J. Setter & R.-A. Knight (Eds.) Cambridge Handbook of Phonetics.. Cambridge: Cambridge Univeristy Press Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding - Chapter - peer-review
A review of recent research in EFL motivation: Research trends, emerging methodologies, and diversity of researched populations
Vonkova, H., Jones, J., Moore, A., Altinkalp, I. & Selcuk, H., Dec 2021, In: SYSTEM. 103, 102622. Research output: Contribution to journal - Review article - peer-review. DOIs: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2021.102622
Small stories as curated formats on social media: The intersection of affordances, values and practices
Georgakopoulou-Nunes, A., 8 Sep 2021, In: SYSTEM. 102 Research output: Contribution to journal - Article - peer-review. DOIs: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2021.102620
On the dual role of expressive speech acts: Relational work on signs announcing closures during the Covid-19 pandemic
Ogiermann, E. & Bella, S., Oct 2021, In: JOURNAL OF PRAGMATICS. 184, p. 1-17 17 p. Research output: Contribution to journal - Article - peer-review. DOIs: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2021.07.020
Transnational Education in the Anglophone University: A Viewpoint Article
Dewey, M., Aug 2021, In: RELC Journal. 52, 2, p. 323-333 11 p. Research output: Contribution to journal - Article - peer-review. DOIs: https://doi.org/10.1177/00336882211009612
Understanding and mitigating the impact of Covid-19 disruption on trainee and early career teachers in secondary schools: Recommendations to ensure teacher quality and enable retention
Rushton, E., Gibbons, S. & Hesketh, R., 21 Jul 2021, 7 p. Research output: Other contribution
Singing and the body: Body-focused and concept-focused vocal instruction
Szczepek Reed, B., 1 Jul 2021, In: Linguistics Vanguard. 7, 4, 20200071. Research output: Contribution to journal - Article - peer-review. DOIs: https://doi.org/10.1515/lingvan-2020-0071
'Amber alert' or 'heatwave warning': the role of linguistic framing in mediating understandings of early warning messages about heatwaves and cold spells
Tang, C., 5 Jun 2021, In: APPLIED LINGUISTICS. Research output: Contribution to journal - Article - peer-review
Jan Blommaert and the use of sociolinguistics: Critical, political, personal
Rampton, B., 4 Jun 2021, In: Language in Society. 50, 3, p. 331-342 12 p. Research output: Contribution to journal - Review article - peer-review. DOIs: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0047404521000312

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

A device with wires and nodes coming off it

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

Abstract painting of two faces intersecting with lots of different colours

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.

Dark blue background with optical twinkly shapes

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

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.

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.

Working Papers in Urban Language and Literacies

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

Certain_brain_regions_light_up_during_specific_cognitive_function,_this_is_how_internal_processes_are_linked_to_behaviour_such_as_learning

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 (LDC)

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, (In)security and Everyday Practice (LIEP)

Social learning about COVID-19 vulnerability and social distancing in high density populations: the case of UK urban dwelling Bangladeshis

Sustaining teacher quality and retention post-pandemic

Language Teaching Forum

Health Communication Lab

Corpus research in linguistics and beyond

Language, Mind and Society

Micro-discourse analysis data sessions

LDC Doctoral Lab (LDCDL)

Working Papers in Urban Language and Literacies

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

Latest news

Upcoming event