The Manchester Centre for Research in Linguistics

The Manchester Centre for Research in Linguistics (MCR Linguistics) sits within the wider Centre for Creative Writing, English Literature and Linguistics (CELL) We are a group of linguistics researchers and educators who take the view that language fundamentally enriches all aspects of life. We explore language in public and private social domains such as education, law, health, communication, linguistic landscaping and folk understandings of language in public life. We are committed to producing research that is socially relevant, impactful, rigorous, transformative and applicable to contexts outside academia.

Central to our research ethos is a commitment to public engagement and knowledge exchange. In so doing, we strive to raise awareness about social inequalities enacted through language, provide people with the skills and understanding with which to improve their language-related practices, and contribute to debates around communication more widely. As such, we are committed to promoting social justice and better communication between individuals, communities and within society at large.

Our research aims to push disciplinary boundaries and widen the scope of relevance in the complex understanding of language. We work across multiple levels: individual, community, classroom-based, regional, national, trans-national and international.

Our teaching is informed by, and informs, our research activities. We work to offer research-intensive taught programmes where our students across all levels of study are encouraged to contribute to the Centre's research culture that values puzzling about language and challenging linguistic oppression.

Our students play a central role in contributing to the Centre's research culture. Through non-traditional assignments that encourage empirical research and the use of innovative methodological tools, we produce an educational arrangement where learning about language takes places in multiple directions and at multiple levels. In addition, we supervise a wide range of doctoral students who continue to enrich our understanding of language and linguistics in local, national and global contexts.

Members

Dr Rob Drummond, Reader in Sociolinguistics and Head of the Centre
Rob works primarily in the area of spoken language variation and its relationship to identity. He runs the Manchester Voices Project and The Accentism Project.

Dr Khawla Badwan, Senior Lecturer in TESOL and Applied Linguistics and Deputy Head of the Centre
Khawla is an applied linguist interested in language and social justice, sociolinguistics of globalisation, language and post-humanism, language policy and intercultural communication.

Professor Dawn Archer, Professor of Pragmatics and Corpus Linguistics
Dawn specialises in corpus linguistics, forensic linguistics and pragmatics, and has a special interest in facework, im/politeness and self / other presentation. Much of her work focuses upon how language can (1) signal individual’s differing reality paradigms and/or (2) be used to collaborate, influence, convince, manipulate and deceive for interpersonal, transactional and/or professional purposes. She has a growing interest, in consequence, in affect: that is, how communication is both impacted by but also triggers emotional (dis)engagement.

Dr John Bellamy, Lecturer in Linguistics
John is a linguist whose research is predominantly on investigating the expression, construction and performance of identity amongst young people through their language practices. Most of his work involves young people who have grown up in linguistically and culturally diverse urban areas.

Dr Derek Bousfield, Reader in Pragmatics and Communication, and Head of the department of Languages, Information and Communications
Derek’s research focusses on im/politeness, rudeness and other forms of aggression. Publishing work on real-life and fictional data, he is currently completing a monograph with Dr Stella Bullo on Clichés in Language and Interaction, and a paper on Gaslighting (with Dr Micheala Lunan, Independent Scholar).

Dr Stella Bullo, Senior Lecturer in Linguistics
Stella is a (critical) discourse analyst who works with a variety of approaches. Her current research is in the area of language and health, and health communication, as exemplified by her project The Language of Endometriosis.

Dr Holly Dann, Research Associate in Linguistics
Holly is a sociolinguist working on the Manchester Voices project who researches sociophonetic variation and change. She also works on the social meaning of linguistic variation in Cornish English.

Dr Phung Dao, Lecturer in TESOL and Applied Linguistics
Phung’s primary research interests are in the area of instructed second language acquisition (ISLA). He is focused on issues such as learner engagement, task-based language teaching (TBLT), and Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC).

Dr Piotr Jagodzinski, Lecturer in Applied Linguistics
Piotr is a pragmatician researching im/politeness and conflict in telephone-mediated service encounters. He also focuses on intercultural aspects of workplace communication and the interpersonal negotiation of professional identities.

Dr Samuel Larner, Senior Lecturer in Forensic Linguistics
Samuel is a forensic linguist interested in both descriptive and investigative forensic linguistics. His primary interest is in the language that children and young people use to disclose adverse childhood experiences, focussing specifically on sexual abuse.

Dr Marijana Macis, Lecturer in TESOL and Applied Linguistics
Marijana’s research focuses on the learning and teaching of second/foreign language vocabulary.

Dr Mai Nguyen, Lecturer in Applied Linguistics and TESOL
Mai is an applied linguist interested in second language teacher education and professional development. Her research focuses on teachers’ cognition, and their learning and development within and beyond TESOL teacher education programs.

Dr Sadie Ryan, Research Associate in Linguistics
Sadie is a sociolinguist working on the Manchester Voices project. Her research interests include sociolinguistic variation and identity, migration, adolescence, linguistic discrimination, and standard language ideologies in education.

Dr Lexi Webster, Lecturer in Linguistics
Lexi primarily uses corpus-driven approaches to critical discourse studies in exploring the relationship between (digital) media, culture and communication. More specifically, her research focuses on identity and social cognition as they relate to the wider political-economic structures underpinning power, inequality and antagonism.

Projects

Manchester Voices. A community-facing AHRC-funded project exploring the accents, dialects and identities of people in Greater Manchester. Run by Dr Rob Drummond, with Dr Sadie Ryan and Dr Holly Dann. Manchestervoices.org.

Linguistic Toolkit for Crisis Negotiators. A collaborative project with the National Negotiation Group (UK Police), exploring (1) a language-focused how to of crisis negotiation and (2) related training enhancements. Run by Professor Dawn Archer.

The Language of Endometriosis. A project which aims to find mechanisms that will improve communication around endometriosis, support those living with the condition and raise awareness. Run by Dr Stella Bullo. thelanguageofendometriosis.com

English as a Medium of Instruction in Tunisian Tertiary Education: a project funded by the British Council and run by Dr Khawla Badwan to explore the challenges and opportunities offered by the implementation of English as a medium of instruction in the multilingual context of Tunisia.

Encyclopedia of Shakespeare’s Language. An AHRC-funded project, in collaboration with Lancaster University, which brings a new method of language research – the corpus approach – into the heart of Shakespearean studies. Overseen (at Manchester Metropolitan) by Professor Dawn Archer wp.lancs.ac.uk/shakespearelang.

The Accentism Project. A project exploring and uncovering language-based bias, prejudice, discrimination, and negative stereotyping. Run by Dr Rob Drummond and Dr Erin Carrie. Accentism.org.

Place, Community and Belonging: a project funded by Manchester Metropolitan University’s research accelerator grant and run by Dr Khawla Badwan. It is a citizen sociolinguistics project exploring the role of language in place-making and the (re)construction of urban belonging.

Language Protests: a teaching project coordinated by Dr Khawla Badwan and run by postgraduate students on the MA Postgraduate Linguistics Network. The project encourages students to identify, challenge and protest about educational inequalities caused by language policies and/or normative frames about language in societies.

Oral corrective feedback in second language classroom. A British Council –ELTRA (English Language Teaching Research Award) funded project explores learners’ peer feedback strategies in second language classroom, run by Dr Phung Dao and Dr Mai Nguyen.

IELTS teachers in Vietnam. An Australia IELTS IDP-British Council joint funded project explores the impact of the IELTS test on the social and professional aspects of teachers’ development, run by Dr. Mai Nguyen, Dr Phung Dao and Dr Huy Nguyen.

Accentricity. A podcast about language and identity, aiming to narrow the gap between academic knowledge about language and people’s everyday linguistic experiences. Run by Sadie Ryan. www.accentricity-podcast.com.

Migrant Children and Communities in a Transforming Europe) project: a project is funded by The European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme. The project is led by Dr Shoba Arun (Sociology), with contributions from Dr Khawla Badwan. Part of the project explores schools as potential sites of foster-ship and empowerment for migrant children in the UK.

-----

For more information aboutn the centre, please contact Dr Rob Drummond or Dr Khawla Badwan.