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- About us
https://webcdn.mmu.ac.uk/profiles/img/profile-images/Lexi_Webster2-crop-145x145-5808e47b305dc.png
PhD in Applied Linguistics, Lancaster University (2020)
PGCert in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education, Manchester Metropolitan University (2020)
MRes in Applied Linguistics, Lancaster University (2017)
BA (Hons) Linguistics, Manchester Metropolitan University (2015)
Current teaching responsibilities (Academic Year 2021/22):
Syntax and Semantics (Level 5)
Language, Image, Media (Level 6)
Previous teaching responsibilities:
Academic Practice for the Humanities and Social Sciences (Level 3)
Introduction to Language, Culture, and Linguistics (Level 3)
Becoming Multilingual in the Digital Age (Level 4)
Introduction to Linguistics (Level 4)
Fundamentals in Linguistics (Level 4)
Language in Society (Level 4)
Engaging the Humanities: Interdisciplinary Learning and Practice (Level 5)
Intercultural Communication (Level 5)
Current teaching responsibilities (Academic Year 2021/22):
Corpus Linguistics (Level 7)
Discourse Analysis (Level 7)
Research Methods (Level 7)
Previous teaching responsibilities:
Digital Living: Social Media and Mobile Technologies in Everyday Life (Level 7)
I currently supervise several postgraduate researchers whose projects engage with - inter alia - critical discourse analysis, corpus linguistics, and (social) media communication. I welcome future proposed projects exploring the same, including issues of inequalities (i.e. gender, sex and sexuality) as manifested in discourse and society, (socio-)cognitive approaches to analysing language, and/or corpus-based methods.
Goldsmiths, University of London (2021 - Present)
University of East London (2020 - Present)
In general, my research explores the relationship between (digital) media, communication and culture. More specifically, I use a combination of corpus linguistics, critical discourse studies and cultural political economy to explore antagonistic contexts. In so doing, I seek to promote pluralism over authoritarianism for social development and cohesion. I contend that it is necessary to meaningfully consider competing perspectives in order to bring about lasting social change. Thus, we must have access to dissenting opinion and contradictory evidence if we are to rationally conclude that a course of action is genuinely a social good.
My doctoral and subsequent research has explored the role of social media communication in manifesting and mitigating inequalities for transgender individuals and communities. In so doing, I consider the role of (inter)national structures of inequality in the legal and social recognition of transgender identities, the impact of the attention economy on transgender discourses online and the subsequent socio-political effects that discursive manifestations of inequality have in both online and offline spaces. I have since begun to extend this research - in collaboration with Stella Bullo, Jasmine Hearn and Joseph Keenan - by developing a project exploring the discourses of multiple marginalisation and health inequalities surrounding reproductive conditions and healthcare for transgender people.
I am also developing a project that focuses on the relatoinship between popular culture and social, political and historical contexts of inequality. In this research, I refer to cultural artefacts (i.e. music, film and television magazines; online platforms) as manifestations of popular culture that have a significant impact on the interpretation, realisation and reproduction of cultural inequalities. With a specific focus on the late 20th century onwards, I contend that we can learn many lessons from recent popular culture history that provide significant insights into current ways of thinking culturally and politically about social inequalities.
I am a member of several research groups at Manchester Metropolitan University, including:
L. Webster (2022). How to Research Gender Online. SAGE Publications, Ltd..
L. Webster (2021). “Ties that bind”: The continued conflation of sex, sexuality and gender. Journal of Language and Sexuality. 10(1), pp.63-70.
L. Webster (2019). "I am I": Self-constructed transgender identities in internet-mediated forum communication. International Journal of the Sociology of Language. 2019(256), pp.129-146.
Webster, L. (2019). “Wide Open Space”: The birth of Dissenter and its implications for free speech online. Manchester Metropolitan University, UK
Webster, L. (2018). “The New Transmission”: Moving beyond hate speech, validation and coercion. Manchester Metropolitan University, UK.
Webster, L. (2018). "Mixed Signals": Deictic space, metaphor, and un/intentional blends in gender-variant discourse on Twitter. Guest speaker, Northumbria University, UK.
Webster, L. (2017). "Family Portrait": Conflicting representations of gender, sex, and sexuality by gender-variant Twitter users. Guest speaker, York St. John University, UK.
Webster, L. (2017). "Lost in the Echo": The affordances of Twitter for constructing, challenging, and reinforcing individual and collective gender-variant identities. Guest speaker, Cambridge University, UK.
Webster, L. (2015). “The Foetus of a New Day Kicking”: A discussion of metaphors, their relationships and their use. Guest speaker, Manchester Metropolitan University, UK.
Conference papers:
Webster, L. (2020). "It's the Little Things": How political economy analysis enhances critical approaches to discourse studies. Paper presented to the 4th International Conference on Cultural Political Economy, University of Staffordshire, UK, 8-10 January 2020.
Webster, L. (2019). "Something from Nothing": Towards a corpus-informed cultural political economy analysis. Paper presented to the BAAL Corpus Linguistics SIG (Corpora, Discourse and Society), Lancaster University, UK, 13 November 2019.
Webster, L. (2017). "Friend Like Me": A socio-cognitive approach to the critical analysis of social identity construction by gender-variant Twitter users. Paper presented at the 24th annual conference of Lavender Languages and Linguistics (LavLang 24), Nottingham: UK, 28-30 April, 2017.
Webster, L. (2017). "Welcome to the Pleasuredome": Exploring representations of sex acts, bodies, and sexualities by gender-variant Twitter users. Paper presented at the 24th annual conference of Lavender Languages and Linguistics (LavLang 24), Nottingham: UK, 28-30 April, 2017.
Webster, L. (2016). “A New Level”: A corpus-based method for the critical analysis of gender-variant identity representations via Twitter. Paper presented at the biennial conference of Critical Approaches to Discourse Analysis Across Disciplines (CADAAD 2016), Catania: Sicily, 5-7 September, 2016.
Webster, L. (2015). "The Reflecting God": Representing truths, ideologies and interpreted worlds in discourse with verba sentiendi. Poster presented to the meeting of the Manchester Forum in Linguistics (MFiL 2015), Manchester: UK, 6-7 November, 2015.
2017. Organiser and Committee Member. 12th Annual Linguistics and Language Testing Conference, Lancaster University.
Journals
2016. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Postgraduate Studentship
Awarding Body: Lancaster University
Award: PhD Studentship (stipend)
Value: £15,000
2015. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences ‘1+3’ Scholarship
Awarding Body: Lancaster University
Award: PhD Studentship (fee-waiver)
Value: £16,000
Associate Editor, Cognitive Linguistics (from March 2022)
Fellow, Higher Education Academy (Advance HE)