About
I'm a sociolinguist based at the Department of English, University of Liverpool. My research uses linguistic ethnography and discourse analysis to understand the relationship between language, social change, and social inequalities, focusing on transnational China. I have examined how English was used as a tourism resource in Yangshuo, China, as it turned to a tourism-based economy in the late 1990s and became a well-known ‘global village’ under neoliberal globalisation. My other research interests include the semiotic and discursive representations of Chinese food, the intersection of language and race in institutional settings, and the language of (anti-)fame on social and algorithmic media.
My current project examines language and race in UK higher education and is funded by a Leverhulme Research Fellowship.
PhD Supervision: I welcome applications from students interested in the above research areas. Please email me your CV and Research Proposal for an initial discussion. Here are the PhD entry requirements
Academic Support and Feedback Hours: n/a
On research leave
Prizes or Honours
- Editor's Choice (Discourse, Context & Media, 2022)
- Senior Fellow HEA (Advance HE, 2021)
- Ton Vallen Award (2017)