Robert Holland BA MA RSA Dip TEFLA

Department of English Language and Linguistics
Lecturer in Applied Linguistics

Contact details

Address
Frankland Building
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

I am a lecturer in Applied Linguistics in English Language Studies at the University of Birmingham. I have a background in English Language teaching, teacher-training and language education project management.

Qualifications

  • BA European Studies (French & Politics)
  • RSA Dip TEFLA
  • MA Applied Linguistics with TEFL

Biography

I taught English and French as a volunteer in Sudanese schools in Darfur and Kordofan in the early 1980s. After a brief period as a market researcher back in my native London, I went to Indonesia, where I lived and worked for some ten years as an EFL teacher and course designer and then as coordinator of a British aid–funded language education development project. I have been working at the University of Birmingham since 1994.

Teaching

Sociolinguistics; Discourse Analysis; Intercultural Communication; English as a ‘Global Language’; Language Teaching Methodology; Language Syllabus Design.

Postgraduate supervision

I am interested in supervising MA and MPhil research in the following areas:

media discourse
intercultural communication
the role and status of English as an international language
language and ‘globalisation’
concepts of culture and ideology in political and news discourse
‘culture’ as a factor in L2 learning / teaching / course design


Find out more - our PhD English Language and Applied Linguistics  page has information about doctoral research at the University of Birmingham.

Research

My main areas of interest are discourse and ideology, media discourse, and language and intercultural communication. I am particularly interested by developments in British discourse relating to the role of religion in public life.

Other activities

Convenor, MA programmes in:

  • Applied Linguistics
  • Applied Corpus Linguistics
  • Critical Discourse, Culture & Communication
  • English Language & Applied Linguistics
  • TESOL

Head of Postgraduate Studies (Taught), 2013 - present

Publications

Recent publications

Article

Holland, R 2006, '(De-)Rationalizing the irrational: discourse as culture/ideology', Critical Discourse Studies, vol. 3, no. 1, pp. 37-59. https://doi.org/10.1080/17405900600589366

Holland, R 2006, 'Language(s0 in the global news. Translation, audience design and discourse (mis)representation', Target, vol. 18, no. 2, pp. 229-259. https://doi.org/10.1075/target.18.2.03hol

Holland, R 2002, ''Globospeak? Questioning Text on the Role of English as a Global Language', Language and Intercultural Communication, vol. 2, no. 1, pp. 5-24.

Guilford, TC, Gagliardo, A, Chappell, J, Bonadonna, F, Burt, T & Holland, R 1998, 'Homing pigeons use olfactory cues for navigation in England', Journal of Experimental Biology, vol. 201, no. 6, pp. 895-900.

Paper

Holland, R, Kemble, I, O'Sullivan, C & Sastradipradja, LH 2006, 'Seno Gumira Ajidarma's Jazz, Perfume and the Incident: lessons in English as a global language - or - How do you translate English into English?', Paper presented at Translation and Creativity: 5th Portsmouth Translation Conference, Portsmouth, 1/01/06 pp. 127-144.

View all publications in research portal