Find a research supervisor in Stylistics and Discourse Analysis

Prominent interests are the kinds of impact that gender, institution, and nationality have on the dominant patterns of form and function in various kinds of discourse. We have particular strengths in the analysis of academic, workplace and professional discourse and its applications.

Our research often combines discourse analysis with corpus analytic methods. Numerous ongoing projects reflect our interdisciplinary and intradisciplinary work, including research into language of the media, education, the language of evaluation and embodied interaction. We also have a long tradition of work in literary stylistics (especially of prose fiction) and narratology.

Dr Nicholas Groom

Senior Lecturer in Applied Linguistics

  • Corpus-based approaches to the analysis of phraseology (e.g. pattern grammar, construction grammar)
  • Corpus-based discourse analysis
  • Corpus-based critical discourse analysis
  • Learner corpus analysis
  • Corpora in cognitive linguistics
  • Corpora in systemic-functional linguistics

Dr Jing Huang

Dr Jing Huang

Lecturer in TESOL

I am a Lecturer in TESOL. I teach several core and optional modules of the MA Applied Linguistics and MA TESOL programmes. My research focuses on using ethnographic methods combined with secondary data analysis to research sociolinguistic practices of individuals, families, schools, and communities.

Professor Suganthi John

Professor Suganthi John

Professor of English Language
Deputy Director of Education (Distance and Digital Education)

  • Academic discourse
  • English for Academic Purposes
  • Writing for publication
  • Advanced academic literacy
  • Writer identity and theories of writing

Professor Jeannette Littlemore

Professor Jeannette Littlemore

Professor of English Language and Applied Linguistics

  • Metaphor
  • Metonymy
  • Cognitive Linguistic approaches to second language acquisition
  • The use of figurative language by learners of English

Professor Michaela Mahlberg

Professor Michaela Mahlberg

Chair in Corpus Linguistics
Co-Director, Centre for Corpus Research

  • Corpus Linguistics
  • Literary Linguistics
  • Charles Dickens
  • 19th century fiction
  • Discourse Analysis 

Dr Ruth Page

Dr Ruth Page

Reader in Applied Linguistics
Program Director, BA Digital Media and Communications

  • Narrative analysis
  • Computer-mediated discourse analysis
  • Language and gender studies
  • Interactional sociolinguistics

Dr Garry Plappert

Associate Professor in Applied Linguistics

Corpus Linguistics, EAP and the linguistics of epistemology.

Dr Joe Spencer-Bennett

Dr Joe Spencer-Bennett

Senior Lecturer in Applied Linguistics

  • Language and politics
  • Language and social class
  • Ethically evaluative language
  • Ethical and political debates about language
  • Folk/lay ideas about language and communication

Dr Paul Thompson

Dr Paul Thompson

Reader in Applied Corpus Linguistics
Head of English Language and Linguistics
Co-Director, Centre for Corpus Research

  • Disciplinary and genre variation in academic and other specialised discourses
  • Corpus-assisted discourse studies of society and the natural environment
  • Linguistic aspects of human-computer interaction
  • Applications of educational technologies in language learning
  • Uses of corpus resources and methodologies in learning about language