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Language & Communication

This category covers:

Academic and Multimodal Communication
Communication and Culture
Discourse
Language for Specific Purposes
Language in Science and Technology
Language in the Arts and Social Sciences

Language in The Professions
Language Teaching and Learning
Professional
Technical
Technology in Language Teaching and Learning
Text and Genre Analysis

Related Link:
Language and Communication Centre (LCC)

Name	Research Interests
Asst Prof Alexander Robertson Coupe	Alexander Coupe's major contributions to linguistic research have focused upon aspects of the grammar of Ao; more recently he has turned his attention to other Tibeto-Burman languages of north-east India, including Chang, Khiamniungan, Lotha, Sangtam and Yimchungru, and he has investigated evidence of their contact and convergence with Indic languages. This fieldwork-based research is driven by a desire to record and analyse the grammars of these poorly understood Tibeto-Burman languages, to determine their genetic relationships, and to document them for posterity. The output of this work feeds another research goal: to seek functional and diachronic explanations for the structural diversity and commonalities found in Tibeto-Burman languages and in human language more generally, and to advance knowledge in the field of linguistic typology. Specific areas of research interest include the analysis of tone systems, phonetics and phonology, the role of pragmatics in grammar, case marking systems, morphosyntax, clause linkage, nominalization, grammaticalization and language contact.
Asst Prof Andrew Corey Yerkes	Professor Yerkes's areas of interest are nineteenth and twentieth century American literature and culture, realism, naturalism, modernism, postmodernism, narratology, sociological theories the novel, philosophical determinism, and ideological critique.
Asst Prof Chan Hiu Dan Alice	Her research work mainly utilizes neuroimaging (fMRI) and behavioral measures to investigate how cultural experiences such as language and socialization may shape our brains and affect the way we see and hear the world. Her studies demonstrated that the auditory perception pattern is different between members from East Asian and Western cultures, which is in connection with previous findings on visual perception. She is interested in looking at the underlying cognitive and neuroanatomical mechanisms as well as the genetic bases of these culturally sensitive perceptual patterns and behaviors. Her current work also looks at possible neurophysiological realizations that would support the Whorfian hypothesis, with a specific interest in Cantonese and Mandarin Chinese, as well as bilingual and multilingual communities.
Asst Prof Chen Hsueh-hua	Her research interests include communication beaviors and culture in digital games, the impact of digital games, intercultural communication, culturla identity, cultural diversity, and virtual culture.
Assoc Prof Chen Shen-Hsing Annabel	Assoc Prof Chen's main research interests are in clinical neuropsychology and cognitive neuroscience. She uses neuroimaging techniques, such as, fMRI, diffusion MRI and Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) to investigate neural substrates possibly involved with higher cognition in the cerebellum. The goal of her research is to apply these paradigms to study the cerebro-cerebellar circuitry in clinical groups, such as mild head injury, dyslexia, autism, and alcoholism. Her other line of research investigates the neural correlates of healthy aging. She is also developing research in normative studies and tasks standardization in clinical fMRI, and has interests with ethical and clinical issues involved with neuroimaging for clinical applications and research.
Prof (Adj) Chew Cheng Hai	Modern Chinese and Classical Chinese Grammar Chinese Etymology Chinese Language
Prof Chiu Chi-Yue	Professor Chiu's current research focuses on cultures as knowledge traditions and the social, cognitive, and motivational processes that mediate the construction and evolution of social consensus. He is also interested in the dynamic interactions of cultural identification and cultural knowledge traditions and their implications for cultural competence and intercultural relations.
Mrs Cristina Gonzalez Ruiz	Language Learning Strategies Developing Language Skills in the Classroom Effects of Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) Curriculum and Course Design
Asst Prof (Adj) Cui Donghong	Dr Cui’s research areas are sociolinguistics, Chinese Culture and Language, business and management, politics and public administration. She has conducted a wide range of studies on government’s policy implementation, effective communications, management of SMEs and cross-culture management in overseas investments.
Asst Prof Danne Ojeda Hernandez	Her current research is devoted to the disciplinary redefinitions of Graphic Design and its implications in contemporary visual culture. It analyses antithetical aspects within the evolution of graphic design, like its communicative and allegoric nature, autonomy and social commitment, and expressivity and new media standards. The theoretical basis of this research includes binary concepts like natural/artificial, original/copy, public/private, and physical/virtual. The research is methodologically structured upon close readings of a variety of visual objects from the perspective of graphic design. These objects are discusses in connection with different sorts of conceptual platforms, like manifestos, (un)realized projects, curatorial proposals and critical reviews among others sources within today's dominant orientations in graphic design.
Mr David Yew Kai Sin	Asia-Pacific, communication, negotiation, information technology, information-communications, telecommunications, manufacturing, government, finance, strategy, consulting, strategic advice, research, business intelligence, competitor intelligence, customer intelligence, market opportunity analysis, market profiling, market sizing, forecasting, modelling, business expansion, market entry, partner evaluation and selection, partnering
Asst Prof Duffy Andrew Michael	Journalism in Singapore Cross-cultural journalism education Online journalism education
Assoc Prof Francesco Paolo Cavallaro	Francesco Cavallaro is primarily a sociolinguist, but also conducts research in applied linguistics. His training in analysing linguistics issues in multilingual communities has been put to use in the fertile context of Singapore where bilingualism is a norm and multilingualism influences every aspect of the society. Hence, his current research direction involves exploring language attitudes, identity and language shift in this multilingual context.
Assoc Prof Francis Charles Bond	Francis Bond's areas of interest are: Machine Translation, Deep Parsing, Word Sense Disambiguation, Computational Lexicography and the linguistic phenomena of Definiteness, Number, Countability and Numeral classifiers. His current research work focuses on parsing English, Japanese and Korean with head-driven phrase structure grammars; word sense disambiguation with WordNet; constructing a Japanese WordNet and other lexicons.
Asst Prof Frantisek Kratochvil	Papuan and Austronesian linguistics, Linguistic typology, Morphology, Grammaticalization, Deixis, Verbal semantics
Asst Prof Goh Geok Yian	Assistant Professor Goh Geok Yian's areas of expertise are: early history of Burma and Southeast Asia, modern Southeast Asian history, China-Southeast Asia relations, early Buddhist networks in mainland and island Southeast Asia, and Burmese historical chronicles and novels. Her current research focuses on the study of Buddhist architecture and mural paintings of Bagan, a medieval Burmese kingdom. Her other research work includes the study of early urbanization and cities in Burma, particularly on comparison made with other contemporary Southeast Asian polities and the applicability of theoretical models. She is also working on an English translation of a 20th-century Burmese novel by a well-known author, Ma Sandar.
Prof (Adj) Goh Nguen Wah	Dr. Goh's areas of interests include: government and politics of Singapore, government's media, education and language policies, language planning; the rise of China and the global Chinese language fever, the prospects of Chinese language in a globalized world, cross-cultural studies, journalism of the West and the East.
Dr Heah Lee Hah, Carmel	Dr Heah's areas of expertise are EL teaching and learning, ELT curriculum and course design, language for special purposes, language in science and technology, and discourse, text and genre analysis. Her current research interests are politeness in business communication, rhetoric in scientific and engineering discourse, metaphors in business commentary, figurative competence, and feedback in academic writing.
Prof John Newman	I am interested in exploring the role that ordinary human experience plays in helping to shape linguistic structure. As linguists, we have been in the habit of excluding human experience as a motivating factor for linguistic structure, so it is (or rather, it was once) a little provocative in the world of linguistics to pursue my interest. The approach to the study of language known as Cognitive Linguistics and the associated society International Association of Cogntiive Linguistics have provided me with an intellectual home to pursue these interests. My research has focused on some very ordinary but basic human activities and states (giving and taking; sitting, standing, and lying; eating and drinking etc.) and how our experience of these activities motivate certain linguistic phenomena such as polysemy, grammaticalization, and metaphorical extensions of verbs such as give, take, sit, stand, lie, eat, and drink. Most of theoretical linguistics, as it evolved in the second half of the 20th century, shunned the use of corpora (naturally occurring language as used in speaking and writing) as data for the construction of theory. I have tried to correct this imbalance by constructing, promoting, and researching corpora. UAlberta is the home of the Canadian component of the International Corpus of English, an online searchable Wenzhou Spoken Corpus and other free downloadable corpora. My particular interest in corpora has been to explore problems of interest to Cognitive Linguistics using corpora, as outlined in my article Corpora and Cognitive Linguistics. I have an interest in the Sinitic language family, especially the Chinese dialects. My research includes a phonological history of Cantonese from Middle Chinese to the present, published in three issues of the Journal of Chinese Linguistics (1984-85), co-authored with Matthew Chen. I have helped to create electronic corpora of Wenzhou, Shanghainese, and Southern Min dialects. Mandarin tends to be promoted at the expense of the dialects in China and so I feel it is particularly important for linguists to document the dialects. I'm not a sociolinguist, but I have researched and published on aspects of the Speak Mandarin Campaign in Singapore - it was impossible for me, as a linguist, not to respond to the language issues being debated while I was living in Singapore in 1981-1985. I was first introduced to the world of Austronesian linguistics by Sandra Chung who taught Field Methods at UCSD when I was a graduate student there. We studied Chamorro in that class and I've been hooked on Austronesian languages ever since. I have carried out research on Malay languages in Sarawak, Philippine languages in Singapore, and Tongan in New Zealand. Currently I am carrying out research on Bohuai (Pohowa), spoken on Manus Island in Papua New Guinea. I have also worked on the phonology of a Papuan tone language, Kairi.
Prof Kingsley Bolton	Professor Bolton's research interests include English in Asia, English in higher education, language and media, the sociolinguistics of globalization, world Englishes, and other related topics. His publications include fifteen books (edited and authored), five journal special issues, and seventy journal articles and book chapters. He is Co-editor of the influential SSCI-indexed journal World Englishes (Wiley-Blackwell), founding editor of the book series Asian Englishes Today (Hong Kong University Press), and The History and Development of World Englishes (Routledge). He is also a member of the editorial board of Applied Linguistics Review, Educational Studies, English Today, English World-Wide, and the international book series Multilingual Education (Springer). He has an active and continuing publication agenda, much of which focuses on English in the Asian region and worldwide.
Asst Prof Koo-Cheah Swit Ling, Diane	Assistant Professor Koo Swit Ling's research interest is in the acquisition of second language, with particular focus on interlanguage variability. She is currently also looking into the different approaches to classroom learning and how that can be enhanced, especially in the context of
Prof Kuo Chen-Yu, Eddie	Communication policy and planning New media and globalization Cultural policy and national integration Sociology of multilingualism. Perspectives in Asian communication
Assoc Prof Kwan Sze Pui Uganda	20th Century Chinese literature; The history of translation in the 20th century China; Comparative literature on Japanese literature and Chinese literature in the late 19th to early 20 century; Hong Kong literature and culture.
Dr Lai Phooi Ching	Editing Intercultural communication Intensive English language programs
Assoc Prof Lee Chun Wah	Research Areas: Advertising Management, Brand Communication, Public Communication Current Focus: Managing the business operations and account-servicing of Advertising Agencies
Dr Lee Hwee Hoon	Lee Hwee Hoon's research interests include pedagogical and professional issues in English Language teaching and learning, and ICT in education. Her doctorate thesis explores university teachers' perspectives on the use of information and communication technology in teaching.
Mdm Li Shu Yun	Ms Li's research interests are Language Teaching and Learning, Communication and Culture, Discourse, Text and Genre Analysis, Language for Specific Purposes.
Asst Prof Lim Ai Ching	Emotions Information Processing Language Effects in Advertising Cross-Cultural Consumer Differences
Prof Luke Kang Kwong Kapathy	Interaction between tone and intonation; Prosody in Conversational Interaction; Conversation Analysis; English and Chinese grammar; Chinese Linguistics; History and structure of Cantonese; Language and Cognitive Neuroscience; Corpus Linguistics; Natural Language Processing
Asst Prof Michael Donald Patterson	My research interests are in cognitive science and cognitive neuroscience. More specifically, I focus on working memory. In one project, I am examining how binding between items in working memory can be affected by semantic knowledge held in long-term memory. In another project, I am looking at the biases and flexibility in selecting to encode in working memory a limited amount of visual information from a complex visual environment. In a third project, I am examining the use of working memory during the performance of actions. I am interested in the cognitive and neural substrates of behaviors.
Assoc Prof Ng Bee Chin	Ng Bee Chin works in the area of child language acquisition and semantics. Her primary area of research is in psycholinguistics and sociolinguistics aspects of language acquisition in multilingual contexts. Topics which she has worked on include bilingual acquisition, language identity and attitudes, semantic and conceptual acquisition, interpretation and translation, language and gender, speech pathology in multilingual settings. Given the multilingual context she works in, she is interested in any aspect of language enquiry which explores the interaction between the speaker and the enviroment.
Asst Prof Olwen Anna Bedford	Research Interests +Moral emotions, Chinese face, guanxi, filial obligation +Conflict resolution +Organizational culture and ethics Selected Publications Bedford, O. (2012). Guanxi-building in the workplace: A dynamic process model of working and backdoor guanxi. Journal of Business Ethics, 104, 149-158. Chan, K. Y., Ho, M-H. R., Chernyshenko, O., Bedford, O. A., Uy, M. A., Gomulya, D. A., Sam, E. Y., & Phan, J. W. (2012). Entrepreneurship, professionalism, leadership: A framework and measure for understanding boundaryless careers. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 81, 73-88. Bedford, O. & Hwang, S. (2011). Flower drinking and masculinity in Taiwan. Journal of Sex Research, 48, 83-93. Huang, Y.H. & Bedford, O. (2009). The role of cross-cultural factors in integrative conflict resolution and crisis communication: The Hainan incident as a case. American Behavioral Scientist, 53, 565-78. Yeh, Y.K., Bedford, O., & Yang, Y. J. (2009). A Cross-Cultural Comparison of the Coexistence and Domain-Superiority of Individuating and Relating Autonomy. International Journal of Psychology, 44(3), 213-221. Bedford, O. & Hwang, K. K. (2006). Taiwanese Identity and Democracy: The Social Psychology of Taiwan's 2004 Elections. Palgrave-MacMillan, New York: New York. Bedford, O. (2004). The individual experience of guilt and shame in Chinese culture. Culture and Psychology, 10(1), 123-146. Bedford, O. & Hwang, K.K. (2003). Guilt and shame in Chinese culture: A Cross-cultural framework from the perspective of morality and identity. Journal for the Theory of Social Behavior, 33(2), 127-144. Hwang, Shu-Ling & Bedford, O. (2004). Juveniles' motivations for remaining in prostitution. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 28(2), 136-146. Yeh, Kuang-hui & Bedford, O. (2003). Filial piety: A test of the dual model. Asian Journal of Social Psychology, 6(3), 215-228. Hwang, S. & Bedford, O. (2003). Precursors and pathways to juvenile prostitution in Taiwan. Journal of Sex Research, 40(2), 201-210.
Prof Paul Kohl	Prof Kohl's areas of expertise are photography, both digital and analog, ink-jet printing, and web page design. His current research work focuses on fine art printing using the ink-jet printer and high quality papers.
Asst Prof PerMagnus Lindborg	Lindborg's main research interests are CAAC (Computer-Assisted Analysis and Composition), Interactive Performance, and Multimodal Perception. Peer-reviewed research articles and book chapters have been published by a.o. Causal Productions, eContact, Ircam-Delatour and LNCS-Springer Verlag. He has acted at reviwer for Organised Sound, Journal of Color Perception and Application, and conferences. More information on http://www.permagnus.net. -------------------- Grants, ongoing (as PI): 2012-15 Academic Research Fund Tier1. $50,000 SGD. Expressivity Online: Designing Participatory Telematic Performance. - 2012-14 Ministry of Culture, Norway. 125,000 NOK (~31,000 SGD) Music composition commission for Arctic Sinfonietta. - (as co-PI): 2012-16. MDA-NRF-IDMPO. $465,000 SGD. Game Design for Entertainment (MAGIC). Chavez, M.; Lindborg, PM.; Feinstein, K. - 2013 NAC Presentation and Promotion Grant. $10,000 SGD. When We Collide, interactive sound installation. Koh, J.B.T.; Lindborg, PM. - 2012-13 IDM Microfunding MDA. $50,000 SGD. Asian Pop Music Generator – Mobile Phone Application. Skoric, M., Lindborg, PM. & Yong, R.Z. - (as Collaborator): 2013-14 SUTD-NTU Project GREaT. $346,500 SGD. Combining Music Therapeutic Knowledge and the Science of Recovery in Game Design for Stroke Rehabilitation. Liu, S.; Kok, S.; Lindborg, PM.; Chen, A.; Chew, E., Khong, A. -------------------- Completed grants (as PI): 2009-11 Academic Research Fund Tier1. $50,000 SGD. Kinetoaudiovisual Parameter Mapping in Virtual Instrument Performance and Interactive Installation. - 2010-11 Seed Grant “Art & Technology” Institute for Media Innovation, NTU. $20,000 SGD. Walking Bach Slowly: Designing a 3D Interactive Sound Installation. - 2009-11 Academic Research Fund Tier1. $50,000 SGD. Kinetoaudiovisual Parameter Mapping in Virtual Instrument Performance and Interactive Installation. - 2009 CLASS grant WKW School of Communication, NTU. $3,000 SGD. Film music for Nosferatu. - 2008 ADM Startup Grant School of Art, Design and Media / Digital Creative Centre, NTU. $8,760 SGD. Metal.Blown, multimedia performance. - (as co-PI) 2010 NAC Arts Creation Fund. $50,000SGD. On the String, multimedia performance. Koh,J.B.T.; Lindborg, PM; Khiew, HC. - 2009 HASS CLASS grant. $10,000 SGD. Singapore Voices, an interactive sound installation with images. Ng, B.C., Lindborg, PM., Stulemeyer, R. -------------------- NTU Ureca projects: Koh Chong Wu (2012). A Musical Film (FYP-Ureca) Low Ser En (2011). Virtual Instrument for Performance Koh Chong Wu (2010). Sonic Art Project. Publication: Creative Artwork (selection): Lindborg, PerMagnus* (creative director, interaction design), Lien, Lars, Geistweidt, Jason et al. (2012). TimeTravel - tune in. Networked installation-performance. Simultaneously at Northern Lights Festival, Tromsø, Norway and Innovation Centre Gallery, NTU, Singapore 30 Jan - 2 Feb 2012. - Lindborg, PerMagnus (2011). Skalldans2. Interactive music and video solo performance. First presented at Nordic Music Days, Reykjavik. - Koh, Joyce Beetuan, Lindborg, PerMagnus, Yong, Rong Zhao (2011). The Canopy. Interactive sound installation. First presented at International Computer Music Conference (ICMC), University of Huddersfield, UK. (creative artwork acceptance rate <10%). - Koh, Joyce Beetuan, Lindborg, PerMagnus, Khiew, Huey Chian et al. (2010). On the String. Theatre of Music, multimedia performance. Commissioned by National Art Council for Singapore Art Festival. - Lindborg, PerMagnus et al (2009). Nosferatu. Music for film. Commissioned by WKW School of Communication for Monster Mania Festival at Vivo City, Singapore.
Asst Prof Qu Li	development of executive function, theory of mind, emotion regulation, and bilingualism; the impacts of emotion, language, social interaction, and culture on cognitive development; inhibitory control; task switching; brain development; circadian rhythm on cognition and emotion regulation.
Prof Randy John La Polla	Sino-Tibetan Linguistics Linguistic Typology Historical linguistics (including Grammaticalization and Sino-Tibetan reconstruction) Functional Syntax (esp. Role & Reference Grammar and Systemic Functional Grammar) Pragmatics (particularly Relevance Theory) Anthropological Linguistics (Asian languages on which I have done fieldwork: Cambodian, Chinese dialects [Southern Fujian, Beijing subdialects, Shanghai, Guangzhou dialects], Dulong [1st Township, 3rd Township, 4th Township, Nujiang dialects], Qiang [Ronghong, Qugu dialects], Rawang [Mvtwang, Dvru dialects], Tagalog, Vietnamese.)
Dr Sujata Surinder Kathpalia	Dr Sujata Kathpalia's research interest is in the areas of discourse analysis, composition theory, second language teaching/learning and information technology in education. Her MA thesis is on textual coherence mediated through the theory of frames and her PhD thesis is on the genre analysis of promotional texts that include book blurbs, sales promotional letters and print advertisements. The majority of her publications are a blend of theory and practice in English language teaching, technical communicatin and academic writing from the point of view of discourse.
Asst Prof Suwichit Chaidaroon	Dr. Suwichit (Sean) Chaidaroon is interested in studying corporate and organizational communication from an intercultural perspective. He has conducted research on intercultural communication in workplaces, conflicts, crisis communication, and marketing communications. Currently, he is working on research projects in the following areas: • Building a civility and culture of respect in workplaces • Employment of cancer survivors • Corporate social responsibility in Malaysia, Thailand, Hong Kong, and Singapore
Asst Prof Suzy Styles	I investigate how the mind handles that most human of processes: Language. As a psycholinguist, I use methods from cognitive science, experimental psychology and neuroscience to explore the way that language develops in infancy, the way it functions in the mind of the individual, and the way it changes over the life-course. In one branch of my research, I investigate how we develop systems of meaning that help us to coordinate linguistically-labeled concepts in the developing lexicon. For example, I have been investigating when words like "cat" and "dog" become functionally connected in the mind of infants and toddlers (in a way that "cat" and "bicycle" are not), and what outcome this has on moment-by-moment language comprehension. I am fundamentally interested in 'lexicons' as systems of organizing information about words. I investigate how features of each individual's vocabulary contribute to their comprehension of spoken language. I also investigate the interface between the sounds of words and their meanings, looking at how viewing a picture can trigger in the mind the idea of its name, and whether some pictures 'look more like' what they are called than others. In another branch of my research, I am interested in how different types of written language influence the way that we encode the sound system of our spoken languages. Some languages have just one way of representing the sounds of their language, while others have multiple alphabets, syllabries, ideographs, or mixed script systems. The human mind is capable of handling all of these systems - but we understand little about how they differ in terms of processing, and underlying cognitive representations. Furthermore, I am interested in our inter-sensory experience of the world, and how certain sounds correspond more ‘naturally’ to certain aspects of visual perception – for example, sounds differing in pitch are described as ‘high’ or ‘low’. I investigate when these intersensory mappings develop, and how they may differ between speakers of different languages.
Assoc Prof Tan Joo Seng	Prof Tan's research interests are in global leadership, cross-cultural communication, cross-cultural negotiation, international human resource management, and organizational safety
Asst Prof Tan Ying Ying	Tan Ying Ying is trained as a phonetician. Her research in phonetics has focused largely on the prosody (stress, intonation, rhythm) of Singapore English and other languages in Singapore, with particular attention to social-indexical variation, ethnic differentiation and substrate influence. Her current research inquiry concerns the constitution of the Singaporean accent. Besides Singapore English, she is also interested in the tonology of Southern Min languages such as Teochew and Hokkien. A firm believer in interdisciplinarity, she is engaged in understanding and analyzing language policy and planning through the lenses of cultural theory and contemporary thought. She has published in areas as phonetics, pragmatics, sociolinguistics and cultural theory.
Mdm Ulrike Marianne Murfett	Agent-customer interactions in call centres Social media and their use in organisations
Asst Prof Wong Liang Chun Jaymz	Assistant Professor Jaymz Wong's areas of expertise are film directing, film writing, and film producing. His current research works focus on film psychology, film semiotics, film form and the future of Cinema.
Ms Yang Mei Ling	Yang Mei Ling's research interests are mainly in the areas of consumer communications, particularly in written communication with customers and customer complaint behaviour.

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