Professor Alice Deignan

Profile

I am a researcher and teacher in applied linguistics, with particular interests in lexical approaches to language analysis, and applications of corpus linguistics to the study of metaphor, metonymy and pragmatics. I have worked in English language teaching in various countries in Europe and Asia, and I have also worked as a lexicographer. I have been a member of RaAM (Researching and Applying Metaphor) since its founding, and have acted as Treasurer and Conference Secretary for the association.

Research interests

My research interests are in metaphor, genre and register, and pragmatics. I use large-scale corpora to investigate these, using analytical techniques developed from corpus lexicography. I am interested in the language, especially vocabulary, of mainstream schooling, and the challenges that this presents for some school students. I am currently leading a large AHRC funded project into the figurative language that is encountered and produced by young people, how this language may frame ideological positions and academic concepts, and the extent to which young people are aware of this language and its meaning potential. The central methodology is corpus linguistics, supplemented with data generated through interviews and tasks completed by young people. My previous research project (ESRC, 2018- 2022) used corpus linguistic techniques to explore and describe the language of early secondary school in the UK, in collaboration with education professionals at our partner schools in the north of England.

• The linguistic challenges of the transition from primary to secondary school
• Young People, Criticality and Figurative Language

Student education

I teach modules on language description and language skills at undergraduate and Masters level.

Research groups and institutes

• Centre for Language Education

Current postgraduate researchers

• Chengyan Li
• Airen Zhang
• Rasha Mohsen
• Henry Troy