Language Culture Matters Seminar Series
Convenors: Holly Warner, Aishee Bhattacharya, Dr Clay Becker
When: Every Wednesday, 16:00-17:00 BST/GMT, Weeks 3-9 of Term 2 (28th January 2026 - 11th March 2026)
Where: A0.23 (Social Sciences Building, University of Warwick) and Microsoft Teams (linked below)
Please note:
Seminars on 4th February 2026 and 18th February 2026 are held on Microsoft Teams ONLY
Join: https://teams.microsoft.com/meet/32640967789656?p=lHm4RZgTa2DSvyZFolLink opens in a new window
Wednesday 28/01/2026 - 16:00-17:00 GMT
Murmurations of conspiracy: Identifying dynamic belief flows in social systems
Prof Thomas Hills, University of Warwick
Abstract
Beliefs in social communities may follow complex flows. Our beliefs influence our social communities and these in turn influence what we will believe next. Are these flows predictable and can we identify them? In this talk I describe a network and complex systems approach to identifying gateway beliefs among conspiracy theorists. This work is based on a data set from 1000 people in the US self-reporting on 39 conspiracies. The results are suggestive of complex flows through time and multiple belief attractors, with conspiracies promoting further conspiracy belief and other actually preventing further belief. This method is generalizable and could be applied to any system where conceptual information can change over time and is influenced by the social environment.
Bio
Thomas Hills is a Professor of Psychology at the University of Warwick. Trained as a biologist, his research focuses on applying principles from behavioural ecology to the human behavioural sciences. His work involves methods such as network science, natural language processing, and computational modeling, with a strong emphasis on cognitive theory. He has worked at the University of Basel, Indiana University, and University of Texas at Austin, following his PhD from the University of Utah.
Wednesday 04/02/2026 - 16:00-17:00 GMT
Did ChatGPT write this assignment? Taking a register approach to the human vs. machine language variation
Dr Larissa Goulart, Montclair State University
Abstract
Since the public release of OpenAI’s ChatGPT in November 2022, teachers and writing researchers have questioned how generative AI will influence the writing classroom. While some scholars highlight its potential for brainstorming and feedback, others express concern about plagiarism and overreliance on AI to complete assignments. This presentation adopts a register approach to examine whether and how tools such as ChatGPT can be used to produce academic writing. I present findings from two complementary projects. The first compares student-generated and AI-generated responses to identical prompts using two corpora: assignments written by undergraduate linguistics majors and texts generated by ChatGPT. Texts were annotated for situational characteristics and lexico-grammatical features, followed by an additive multidimensional analysis to examine patterns of variation. The second project explores ESL instructors’ perceptions of differences between student and AI-generated writing and compares these perceptions with the linguistic findings from the first study.
Bio
Larissa Goulart is an Assistant Professor of Linguistics at Montclair State University. Larissa holds a Ph.D. in Applied Linguistics from Northern Arizona University. At MSU, she coordinates the Laboratory for Applied Corpus Linguistics Research. Her research primarily focuses on undergraduate student writing, corpus-based approaches to register variation, and the applications of corpora to teaching. Her research has appeared in the Journal of English for Academic Purposes, Applied Corpus Linguistics, Corpora, Register Studies, among others. Larissa is currently associate editor of Register Studies. Her book, “Variation in University Student Writing” (John Benjamins) examines how language varies across registers and disciplines in student writing. Larissa’s recent research involves a comparative analysis of undergraduate student writing and GenAI texts.
Bluesky - @larissagoulart.bsky.social
Wednesday 11/02/2026 - 16:00-17:00 BST
Behind the Screens: How GenAI is Affecting Academic Literacies (and What We Can Do about it)
Dr Elizabeth Olsson, University of Gothenburg
Abstract
This presentation considers how the widespread use of generative AI (genAI) by students may disrupt the implementation of Lea and Street’s (1998) Academic Literacies framework. Specifically, the presentation employs theoretical concepts, including content drift, the drudgery trap, and posthuman agency, as heuristic tools to understand how generative AI affects students’ study skills, academic socialisation, and academic literacies. The presentation draws from and highlights the pedagogical experiences of the presenter, Elizabeth Olsson, who works as a lecturer and academic language advisor at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. The presentation concludes with guidance for university lecturers and language advisors.
The presentation is based on:
Olsson, E. M. (2026). Embedding academic literacies in the age of generative AI. In N. Murray (Ed.), Embedding academic literacies in university curricula: Perspectives and case studies, (chapter 6) Cambridge University Press.
Bio
Elizabeth Olsson has an eclectic background. She worked as an English and social studies teacher in Japan, the US, Palestine, and Sweden before earning an master's degree in global studies (2011) and master's degree in education research (2013). She completed her PhD in peace and development research in 2021 with a dissertation titled, Constructive Conflict in Classrooms and Beyond. She has worked as an academic language advisor since 2022, and has specialized in supporting students, teachers, and researchers at the University of Gothenburg navigate generative AI since 2023. In this capacity, Elizabeth wrote her university's genAI guidance for students, updated her university's information for students about misleading use of genAI in their studies, and served as the leader of a university wide-project on AI and Teaching in 2025. Her ongoing research concerns the pedagogical implications of genAI discourses, genAI and pedagogical ethics, and how genAI affects groupwork and students' well-being.
https://www.gu.se/en/about/find-staff/elizabetholsson
https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=wBp33_AAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao
https://studentportal.gu.se/en/service-and-support/academic-language-and-writing?
Wednesday 18/02/2026 - 16:00-17:00 BST
Human-AI co-creation of a concordancing tool for DDL in the Arts and Humanities disciplines: Introducing the Mini CAHAT Concordancer
Dr James O'Flynn, Arden University
Abstract
TBC
Bio
TBC
Wednesday 25/02/2026 - 16:00-17:00 GMT
Title TBC
Yvette Wang, University of Warwick
Abstract
TBC
Bio
TBC
Link opens in a new win
Wednesday 04/03/2026 - 16:00-17:00 GMT
Doing Language Differently: Perspectives on Multilingualism from 11 Teachers of English as a Target Language
Cerise Andrews, University of Warwick
Abstract
Teachers/teacher educators can benefit from articulating their own personal language histories. A translanguaging approach may offer additional insight into teachers’ attitudes to multilingualism. Conversations with teachers/teacher educators about language terminology and hierarchies can form part of an ongoing re-evaluation of their positionalities: “By helping teacher educators recognize the inconsistencies in their beliefs, whether stated or reportedly enacted, we can begin to stimulate transformative shifts in both belief systems and classroom practices” (Tastanbek, 2025, p.162).
However, with the exception of Waddington (2024) there is as yet a dearth of multimodal prompts aimed at teachers for the purpose of untangling ideas about multilingual identities. I propose to leverage the hybrid format seminar and use audience participation to demonstrate the multimodal data collection prompts I developed for my data collection. These prompts apply the principles of Virtual Exchange (Hauck, 2023) in a multi-modal online space to enable translingual communication (Tai & Zuo, 2024).
References:
Hauck, M. (2023). From Virtual Exchange to Critical Virtual Exchange and Critical Internationalization at Home. The Global Impact Exchange, 2023(Spring), pp. 9–12.
Tai, K. W. H. & Zuo, M. (2024). The development of an ESL teacher’s ability in constructing a virtual translanguaging space in synchronous online language tutorials. Linguistics and Education. 83 (2024) 101311. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.linged.2024.101311
Tastanbek, S. (2025). “Противоречат, да, мои слова?!” Translingual TESOL Teacher Educators’ Conflicting Translanguaging Beliefs. The Canadian Modern Language Review. Volume 81, Number 3, pp. 141-166. https://doi.org/10.3138/cmlr-2024-0072
Waddington, J. (2024). Questioning the Native Speaker Construct in Teacher Education: Enabling Multilingual Identities and Decolonial Language Pedagogies (1st ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003188896
Bio
I am a 3rd Year PhD English Language Teaching with Applied Linguistics candidate at the University of Warwick, having transferred from the University of Stirling (MRes in TESOL with Distinction) in 2024 at the same time as my supervisor Professor Adrian Blackledge. I am researching language teachers' perceptions of multilingualism within their experiences teaching English as a target language to multilingual students. I previously studied at the University of Birmingham and completed my MA in Applied Linguistics with TESOL in 2022.
I graduated from the University of Surrey with a BA (Hons) in Dance & Culture (2000) and an MA in Dance Research (2004), and began my teaching career lecturing in FE and HE, and tutoring English in the UK from 2004-2009. I then spent a decade teaching ESL in South Korea 2009-2019. I am a keen (but not yet proficient) Korean language learner.
Email: Cerise.Andrews@warwick.ac.uk
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0000-1514-8401
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cerise-louisa-andrews-a9444316a/
Wednesday 11/03/2026 - 16:00-17:00 GMT
Understanding social inequalities in International Student Mobility Research: Exploring access, experiences, and outcomes
Dr Joana Almeida, University of Warwick
Abstract
This talk examines social inequalities in access to, experiences of, and outcomes from studying abroad. It situates inequality as a key theme in international student mobility research and identifies common dimensions of disadvantage faced by international students, both before and after the Covid‑19 pandemic.
Building on the speaker’s 2020 book Understanding Student Mobility in Europe: An Interdisciplinary Approach (Routledge), a recent systematic literature review with the European Network on International Student Mobility (ENIS, www.enisnetwork.com) on the impact of Covid‑19 on social inequalities (Almeida et al., 2025), the related policy brief (Guðmarsdóttir et al., 2024), and a broader review on social inequalities (Lomer et al., 2024), the talk foregrounds international students’ lived experiences and the inequalities they encounter while abroad.
It concludes by outlining directions for future research and practice, while inviting the audience to debate pressing questions.
Bio
Joana Almeida is Assistant Professor in intercultural communication at the Centre for Applied Linguistics, University of Warwick. With an 18‑year academic portfolio across educational institutions in Portugal, Spain, the UK and the USA, Joana has worked on 12 research projects on cross‑cultural communication and/or international higher education, including research capacity‑building in Mozambican higher education (Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency), internationalisation at home in European higher education (Erasmus+), internationalisation of the curriculum in Brazilian higher education (British Council), and teacher education and intercultural competence development in the EU (European Commission Joint Research Centre).
Joana’s primary research interests centre on the internationalisation of higher education, international student mobility and intercultural competence, adopting an interdisciplinary approach to these topics. She has published in various academic journals, including European Journal of Higher Education and Comparative Migration Studies, and is the author of Understanding Student Mobility in Europe: An Interdisciplinary Approach (Routledge, 2020).
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/joana-almeida-9b6136228/
See the recordings of our previous seminars here (please note that not all seminars are recorded):
Language Culture Matters Seminar RecordingsLink opens in a new window
See the list of our previous seminars here:
Language Culture Matters Seminar ArchiveLink opens in a new window