Professorial Chair Lectures
Admission is Free
The Annual Lecture of
the Bonifacio P. Sibayan
Distinguished Professorial Chair
in Applied Linguistics
Saturday, 4 February 2012, 3-5 p.m.
Gonzalez Lecture Room A1403
De La Salle University - Manila
| bps_2012.pdf |
Dr. Gail Forey
Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, SAR China
2012 Professorial
Chair Holder
2012 Professorial
Chair Holder
"Researching language as a meaning-making resource in the Offshore Outsourcing Industry in the Philippines"
ABSTRACT
Today, many of the back office work, administrative tasks, customer service and other operations of multinational companies have been offshored and outsourced (O&O) to developing countries such as the Philippines. The range and variety of work found in the O&O industry is extremely varied from customer service telephone support (call centers), to medical transcription, animation work for movies, accounting, etc. In the Philippines and other destinations, the language for O&O work is predominantly English. Additionally, In the Philippines, English is a key resource leading to employment; and a lack of enough talented proficient English speakers is a major hurdle for further development. In this new emerging form of discourse, little is known about the language as a meaning-making resource in customer service interactions. In this paper, I outline discourse analytical and lexicogrammatical research I have been involved with in the O&O industry in the Philippines.
I discuss and highlight some of the research which has taken place, specifically focusing on text analysis, at both a discourse semantic and lexicogrammatical level. I draw on data from transcribed calls, field notes from over ten visits to different Business Processing Outsourcing organisations, and interviews with approximately 30 different Customer Service Representatives (CSR). I apply a systemic functional linguistic theoretical model (Halliday & Matthiessen, 2004), including Appraisal analysis (Martin & White, 2005), to investigate how meanings are made in the transcribed calls. The findings from the text analysis highlight the ways in which each speaker contributes to the dynamic and dialogic features of the call centre interaction. I also highlight and explore a range of lexicogrammatical features that emerge from the data, as salient and key meaning-making resources. Based on the findings from field notes and interviews, I illustrate how this industry directly impacts the social lives of those working within the industry. In this paper, I conclude by discussing the value and implications of the findings and outline areas of research that need further attention within the industry in the Philippines.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Dr Gail Forey is an Associate Professor in the Department of English at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU). Her research interests are systemic functional linguistics, critical discourse analysis, English for specific purposes and language education. She has taught and researched in England, Australia, Japan and Hong Kong. She has recently co-edited two books Text type and Texture with Geoff Thompson (2009, London: Equinox) and Globalisation, Communication and the Workplace with Jane Lockwood (2010, London: Continuum).
Today, many of the back office work, administrative tasks, customer service and other operations of multinational companies have been offshored and outsourced (O&O) to developing countries such as the Philippines. The range and variety of work found in the O&O industry is extremely varied from customer service telephone support (call centers), to medical transcription, animation work for movies, accounting, etc. In the Philippines and other destinations, the language for O&O work is predominantly English. Additionally, In the Philippines, English is a key resource leading to employment; and a lack of enough talented proficient English speakers is a major hurdle for further development. In this new emerging form of discourse, little is known about the language as a meaning-making resource in customer service interactions. In this paper, I outline discourse analytical and lexicogrammatical research I have been involved with in the O&O industry in the Philippines.
I discuss and highlight some of the research which has taken place, specifically focusing on text analysis, at both a discourse semantic and lexicogrammatical level. I draw on data from transcribed calls, field notes from over ten visits to different Business Processing Outsourcing organisations, and interviews with approximately 30 different Customer Service Representatives (CSR). I apply a systemic functional linguistic theoretical model (Halliday & Matthiessen, 2004), including Appraisal analysis (Martin & White, 2005), to investigate how meanings are made in the transcribed calls. The findings from the text analysis highlight the ways in which each speaker contributes to the dynamic and dialogic features of the call centre interaction. I also highlight and explore a range of lexicogrammatical features that emerge from the data, as salient and key meaning-making resources. Based on the findings from field notes and interviews, I illustrate how this industry directly impacts the social lives of those working within the industry. In this paper, I conclude by discussing the value and implications of the findings and outline areas of research that need further attention within the industry in the Philippines.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Dr Gail Forey is an Associate Professor in the Department of English at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU). Her research interests are systemic functional linguistics, critical discourse analysis, English for specific purposes and language education. She has taught and researched in England, Australia, Japan and Hong Kong. She has recently co-edited two books Text type and Texture with Geoff Thompson (2009, London: Equinox) and Globalisation, Communication and the Workplace with Jane Lockwood (2010, London: Continuum).
The Annual Lecture of
the Andrew B. Gonzalez, FSC
Distinguished Professorial Chair
in Linguistics and Language Teaching
Saturday, 10 March 2012, 10 AM
Andrew Gonzalez Auditorium, 18th Floor
Gonzalez Hall, De La Salle University-Manila
Andrew Gonzalez Auditorium, 18th Floor
Gonzalez Hall, De La Salle University-Manila
| bag_2012.pdf |
Prof. James R. Martin
2012 Chair Holder
University of Sydney, Australia
"Modelling and mentoring:
the yin and yang of teaching and learning from home through school"
ABSTRACT
Adopting a longitudinal perspective on teaching and learning language from home through school, in this talk I will focus on the inherent complementarity of teaching and learning processes, showing how parents and teachers serve as mentors for learners by modelling meaning for them in dialogic interaction - highlighting the sense in which just as children are born with a disposition to learn so their carers and educators cannot help but enact their corresponding disposition to teach.
I'll begin with examples from pre-school discourse developing the theme of guidance through interaction in the context of shared experience, including consideration of the role of talk about language in learning to speak. I'll then review the ways in which teachers, educational linguists and linguists have worked together on the basis of these understandings to develop the distinctive genre-based literacy pedagogies of what is generally know as the Sydney School, including its major phases of development through the primary focused Language and Social Power Project, the secondary school and workplace Write it Right research and the currently evolving Reading to Learn program.
Rose, D & J R Martin (in press for May) Learning to Write, Reading to Learn: genre, knowledge and pedagogy in the Sydney School. London: Equinox.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
James R. Martin is Professor of Linguistics at the University of Sydney. His research interests include systemic theory, functional grammar, discourse semantics, register, genre, multimodality and critical discourse analysis, focusing on English and Tagalog – with special reference to the transdisciplinary fields of educational linguistics, forensic linguistics and social semiotics. Recent publications include The Language of Evaluation (with Peter White) Palgrave 2005; and with David Rose, a second edition of Working with Discourse (Continuum 2007), a book on genre (Genre Relations: mapping culture, Equinox 2008), and an introduction to the genre-based literacy pedagogy of the ‘Sydney School’ (Learning to Write, Reading to Learn, Equinox, in press). The first two of eight volumes of his collected papers (edited by Wang Zhenhua, Shanghai Jiaotong University Press) were published in 2010. Professor Martin was elected a fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities in 1998, and was awarded a Centenary Medal for his services to Linguistics and Philology in 2003.
Adopting a longitudinal perspective on teaching and learning language from home through school, in this talk I will focus on the inherent complementarity of teaching and learning processes, showing how parents and teachers serve as mentors for learners by modelling meaning for them in dialogic interaction - highlighting the sense in which just as children are born with a disposition to learn so their carers and educators cannot help but enact their corresponding disposition to teach.
I'll begin with examples from pre-school discourse developing the theme of guidance through interaction in the context of shared experience, including consideration of the role of talk about language in learning to speak. I'll then review the ways in which teachers, educational linguists and linguists have worked together on the basis of these understandings to develop the distinctive genre-based literacy pedagogies of what is generally know as the Sydney School, including its major phases of development through the primary focused Language and Social Power Project, the secondary school and workplace Write it Right research and the currently evolving Reading to Learn program.
Rose, D & J R Martin (in press for May) Learning to Write, Reading to Learn: genre, knowledge and pedagogy in the Sydney School. London: Equinox.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
James R. Martin is Professor of Linguistics at the University of Sydney. His research interests include systemic theory, functional grammar, discourse semantics, register, genre, multimodality and critical discourse analysis, focusing on English and Tagalog – with special reference to the transdisciplinary fields of educational linguistics, forensic linguistics and social semiotics. Recent publications include The Language of Evaluation (with Peter White) Palgrave 2005; and with David Rose, a second edition of Working with Discourse (Continuum 2007), a book on genre (Genre Relations: mapping culture, Equinox 2008), and an introduction to the genre-based literacy pedagogy of the ‘Sydney School’ (Learning to Write, Reading to Learn, Equinox, in press). The first two of eight volumes of his collected papers (edited by Wang Zhenhua, Shanghai Jiaotong University Press) were published in 2010. Professor Martin was elected a fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities in 1998, and was awarded a Centenary Medal for his services to Linguistics and Philology in 2003.