Research

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Research in the Language and Communication Centre (LCC)

LCC faculty have a wide range of research interests, many of which are directly related to English as an academic language and communication skills at university level. This includes research in such areas as English for Academic Purposes, English for Specific Purposes, teacher/student feedback and Asian Englishes, involving areas of inquiry that range from applied linguistics and educational linguistics to the study of world Englishes, with particular reference to the English language in the Asian region. At present, one research team in the LCC is engaged in an EDeX-funded study of the communication needs of students across NTU, which is intended to inform current initiatives in curriculum renewal in the teaching of communication skills. Other projects currently focus on academic and professional writing, the use of new media in language learning, the role of feedback in language education, language and social media, and the use of English as a lingua franca in higher education across Asia.


SELECTED PUBLICATIONS OF LCC FACULTY (2013 onwards)

Books, journal special issues, and reports
Ahn, H. (2017). Attitudes to World Englishes: Implications for teaching English in South Korea. New York: ​Routledge.​
Bolton, K., Bacon-Shone, J., Botha, W., Heah, C., Kathpalia, S. S., Li, S. Y., See, E. K., & Winder, R. V. P. (2016). Research report: The communication needs of students at Nanyang Technological University. Singapore: Language and Communication Centre, Nanyang Technological University.

Bolton, K., Heah, C., Lee, H. H., Lee, C. P. J, Li, S. Y., Lim, B. T., Lin, B., MacKinnon, J., & Winder, R. (2017). HW0188 Engineering communication I: Student’s course guide. Abingdon/New York: Routledge.
Bolton, K., Heah, C., Lee, H. H., Lee, C. P. J, Li, S. Y., Lim, B. T., Lin, B., MacKinnon, J., & Winder, R. (2017). HW0288 Engineering communication II: Student’s course guide. Abingdon/New York: Routledge.

Bolton, K., Leong, A. P., De Souza, D. E., See, E. K., Ong, K. K. W., Lam, S. T. E., & Kathpalia, S. S. (2017). HW0128 Scientific communication I: Student’s course guide. Abingdon/New York: Routledge.

Bolton, K., Kathpalia, S. S., See, E. K., De Souza, D. E., Lam, S. T. E., Leong, A. P., & Ong, K. K. W. (2017). HW0128 Scientific communication II: Student’s course guide. Abingdon/New York: Routledge.

​Frattarola, A. (2018). Modernist Soundscapes: Auditory Technology and Novel. University Press of Florida.

Leong, E. C., Heah, C., & Ong, K. K. W. (2015). Engineering student's handbook for research projects. Abingdon: CRC Press, Taylor and Francis.

Leong, E. C., Heah, C., & Ong, K. K. W. (2015). Research projects for engineering students: Planning, writing and presenting. Abingdon: CRC Press, Taylor and Francis.

Toh, G. (2016). English as medium of instruction in Japanese higher education: Presumption, mirage or bluff? London: Palgrave-McMillan.  ​
 
 Journal articles
Adam, S. (2014). "I Their Map": The poetics of medieval mapmaking in John Donne's "Hymn to God my God, in my Sickness". John Donne Journal, 33, 131-164.
Ahn, H. (2013). English policy in South Korea: A role in attaining global competitiveness or a vehicle of social mobility? Journal of English as an International Language, 8(1), 1-20.
Ahn, H. (2014). Teachers' attitudes towards Korean English in South Korea. World Englishes, 33(2), 195-222.
Ahn, H. (2015). Awareness of and attitudes to Asian Englishes: A study of English teachers in South Korea. Asian Englishes, 17(2), 132-151.

Ahn, H. (2015). Assessing proficiency in the National English Ability Test (NEAT) in South Korea. English Today, 31(1), 34-42.
Bolton, K., Bacon-Shone, J., Botha, W., Heah, C., Kathpalia, S. S., Li, S. Y., See, E. K., & Winder, R. V. P. (2016). The communication needs of students at Nanyang Technological University. LCC Working Papers, 2, 1-97.

Chin, S. F., & Lee, C. C. (2016). Writing for transfer in resume writing.  LCC Working Papers, 3, 3-13.

De Souza, D. E. (2016). Critical realism and the Realist review: Analyzing complexity in educational restructuring and the limits of generalizing program theories across borders. American Journal of Evaluation, 37(2), 216-237.

De Souza, D.E. (2017). Measuring classroom pedagogical transformations when “Educating for change”? A lesson from Singapore. LCC Working Papers, 4, 3-11. 

De Souza, D.E. (2018). Educational change in Singapore and its ‘tinkering’ around the edges: A critical realist perspective. Journal of Educational Change, 19(1), 19-49.

Frattarola, A. (2005). Listening for ‘found sound’ samples in the novels of Virginia Woolf. Woolf Studies Annual, 11, 133-159. 
Frattarola, A. A. (2009). Modernism and the irresponsible allusion: Joyce, Eliot and Pound. In D. Jernigan, N. Murphy, B. Quigley, & T. Wagner (Eds.), Literature and Ethics: Questions of Responsibility in Literary Studies. New York: Cambria Press.​
Frattarola, A. (2009). Developing an ear for the modernist novel: Virginia Woolf, Dorothy Richardson, and James Joyce. Journal of Modern Literature, 33(1), 132-153.
​Frattarola, A. (2009). The modernist “Microphone Play”: Listening in the dark to the BBC. Modern Drama, 52(4), 449-468.
Frattarola, A. (2010). A glimpse of Aidan Higgins through his critical work. In N. Murphy (Ed.), Aidan Higgins: The Fragility of Form. University of Illinois: Dalkey Archive Press.
Frattarola, A. (2010). The phonograph and the modernist novel. Mosaic: A Journal for the Interdisciplinary Study of Literature, 43.1,143-159.
Frattarola, A. (2011). Auditory narrative in the modernist novel: Prosody, music, and the subversion of vision in Dorothy Richardson's Pilgrimage. Genre: Forms of Discourse and Culture, 44(1), 5-27.
Frattarola, A. (2012). Fabricating history through folklore in Ming Cher's Spider Boys. SARE: Southeast Asian Review of English, 50(1), 83-96.
​Frattarola, A. (2013). The limitations of vision and power of folklore in John Dos Passos’s USA. Studies in the Novel, 45(1), 80-101.
​Frattarola, A. (2017). Community gardens or affordable housing: A false dichotomy grows in the Lower East Side. Moving Worlds, 17.1, 69-78.
Frattarola, A. (in press). The Aura of the Phonographic Relic: Hearing the Voices of the Dead. In The Routledge Companion to Literature and Death. Rutledge.
Heah, C., & Kathpalia, S. S. (2013). Conventional and culture-specific metaphors in Singapore financial discourse. ESP Across Cultures, 10, 107-204.
Heah, C., & Li, S. Y. (2015). Lessons from consultancy work. LCC Working Papers, 1, 27-33.
Hill, C., & Khoo, S. (2017). An investigation into the learning transfer of English for Specific Academic Purposes (ESAP) writing skills of Engineering students. LCC Working Papers, 4, 13-26.

Hsieh, Y. C. (2017). A case study of the dynamics of scaffolding among ESL learners and online resources in collaborative learning. Computer Assisted Language Learning, 30(1-2), 115-132. 

Jain, R. (2017). Migration and language education: Towards a typology of complementary schools. LCC Working Papers, 4, 27-37.
Jain, R., & Wee, L. (2018). Cartographic mismatches and language policy: The case of Hindi in Singapore. Language Policy, 17(1), 99-118.
Kathpalia, S. S., & See, E. K. (2016). Designing academic writing courses for science students. LCC Working Papers, 3, 59-65.

Kathpalia, S. S. (2017). Review of the book Developing effective research proposals, by K. F. Punch. LCC Working Papers, 4, 81-83.

Kathpalia, S. S. (2017). Review of the book Critical genre analysis: Investigating interdiscursive performance in professional practice, by V. K. Bhatia. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 28, 50-51. 

Kathpalia, S. S. (2018). Neologisms: Word creation processes in Hindi-English code-mixed words. English World-Wide, 39(1), 34-59. 
Kathpalia, S. S., & See, E. K. (2016). Improving argumentation through student blogs. System, 58, 25-36. 

Kathpalia, S. S., & Ong, K. K. W. (2015). The use of code-mixing in Indian billboard advertising. World Englishes, 34(4), 557-575.

Kim, G. M. L., & Pang, S. W. (2017). Measuring the presentation anxiety of NTU engineering students. LCC Working Papers, 4, 39-54.

Koo, S. L. (2017). Success in the workplace: Communicating persuasively. LCC Working Papers, 4, 73-80.

Lam, S.T.E. (2016). Exploring undergraduate Chinese students’ preferences for feedback in a second language writing class. LCC Working Papers, 3, 29-39.

Lee, C.C., & Chin, S. F. (2017). Engineering students’ perceptions of graduate attributes: Perspectives from two educational paths. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication, 60(1), 42-55. 
Lee, C. P. J. (2016). A teacher’s role in conducting in-class online collaborative writing tasks using Google Docs. LCC Working Papers, 3, 41-57.

Lee, C. P. J. (2017). A self-reflective study of teacher’s questioning in promoting thinking and learning. LCC Working Papers, 4, 55-71.
Lee, H. H., Kim, G. M. L., & Chan, L. L. (2013). Good teaching: What matters to university students. Asia Pacific Journal of Education, 35(1), 98-110.

Lee, H. H., Leong, A. P., & Song, G. (2017). Investigating teacher perceptions of feedback. ELT Journal, 71(1), 60–68.
Leong, A. P. (2013). Thinking critically: A look at students’ critiques of a research article. Higher Education Research Development, 32(4), 575-589.
Leong, A. P. (2014). The passive voice in scientific writing: The current norm in science journals. Journal of Science Communication, 13(1), 1-16.
Leong, A. P. (2015). Topical themes and thematic progression: The ‘picture’ of research articles. Text & Talk, 35(3), 289-315.
Leong, A. P. (2016). Thematic density of research-article abstracts: A systemic-functional account. Word, 62(4), 209–227. 
Leong, A. P. (2016). The thematic structure of homepages: An exploratory systemic-functional account. Semiotica, 2016(210), 105–127.
Lin, B. (2015). Using SFL in an appliable stylistics: Exploring verbal artistry and its implications for poetic translation. Linguistics and the Human Sciences, 10(1), 13-27.

Lu, L. (2016). Academically elite students in Singapore: a collective moral stance toward aspirations and trajectories. AILA Review, 29, 141-172.
Ong, K. K. W. (2017). Textese and Singlish in multiparty chats. World Englishes, 36(4), 611-630. 
Ong, K. K. W. (2017). Raising and assessing second language vocabulary fluency. Contact, 43(3), 25-29. 
Ong, K. K. W., Ghesquière, J. F., & Serwe, S. K. (2013). Frenglish shop signs in Singapore. English Today, 29(3), 19-25.
Ong, K. K. W., & Zhang, L. J. (2018). The effects of code- switched reading tasks on late-bilingual EFL learners’ vocabulary recall, retention and retrieval. System, 72(1), 13-22. 
Song, G., Lee, H. H., & Leong, A. P. (2015). Looking at the finished product: What student revisions reveal. LCC Working Papers, 1, 10-15.
Song, G., Lee, H. H., & Leong, A. P. (2017). Students’ response to feedback: An exploratory study. RELC Journal, 48(3), 357–372.  
Toh, G. (2016). Countering essentialist conceptualizations of content knowledge in a Japanese CLIL situation. LACLIL, 9(1), 210-235.

Toh, G. (2016). Doing justice to an English as a Lingua Franca paradigm.  Journal of English as a Lingua Franca, 5(2), 355-367.

Toh, G. (2016). Graduate school academic writing in  a Japanese situation: drawing on the design perspective towards an affirmation of English as a Lingua Franca. Englishes in Practice, 3(2), 29-54.
Toh, G. (2017). Japanese graduate school students’ writing in English: Facilitating pathways towards ‘design’. Writing and Pedagogy, 8(3), 550-573.

Toh, G. (2017). Provocative encounters reflecting struggles with change: Power and coercion in a Japanese university situation. Policy Futures in Education,15(4), 512-525.

Winder, R. V. P., Koo, S. L., & Kathpalia, S. S. (2015).Writing centre tutoring sessions: Correlation between student and peer-tutor perceptions. LCC Working Papers, 1, 16-26.

Winder, R., Kathpalia, S. S., & Koo, S. L. (2016). Writing centre tutoring sessions: Addressing students’ concerns. Educational Studies, 42(4), 323-339.
Winder, R.V.P., MacKinnon, J., Li, S. Y., Lin B.C.T.L., Heah, C.L.H., da Costa, L. M., Kuribayashi, T., & Bond, F. (2017). NTUCLE: Developing a Corpus of Learner English to provide writing support for engineering students. In Proceedings of the 4th Workshop on Natural Language Processing Techniques for Educational Applications  (NLPTEA 2017) (pp.1-11)

 Book chapters
Ahn, H. (2017). Seoul Uncle: Cultural conceptualisations behind the use of address terms in Korean. In F. Sharifian (Ed.), Advances in cultural linguistics (pp. 411-432). Singapore: Springer.
Ahn, H. (2017). English as a discursive and social communication resource for contemporary South Koreans. In C. Jenks & J. Lee (Eds.), Korean Englishes in transnational contexts (pp. 157-179). UK: Palgrave Macmillan.
Kathpalia, S. S., & Koo, S. L. (2014). The changing landscape for business communication. In V. K. Bhatia & S. Bremner (Eds.),The Routledge handbook of language and professional communication (pp. 274-286). New York/London: Routledge.

Leong, A. P. (2018). Project-based teaching. In J. I. Liontas (Ed.), The TESOL encyclopedia of English Language Teaching (pp. 780–788). Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley & Sons. 
Lin, B. (2014). Stylistics in translation. In P. Stockwell & S. Whiteley (Eds.), The Cambridge handbook of stylistics (pp. 573-589). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Lin, B. (2015). Functional stylistics. In V. Sotirova (Ed.), The Bloomsbury companion to stylistics (pp. 57-75). London: Bloomsbury.
Lu, L. (2016). 'Designer Immigrant' students in Singapore: Challenges for linguistic human rights in a globalising world. In K. Arnaut, M. Karrebæk, M. Spotti & J. Blommaert (Eds.),Engaging superdiversity: Recombining spaces, times and language practices (pp. 277-302). Bristol: Multilingual Matters.
Ong, K. K. W., Zhang, L. J., & Martin, I. P. (2013). Code-switching in universities in Singapore and the Philippines. In R. Barnard & J. McLellan (Eds.), Codeswitching in university English-medium classes: Asian perspectives (pp. 163-185). Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.
Ong, K. K. W., Serwe, S. K., & Ghesquiere, J. F. (2013). Bon appétit, Lion City: The use of French in naming restaurants in Singapore. In C. Gerhardt, M. Frobenius & S. Ley (Eds.), Culinary ling​​uistics: The chef’s special (pp. 281-304). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Ong, K. K. W., & Kathpalia, S. S. (2016). Argumentation and floor management in computer-supported collaborative learning. In R. Breeze & C. S. Guinda (Eds.), Essential competencies for English medium university teaching (pp. 201-218). New York: Springer.
Shah, S., & Jain, R. (2017). Gujara​ti in Singapore. In C. Seals & S. Shah (E​ds.), Heritage language policies around the world (pp.199-217). New York: Routledge.
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