By Dr Jeremy Koay
A limited view
Viewing politeness as a universally accepted norm is an incomplete or even misleading understanding of the concept. In fact, research in the early development of politeness theory, such as that of Brown and Levinson (1987), has been criticised for its lack of...
By Dorothy Cleary
I could not count the number of ESOL learners, many of whom were competent high-level English speakers, who have looked hopefully at me and said, “I want to improve my speaking. I don’t know how to have a conversation.”
My heart always sinks, because at their...
By Lottie Dowling
In January 2017, I returned to Beijing, China for work after a two-year absence. I left Beijing in 2015 after living there for nine and a half years to move to Australia. Having arrived in Beijing pre-Olympics and lived through the incredible transformation of the...