November 2023

Introduction

Professor Tony McEnery’s academic journey highlighted his deep commitment to advancing corpus linguistics and its application in the development of educational materials. Particularly, the “International Conference on Frontiers of Corpus-based Interdisciplinary Research” held from October 27th to 29th not only showcased McEnery’s research achievements but also promoted international academic exchanges and cooperation. This conference gathered experts and scholars from around the world to discuss the application and challenges of corpus linguistics in modern education, social sciences, and interdisciplinary fields, marking a significant milestone in the research of this area.

Timeline 

On the evening of September 8th, Professor Tony McEnery hosted an expert interview and audience Q&A session titled ‘The Application of Corpus Linguistics in the Development of Spoken English Teaching Materials: Engaging with Stakeholders.’ Professor McEnery engaged in in-depth discussions on various topics such as different perspectives and methods in language learning research, limitations of language learning resources, and trends and challenges in language research. Dr. Curry presented on his five-year research project, titled ‘Engaging with Stakeholders on the Use of Corpus Linguistics for Spoken ELT Materials Development’.

On October 27-29th, Professor Tony McEnery planned and participated in an ‘International Conference on Frontiers of Corpus-based Interdisciplinary Research’. It was organized by School of Foreign Studies, Xi’an Jiaotong University. Co-organized by National Research Center of Foreign Language Education at Beijing Foreign Studies University, Journal of Foreign Language Education, Xi’an Jiaotong University Press and Journal of Corpus-based Studies across Humanities. Plenary Speeches include Tony McEnery, Lancaster University, UK/ Xi’an Jiaotong University, China; Mark Liberman, University of Pennsylvania, USA; WEI Naixing (卫乃兴) , Beihang University, China; XU Jiajin（许家金）, Beijing Foreign Studies University, China; Michaela Mahlberg, University of Birmingham, UK; QIAN Yufang（钱毓芳）, Zhejiang Gongshang University, China (Associated Fellow of Global China Academy); Paul Baker, Lancaster University, UK; Laurence ANTHONY, Waseda University, Japan; HU Kaibao（胡开宝）, Shanghai International Studies University, China; JIANG Yue（蒋跃）, Xi’an Jiaotong University, China; Niall Curry, Manchester Metropolitan University, UK; Gavin Brookes, Lancaster University, UK (Associate Fellow of Global China Academy); Paul Rayson, Lancaster University, UK.

Professor McEnery delivered a speech at the opening ceremony. He outlined the trajectory of the development of corpus linguistics. From its early beginnings with relatively modest datasets and few tools to exploit them, corpus linguistics has grown to the extent that there seems to be an endless choice of corpora and a wealth of tools to process them. However, he argues that a key feature of the future of corpus linguistics will be to focus on what cannot be done with existing corpora and tools – rather than becoming an approach to the study of language limited by the possible, corpus linguistics has always been at its best when it redefines the possible. That, he argues, is in essence the past, present, and future of this approach to the study of language. Yet he also argues that in redefining the possible, there must be a continuous effort to critique and improve the data and tools – if not, in the zeal to expand possibility, there is a risk of embracing the implausible.

Professor QIANG Yufang of Zhejiang Gongshang University, once a doctoral student under Professor McEnery and a Assocaite Fellow of the Global Chinese Academy, pointed out through her examination of reports on the efficacy of traditional Chinese medicine in several British newspapers that TCM is gaining increasing recognition in the Western world. However, skepticism about the scientific nature of TCM still exists. Based on this, she proposed suggestions for the translation and introduction of TCM knowledge abroad.

The conference featured 14 sub-forums, where delegates engaged in extensive exchanges and in-depth discussions on the research and application of corpora in interdisciplinary fields such as linguistics, literature, translation studies, foreign language teaching, medicine, law, and journalism.

This conference gathered more than ten of the most influential experts and scholars in the field of corpus research from both domestic and international institutions, along with teachers and students from over 110 universities worldwide. The event was marked by intense clashes of cutting-edge ideas and the fusion of academic viewpoints. It was undoubtedly a grand academic event for interdisciplinary corpus research, playing a significant role in promoting international academic exchange, fostering interdisciplinary integration, and strengthening the construction of new liberal arts.

On the evening of November 24th, the 24th lecture of the ‘Foreign Languages and Cultures Forum’ high-end international expert Masterclass series of the School of Foreign Languages was held online via Tencent Meeting. Profesor Tony McEnery participated and was the keynote speaker. He also discussed issues with Professor Culpeper, including politeness in pragmatics, language subjectivity and complexity, and corpus-based pragmatic research.

Note: Photos and texts have been provided by the organizers of events.  

• Click here to view Global China Academy Council Chair Professor Tony McEnery’s Academic Activities in China, April-May 2023.
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