2026
320.Reworking research: transforming articles into blogs. Helwan University, Egypt. Zoom Speaker 20 April, 2026.
2021
267.Collaborating with colleagues: The good, the bad and the ugly. Innovative Teaching and Research in ELT Conference. University of Hong Kong 8 -10 January 2021. Via Zoom Featured Colloquium speaker
2017
236.Informality and academic writing. 4th International Conference on ESP/EAP/EMI in the Context of Higher Education. National University of Science and Technology MISiS, Moscow, Russia. 24-25 November 2017.
2016
223.Informality and academic writing. What’s new? American Assn for Corpus Linguistics. Iowa State University, USA. Sept 16-18
2015
202.Targeting learners academic writing needs at Hong Kong U. TESOL Convention. Toronto, Canada. 25-28 March 2015
201.Undergraduate understandings: stance and engagement in L2 undergraduate writing," TESOL Convention. Toronto, Canada. 25-28 March 2015
2014
186.A corpus approach to academic identity. AILA Conference. University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia. 10th-15th August, 2014.
185.Faculty feedback: perceptions and practices in L2 disciplinary writing. AILA Conference. University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia. 10th-15th August, 2014.
182.Corpora and change in English language teaching. TESOL Conference in Portland, Oregon. March 26-29, 2014.
181.What do faculty want? Perceptions on feedback to L2 writers. TESOL Conference in Portland, Oregon. March 26-29, 2014.
180.Writing -to-Learn’: Faculty Expectations of L2 Disciplinary Writing. American Association for Applied Linguistics Conference. Portland, Oregon. March 22-25, 2014
179.Innovation and change in English language education. American Association for Applied Linguistics Conference. Portland, Oregon. March 22-25, 2014 Convenor.
2013
173.The academic homepage: identity construction or brand management? British Association of Applied Linguistics Annual Conference. Herriot Watt University, Edinburgh, Scotland. 5th – 7th September 2013
2012
154.Academic Culture – Students and culture shock. TESOL Conference in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 28-31 March, 2012.
153.Individuality or conformity? Identity in university and personal academic homepages. American Association for Applied Linguistics Conference. Boston, Massachusetts 24-27 March, 2012.
2011
148.Constructing an academic identity in article bio statements AILA Conference, Beijing, China. 23-28 August, 2011.
142.Understanding English in the disciplines. EAP in the new curriculum Seminar. Hong Kong University May 6th& 17th.
139.“He works as a lecturer”: identity in academic bio statements. American Association for Applied Linguistics Conference. Chicago, Illinois March 26-29, 2011.
2010
134.Identifying disciplinary differences: some things a corpus can tell us. Universitas 21 Conference on Digital humanities. University of Birmingham, UK. 14th-16th September, 2010.
133.Promotion and information: Evaluation in Journal Descriptions. British Association for Applied Linguistics (BAAL) Annual Conference, University of Aberdeen, Scotland. 9th-11th September, 2010
126.‘The leading journal in its field’: Evaluation in Journal Descriptions. American Assn for Applied Linguistics Annual Conference.2010, Atlanta, Georgia, USA. March 6-8, 2010.
2009
121.Reformulation in academic writing: shaping disciplinary argument. British Assn for Applied Linguistics Annual Conference.2009. Newcastle University. Sept 2-5, 2009.
119.Words worth studying? Exploring the idea of an academic vocabulary. UPALS Conference. Penang, Malaysia, May 27-28, 2009.
115.Teaching genre in the disciplines: how applied linguistics can help. Annual Conference of Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL). Denver, CO, USA. March 24-28, 2009.
114.Reworking writing: elaboration in academic research articles. American Assn for Applied Linguistics Annual Conference.2009, Denver, CO, USA. March 21-23, 2009.
2008
107.Metadiscourse: mapping interactions in academic writing. AILA Conference, Essen, Germany. 24th-29th August, 2008.
2007
92.Discourse and disciplines: Interactions in research writing. 5thMalaysia International Conference on Languages, Literatures and Cultures, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 22-24 May, 2007Plenary speaker
88.Perspectives on researching and teaching writing. CALR Seminar. University of Southampton. 17 January, 2007.
2006
84.Writing in the academy: reputation, education and knowledge. Professorial inaugural lecture. Institute of Education, London. Oct 17, 2006.
82.Interaction and argument in science. European Society for the Study of English Annual Conference, University of London. August, 2006.
81.Metadiscourse: a study of interactions in postgraduate dissertations. A conference in honour of John Swales. University of Michigan. July 2006.
80.Small bits of textual material. American Assn for Applied Linguistics Annual Conference. Montreal, Canada. July 2006
76.Interacting in academic writing. Applied Language and Literacies Research Seminar, Open University, Milton Keynes. February 16, 2006
2005
73.‘Special thanks to…’: acknowledgements in dissertations. Applied Linguistics seminar series, Institute of Education, London. 9 November, 2005.
71.Disciplinary differences: Language variation in academic discourses. European Languages for Specific Purposes Conference, University of Bergamo, Italy. Sept 2005
70.Stance and engagement in Research writing. English Language Institute, University of Michigan, USA. 4 August, 2005.
69.A model of disciplinary interactions. AILA Conference, Madison, Wisconsin, USA. 25- 29July
67.Key aspects of EAP. Greek Applied Linguistics/ESP Assn Conference, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece, 27-28 May, 2005Keynote speaker
66.Writing practices and EAP pedagogies. Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece, 27-28 May, 2005
64.Interacting in academic writing: Disciplinary practices. University of Northumberland Research Seminar. Newcastle. March, 2005.
2004
62.‘I’d like to thank my supervisor’: acknowledgements in dissertations. International Language in Education Conference. Hong Kong Institute of Education. Dec, 2004.
60.Graduate’s gratitude: the structure of dissertation acknowledgements. British Association of Applied Linguistics Annual Conference. King’s College, London. Sept, 2004
59.Acknowledgements in academic writing. Analyzing Discourse in Context, IVACS Annual Conference, Queens University, Belfast, Northern Ireland. June, 2004.
58.Gratitude and strategy: The anatomy of dissertation acknowledgements. American Association for Applied Linguistics Annual Conference. Portland, USA. April, 2004
2003
52.Acknowledgements in L2 theses. BALEAP symposium on Corpus analysis and EAP. University of Reading, UK. 15 November, 2003.
51.Dissertation acknowledgements: Public gratitude or personal vanity? Languages for Specific Purposes Conference. University of Surrey, UK. 17-22 August, 2003.
2002
46.Mitigation and misunderstanding in teacher feedback. AILA conference, Singapore, December, 2002. {With Fiona Hyland}
45.So what is the point? Questions in academic writing. AILA conference, Singapore, December, 2002.
43.Patterns of engagement: constructing readers in research papers. 28th International Systemic Linguistics Conference. University of Liverpool, UK. 15-19 July, 2002.
42.Disciplinary engagement: interacting with readers in research articles. 2nd Knowledge and Discourse Conference. Hong Kong University. 20-24 June, 2002
40.Genre: theory, ideology and pedagogy. Annual Conference of Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL).Salt Lake City, USA. 9-13 April, 2002.
2001
39.Publishing in language teaching journals: perspectives from editors. International Language in Education Conference. University of Hong Kong. 13-15 December, 2001. Colloquium Convener
38.“As I demonstrated in a previous paper”: Self-mention in academic articles. American Association for Applied Linguistics Annual Conference. St Louis, MO, USA. 24-27 February, 2001.
37.ESP: Influences and Impacts. Annual Conference of Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL).St Louis, MO, USA. 28 Feb-3 March, 2001.
2000
34.‘Some momentary disappointments’: Evaluations in academic reviews. Research and practice in professional discourse Conference. City University of Hong Kong. 13-18 Nov, 2000.
33.Epistemic modality and the negotiation of knowledge. Modality in LSP Conference, University of Bergamo, Italy. 5-6 May, 2000.
32.Interpersonal grammar in writing (Discussion session on writing). Annual Conference of Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL).Vancouver, 15-18 March, 2000.
31.‘As we showed in an earlier paper’: self-mention in research articles. Conference on the academic research article, Polytechnic University, 17 Jan 2000.
1999
30.Drops of vinegar in the salad oil: praise and criticism in academic book reviews. AILA conference, Wasada University , Tokyo. 1-5 August, 1999.
29.Negotiations in academic reviews. Conference on Research in EAP: Issues and Approaches. Hong Kong, 21 June, 1999.
28.Saying what others said: citation in disciplinary knowledge-making. American Association for Applied Linguistics Annual Conference. New York, 6-9 March, 1999.
27.Reporting verbs in academic writing: a cross-disciplinary study. Annual Conference of Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL).New York, 10 -13 March, 1999.
1998
26.Hedging: reasons for using it and strategies for teaching it. International Language in Education Conference, HK Institute of Education, 17-19 December, 1998.
25.Boosting and hedging in disciplinary discourse. American Association for Applied Linguistics Annual Conference. Seattle, Washington, 14-17 March, 1998.
24.Teaching hedging in academic writing. Annual Conference of Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL).Seattle, Washington, 18-21 March, 1998.
1997
23.Talking to readers: Metadiscourse in academic articles. International Conference on Discourse Analysis. University of Macau. 16-18 October, 1997.
22.Disciplinary identity in research writing: metadiscourse and academic communities. 11th European Conference on Language for specific Purposes. Copenhagen Business school, University of Copenhagen. 18-22 August, 1997.
21.Who needs English? Hong Kong learner attitudes to EAP RELC Conference, RELC, SEAMEO Centre, Singapore. 21-23 April, 1997.
1996
20.Into the countdown: Language attitudes in 1997 Hong Kong. 3rd Annual World Englishes Conference. University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, USA. 19-21 December, 1996.
19.Academic texts and disciplinary cultures: creating a world of discourse. 21st Annual Conference of the Applied Linguistics Association of Australia. University of Western Sydney, Australia. 3-6 October, 1996.
18.Hedges and ideology in scientific discourse.11th World Congress of Applied Linguistics. Jyvaskyla, Finland. 4-9 August, 1996.
17.Assertions in students’ academic essays: a comparison of L1 and L2 writers Language analysis and description: applications in language teaching Conference. Hong Kong University of Science & Technology and Lingnan College, Hong Kong. 26-29 June 1996.
16.What do we read? Creating a personal TESOL library Sixteenth Bi-annual Thai TESOL Conference, Ambassador City, Pattaya, Thailand. January 11-13, 1996.
1995
15.EAP: is it as important as we think it is? International Language in Education Conference. University of Hong Kong. 13-15 December, 1995.
14.How good are our textbooks? A look at hedging MELTA Biennial International Conference on the teaching and learning of English. Kuala Lumpur, 22-24 May, 1995.
13.Scientific English: hedging in a foreign culture RELC Conference on Exploring language, culture and literature in language learning. SEAMEO Centre, Singapore. 17-19 April, 1995.
12.Textbooks v real language: getting serious about being tentative Third International Conference in Teacher Education in Second Language Teaching .City University of Hong Kong. 14-16 March, 1995.
1994
11.The author in the text: hedging professional writing International Language in Education Conference. University of Hong Kong. 14-16 December, 1994.
10.Hedging and pragmatic failure in academic discourse 4th NZ Language & Society Conference. Lincoln University, Christchurch, NZ. 23-24 August, 1994.
1993
9.Language Styles and Japanese Students 6th ELICOS Assn. Education Conference. ELICOS Colonial Club Resort, Cairns, Australia. 1- 3 September, 1993.
1992
8.Integrating process & product in an ESL syllabus 5th ELICOS Assn. Education Conference. English Language Intensive Courses to Overseas Students Assn. Ramada Grand Hotel, Adelaide, Australia. 1-3 October, 1992.
7.Genre theory & ELT: An overview 3rd National Conference on Community Languages and English for Speakers of Other Languages Auckland Institute of Technology, New Zealand. 31 Aug – 2 Sept, 1992.
6.The word processor and teaching writing skills 1992 Annual Conference New Zealand Assn. of Language Teachers University of Waikato, New Zealand. 12-14 May, 1992
1991
5.CALL and the EAP Classroom 4th ELICOS Assn. Education Conference English Language Intensive Courses to Overseas Students Assn. Monash University, Melbourne, Australia. August 21-23, 1991.
4.Cooperative Language Learning 1991 Annual Conference New Zealand Assn. of Language Teachers Terraces Hotel, Queenstown, New Zealand. 13-16 May, 1991.
1990
3.Towards a communicative methodology 1990 Annual TESLA conference PNG Teachers of English as a Second Language Assn. PNG University of Technology, Lae, Papua New Guinea. 25-26, June, 1990.
1989
2.Conducting Social Impact Surveys in PNG Paper delivered to Annual Forestry Symposium Unitech, Lae, Papua New Guinea. 4- 15 September, 1989.
1.Developing Grade 12 Writing Skills 1989 Annual TESLA conference PNG Teachers of English as a Second Language Assn. University of Papua New Guinea, Port Morseby, Papua New Guinea. 27-28, June, 1989.