Research Interests

My personal take on Linguistics is driven by my belief in the constitutive nature of linguistic practice. Human beings construct their social space (including identity, personal relations, ideology) through strategic use of language. Consequently, I am less interested in how language works in abstract forms and more in how human beings use language (and other communication resources) in real-life situations. From this perspective, I also see Linguistics as offering a method of studying human sociality, human cognition and social structures.

My main research interest is in the broad area of bilingualism and multilingualism, which includes Bilingual and Multilingual First Language Acquisition (BAMFLA), early second language acquisition (ESLA), speech and language disorders of bilingual and multilingual speakers, the pragmatics of codeswitching, bilingual education, and intercultural communication. My current work focuses on the creativity and criticality of multilingual speakers.

I am also interested in Asian philosophies (especially Confucius, Taoist and Buddhist philosophies) and linguistic pragmatics, the concept of 'self' in different cultures, and the application of Conversation Analysis to intercultural and cross-lingual professional communication.

My research interests connect with other disciplines and research areas including diasporas studies, cultural memory, anthropology and qualitative psychology.