Jen Cope
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RSACertTEFL(UTS), MEd(TESOL)(Sydney), BA(Hons)(Warw) PhD candidate Tutor, MEd(TESOL) |
Email: Phone: +61 2 9036 7143 Fax: Building.Room: A36.206 |
Research project description
Much media attention has focused on the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) since 2008, yet little has been paid to the language and expression of blame and responsibility. An investigation of this expression in commentaries could lead to an understanding of how influential writers have positioned themselves, and their audiences. Additionally, cultural context can impact upon language use and positioning.
This research project, based on a social constructionist epistemology, and carried out from a critical discourse analytic perspective aims to: 1) explore how blame and responsibility have been attributed in written opinion pieces from newspapers in the US, the UK and Australia; 2) investigate how this expression is used to position writers and their audiences; 3) explore how the different socio-cultural contexts can affect the meaning of the language in the texts, even if the main language is the same language of English in each country; and 4) create a theoretical framework from a critical discourse perspective which integrates elements of crisis communication theory and appraisal analysis.
Motivation for studying the impact of context upon language use, stems from the belief that for English language learners to be truly empowered, they need to understand the words that they read and be aware of the impact that context has on the meaning of a text.
Jen Cope has been an academic tutor on the M.Ed TESOL program in the Faculty of Education & Social Work at the University of Sydney since 2009. She also took part as an online tutor for undergraduate students in Hong Kong for a Linguistics Department English literacy project. Additionally, Jen has over 15 years' experience as an ESL teacher at TAFE NSW (a major Australian vocational college), where she has taught international and migrant English students and worked in a supervisory role.
Conference Presentations
- Cope, J. (2013). Empowering English language learners: The importance of developing critical literacy skills. The Third Asian Conference on Language Learning 2013, Osaka, Japan, 25-28 April.http://acll.iafor.org/Program.html (virtual presentation number 0258) and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uiAGm1GZFDY&list=PLR3O2YRxif9VyvyZ6IkLw1ltKucR-R6R3&index=5
- Cope, J. (2013). One language - multiple meanings: How cultural context and intertextuality impact English texts from the US, the UK and Australia. International Linguistic Association 58th Annual Conference, Kingsborough Community College, Brooklyn, New York, USA, 12-14 April 2013.http://ilaword.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/ProgramComplete2013b.pdf
- Cope, J. (2012). One language - multiple meanings: How context informs our understanding of English. 7th TESOL Research Network Colloquium, The University of Sydney, Australia, 1 September 2012.
- Cope, J. (2012). Empowering language learners: A pedagogical tool to understand how cultural context informs the meaning of texts.globallanguageconvention2012.sched.org hosted by CASIE, Atlanta International School, Atlanta, Georgia, USA, 13-15 April 2012
- Cope, J. (2010). What can we learn from the expression of responsibility in opinion pieces on the Global Financial Crisis? TESOL Research Network Colloquium, The University of Sydney, Australia, 23 October 2010.
- Cope, J. (2010). What can we learn from the media representations of the Global Financial Crisis? Perspectives on analysing the discourse. Multimodality and Learning International Conference 2010: Environments, Rhetoric, Recognition, Play and Methods. The Institute of Education, University of London, England, 6-7 July, 2010.
- Cope, J. (2009). The Vocational College application process as a system of genres: implications for ESL students. TESOL Research Network Colloquium. The University of Sydney, 5 September 2009.
Awards
Postgraduate Research Support Scheme Fund 2012
Postgraduate Research Support Scheme Fund 2010
University of Sydney Postgraduate Award (UPA) 2009-13
Professional and community roles
TESOL Research Network Postgraduate Student
Member of the Applied Linguistics Association of Australia (affiliated with the Association Internationale de Linguistique Appliquee)
Member of the International Systemic Functional Linguistics Association (ISFLA)
Member of the online AppraisalAnalysis group
Thesis work
| Project title | Degree | Supervisor |
|---|---|---|
| The global financial crisis: An analysis of written and spoken texts produced at the outset of the crisis. | PhD | Dr Marie Stevenson |
Selected publications
Journal articles
- Cope, J. (2009). Accessing the vocational college from an ESL perspective: A system of genres analysis. University of Sydney Papers in TESOL, 4, 21–55.