Prof. Lisa McEntee-Atalianis

Overview

Biography

Before joining Birkbeck in 2009, I worked at the Universities of Bristol, Cyprus, Reading and Queen Mary, University of London. I spent some years working and living abroad in Nicosia, Cyprus and New York, USA. I’ve researched and published in various fields of Applied Linguistics: Language Pathology (Aphasia), Sign Language/Deaf Studies and Sociolinguistics. In recent years my research has focussed on two main areas: issues of ‘identity’ at micro- and macro-discursive/linguistic levels and organisational language policy and planning in supra/international organisations (particularly the United Nations). My breadth of interest in identity is evidenced in my 2019 book: ‘Identity in Applied Linguistics Research’ (Bloomsbury), and articles over many years which have focussed on different sites and communities, including the ethnolinguistic vitality of the Greek-Cypriot communities in Cyprus and London; the autochthonous Greek-Orthodox community of Istanbul, Turkey; the Hapa community in Japan and the discursive construction of European identity by NGO members, and the United Nations. I have under-taken an ethnographic and sociolinguistic investigation of language policy, planning and practice at the United Nations, with a special interest in the International Maritime Organization, London (an agency of the United Nations) and UN Headquarters, New York. I am a member of the Study Group on Language and the United Nations, New York (https://languageandtheun.org/index.html) and a founding member of the NGO Committee on Language and Languages. I am keen to support the Organisation in finding ways to successfully implement its multilingual policy. Recent work has focussed on language and the sustainable development goals (see McEntee-Atalianis, L.J. & Tonkin, H. eds. (2023) Language and Sustainable Development. Cham: Springer).

Highlights

• Recently published: McEntee-Atalianis, L. J. & Tonkin, H. (eds) (2023) Language and Sustainable Development. Cham: Springer.
  https://link.springer.com/book/9783031249174
  
  

• Activities: led workshop for Multilingual Focal Points (Secretariat) at UN Headquarters New York: Implementation of Multilingualism and Applicable Challenges Facing the United Nations. 8 May 2019.
  https://www.un.org/dgacm/content/multilingualism-network-focal-points

• Book publication: McEntee-Atalianis L.J. (2019) Identity in Applied Linguistics Research. London: Bloomsbury.

• Recent publications:
  • McEntee-Atalianis, Lisa (2023) International & supranational organisations. In: Gazzola, M. and Grin, F. and Cardinal, L. and Heugh, K. (eds.) The Routledge Handbook of Language Policy and Planning. Abingdon, UK: Routledge. ISBN ‎9781138328198. (In Press)
  • McEntee-Atalianis, Lisa (2023) Language, digital resources and sustainability. In: McEntee-Atalianis, Lisa and Tonkin, H. (eds.) Language and Sustainable Development. pp.27-50. Language Policy Series. Cham: Springer. 
  • McEntee-Atalianis, Lisa (2022) Language and identity: past concerns, future directions. Sociolinguistica 36 (1-2), pp. 137-150. ISSN 1865-939X.
  • McEntee-Atalianis, Lisa and Ateek, Mohammed and Gardner-Chloros, Penelope (2022) Multilingual repertoires and identity in social media: Syrian refugees on Facebook. International Journal of Bilingualism ISSN 1367-0069.
  • McEntee-Atalianis, Lisa (2022) Current challenges of language policy and planning for international organisations. Chinese Journal of Language Policy and Planning 2 (2), pp. 12-23. ISSN 2096-1014.
  
  

• ‘Lives in Translation’ event: http://www.bbk.ac.uk/events/remote_event_view?id=4488
  Organised with Birkbeck Applied Linguistics Society (BCALS). The event won two awards – BBK Student Union Award and the national ‘WhatUni’ award for ‘Giving Back’.

Qualifications

• BA (Hons) Applied Linguistics, University of Wales, 1989
• PhD, University of Newcastle, 1993

Administrative responsibilities

• Deputy head of department/Assistant Dean
• Co-Director of PGR (ALC)
• Director & Admissions Tutor: MA Applied Linguistics & Communication

Professional activities

Reviews Editor: Language Problems & Language Planning ISSN 0272-2690|E-ISSN 1569-9889. (https://benjamins.com/catalog/lplp)

Editorial Board Member: Sociolinguistica (https://www.degruyter.com/journal/key/soci/html?lang=en#editorial)

(2016-present) Annual Symposia of the Study Group on Language and the UN, New York. https://languageandtheun.org/index.html

Professional memberships

• Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (2007-present). 
  

• Member of British Applied Linguistics Association (BAAL) (& BAAL Sig - Language Policy)
  
  

• Member of the Study Group on Language and the United Nations.
  

• Member of the American Association of Applied Linguistics (AAAL)

• Member of the NGO Committee on Language and Languages

ORCID

0000-0002-0939-4953

Research

Research overview

Current research project: Implementation of Multilingualism and Applicable Challenges Facing the United Nations 

(This work is being undertaken in collaboration with Prof Francis Hult, University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC))

Current edited book project: Language and Sustainability (De Gruyter)
(co-edited with Prof Humphrey Tonkin)

Research Centres and Institutes

• Centre for Multilingual and Multicultural Research
• Centre for the Study of Internationalism

Supervision and teaching

Supervision

Supervisions external to Birkbeck:

1

Supervisions within Birkbeck:

5

I welcome enquiries from prospective PhD students who are interested in undertaking research in any of my areas of research interest.

Recently completed doctoral studies, under my supervision, have included:
(2015) ‘The Discursive Construction of Europeanness: A Transnational Perspective’
(2018) ‘A Comparative Discourse Analysis of Deaf and Jewish Identity’ (Co-supervision with V. Williams, University of Bristol).
(2019) – 'The construction of Erasmus student identity: a discourse historic approach’ 
(2020) - 'Narratives of Infertile Muslim Women: The Construction of Personal and Socio-Cultural Identities in Weblogs' 

Current studies under supervision (as principle supervisor):
1) ‘Stance-taking and Discourses of Professionalism in the Local Negotiation of Professional Identity Among Further Education Lecturers’
2) ‘Narratives of Haafu Identity’
3) ‘Exploring the role of meso agency in the language policy context of Vietnam’

Current doctoral researchers

• OLEKSANDRA SHAITAN

  Nature of supervision:

  Principal Supervisor

  Title of thesis:

  Small Stories of Belonging: haafu identity in Japan.

  Description:

  Over recent decades, the issues of Japan’s multi-racial identity and society has piqued both lay and academic interest. Whilst the majority of studies have focused on early life stages: childhood/adolescence (Kamada, 2010; Nakamura, 2020; Seiger, 2019) and young adults (Murphy-Shigematsu, 2008; Oshima, 2014; Yoshida & Oikawa, 2012), research on haafu adults - the so-called first generation of mixed-race Japanese – is comparatively limited (e.g., Kich 1982; Shaitan & McEntee-Atalianis, 2017). This paper addresses this lacuna by investigating the small stories participants tell about their biracial identity/identification (Bamberg & Georgakopoulou, 2008). Drawn from ethnographically-informed semi-structured interviews, - stories reveal how haafu adults construct, contest and navigate their identities in interaction when discussing dominant discourses circulating in Japanese society about being ‘half.’

Doctoral alumni since 2013-14

• FRANCO ZAPPETTINI

  Nature of supervision:

  Principal Supervisor, Oct 2010

  Title of thesis:

  Applied Linguistics Research

  Awarded:

  2015

• ELIZABETH SHEPHERD

  Nature of supervision:

  Principal Supervisor, May 2018

  Awarded:

  2024

• FATEMA ALHALWACHI

  Nature of supervision:

  Principal Supervisor

  Title of thesis:

  Narratives of Infertile Muslim Women: The Construction of Personal and Socio-Cultural Identities in Weblogs

  Awarded:

  2021

• DINA STRONG

  Nature of supervision:

  Principal Supervisor

  Title of thesis:

  The Construction of Erasmus Student Identity: A Discourse Historic Approach

  Awarded:

  2019

Teaching

I convene (2022-23) and contribute to a number of modules including:

• Approaches to Language (Levels 4 & 6);
• Doing Languages, Cultures and Applied Linguistics (Level 4);
• Empirical Research Workshops (Level 7);
• Investigating Language (Level 5); 
• Identity in Applied Linguistics Research (Levels 6 & 7); 
• Introduction to Applied Linguistics (Level 7);
• Professional Communication (Level 5) and
• Research Methods and Design (Level 7).
• I also supervise a number of BA and MA projects/dissertations in the area of Sociolinguistics.
  
  

Publications

Business and community

Outreach

'Lives in Translation': http://www.bbk.ac.uk/events/remote_event_view?id=4488