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Ben Rampton

Professor Ben Rampton

Professor of Applied and Socio Linguistics

Biography

Ben was the founding Director of the Centre for Language Discourse & Communication, directed the King’s Interdisciplinary Social Science Doctoral Training Centre from 2011-14, and was founding Convener of the Linguistic Ethnography Forum (2001-09).

He has been on the editorial board of more than a dozen international journals (including Journal of Sociolinguistics, Language in Society, Applied Linguistics, Journal of Linguistic Anthropology and Ethnography), and edits Working Papers in Urban Language & Literacies

Ben has an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Copenhagen, and is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences and the Royal Anthropological Institute.

Research

Ben's work involves ethnographic and interactional discourse analysis, cross-referring to work in anthropology, sociology, cultural and security studies. His publications focus on language in relation to urban multilingualism, youth, popular culture, ethnicities, class, (in)securitisation, education, second language learning, and research methodology.

Teaching

MPhil/PhD:

  • LDC Doctoral Lab
  • Micro-Discourse Analysis data workshops (MDA)
  • Security, ethnography, discourse
  • Ethnography, language & communication

MA in Language and Cultural Diversity :

  • Multilingualism, migration and diversity
  • Language & power
  • Language, identity and culture

BA English Language & Linguistics:

  • Analysing spoken discourse (second year)
  • Language, culture and society (third year)

Watch Ben discuss sociolinguistics.

PhD supervision

Current and recent PhD projects include:

  • 'Ideologies of urban Welsh' (Catrin Williams)
  • 'Homeless in discourse, narrative & interaction' (Ceri Mckay-Smith)
  • 'Overseas domestic workers in Hong Kong: Multilingualism, representation and experience' (Nic Guinto)
  • 'English and development: Discourses from two madrasas in rural Bangladesh' (Qumrul Chowdhury)
  • 'Linguistic landscape: An interactional perspective' (Louise Eley)
  • 'Policy change in literacy education: A multi-dimensional approach to the production of the 2010 Greek-language syllabus in Cyprus' (Maria Magklara)
  • 'Grounded high-flyers: How academically elite students are EN-territorialised in Singapore' (Lu Jiqun Luke)

Further information

For further details, please see Ben's  Research Staff Profile

    Research

    books-1204029_1920
    Centre for Language, Discourse & Communication (LDC)

    The Centre for Language, Discourse & Communication is a major centre for descriptive linguistics, applied linguistics and language in education.

    Translate languages
    Hub for Education and Language Diversity

    The Hub for Education and Language Diversity (HELD) is a collaboration between academic, professional and third sector organisations.

    Project status: Ongoing

    News

    Combining Ethnography and Linguistics to Reach into the Details of Social Life

    Professor Ben Rampton reports on last week's Ethnography, Language & Communication summer school for doctoral students.

    Books

    Events

    18Junthumbnail_Luke James_607228_89260172_Cover

    Book Launch: Outsourcing the European Past - An Interscalar Study of Memory and Morality

    Join us for an exciting book launch and panel discussion of ‘Outsourcing the European Past. An Interscalar Study of Memory and Morality’ (Palgrave, 2024).

    Please note: this event has passed.

    05OctAbstract people b&w

    English language education in colonised & (in)securitised environments

    In this seminar, two researchers will share a case study of their country to answer the question: how does teaching & learning English really operate in...

    Please note: this event has passed.

    07OctSpeech bubbles digital flat design

    Teaching English in Israel/Palestine, Brazil and the UK: Resonances and commonalities?

    This seminar reflects on similarities and differences between English language teaching in Israel/Palestine, Brazil and the UK.

    Please note: this event has passed.

    Features

    WPULL, the sociolinguistic paper series going polycentric

    Working Papers in Urban Language & Literacies is a working paper series started in 1997. Based at King’s, it went online in 2014, through the academia.edu...

    WPULL 1903x558

      Research

      books-1204029_1920
      Centre for Language, Discourse & Communication (LDC)

      The Centre for Language, Discourse & Communication is a major centre for descriptive linguistics, applied linguistics and language in education.

      Translate languages
      Hub for Education and Language Diversity

      The Hub for Education and Language Diversity (HELD) is a collaboration between academic, professional and third sector organisations.

      Project status: Ongoing

      News

      Combining Ethnography and Linguistics to Reach into the Details of Social Life

      Professor Ben Rampton reports on last week's Ethnography, Language & Communication summer school for doctoral students.

      Books

      Events

      18Junthumbnail_Luke James_607228_89260172_Cover

      Book Launch: Outsourcing the European Past - An Interscalar Study of Memory and Morality

      Join us for an exciting book launch and panel discussion of ‘Outsourcing the European Past. An Interscalar Study of Memory and Morality’ (Palgrave, 2024).

      Please note: this event has passed.

      05OctAbstract people b&w

      English language education in colonised & (in)securitised environments

      In this seminar, two researchers will share a case study of their country to answer the question: how does teaching & learning English really operate in...

      Please note: this event has passed.

      07OctSpeech bubbles digital flat design

      Teaching English in Israel/Palestine, Brazil and the UK: Resonances and commonalities?

      This seminar reflects on similarities and differences between English language teaching in Israel/Palestine, Brazil and the UK.

      Please note: this event has passed.

      Features

      WPULL, the sociolinguistic paper series going polycentric

      Working Papers in Urban Language & Literacies is a working paper series started in 1997. Based at King’s, it went online in 2014, through the academia.edu...

      WPULL 1903x558