Clare Anderson - ‘Being seen, heard and understood: putting language analysis to work in the workplace’

You are invited to a talk by Dr Clare Anderson, organised by the School of English's Language Discourse and Society research group.

Paper abstract

My PhD investigated discourses of age and gender as realised in language used by and about ageing women. My particular focus was the reciprocal relationship between the ‘private’ voices of individual lived experience and public discourses of ageing generated by beauty and media industries - and my intention was always to take the learning back out into the world. Since completing my PhD I have built a hybrid role, part academic, part professional practitioner, which deliberately sets out to create bridges between academia and business domains.  In this talk, I share the possibilities that the intersection between these two worlds can offer and the impact that academic perspectives can have in the wider world. I share examples of how I have taken my research into a range of global workplaces, putting language analysis to work in service of individuals and teams.

About our speaker

Dr Clare Anderson is both an academic and a professional practitioner.  Her book based on her PhD research – Discourses of Ageing and Gender: The Impact of Public and Private Voices on the Identity of Ageing Women – was published by Palgrave Macmillan in 2019. Dr Anderson started her career in marketing, using linguistic analysis to define and articulate brand positionings in order better to appeal to their target consumers. She is also a certified TEFAL teacher specialising in business English. As a language trainer, working with individuals in different professional workplaces, she developed a deep understanding of the relationship between language and context of use, which she now applies in developing people’s linguistic awareness, competence and confidence in the workplace. Dr Anderson combines her academic and professional practice in her consultancy business which specialises in individual and team coaching and facilitation, working with global consumer businesses. She uses discourse analysis to shine a light on specific aspects of workplace interaction, such as inclusivity (gender equality and speaker rights), constructive disagreement, collaboration. She continues her research and teaching interests as a Visiting Lecturer in Language and Gender and Intercultural Discourse and Communication at Goldsmith’s, University of London. 

This event is being run in-person in the School of English on the University of Leeds campus but there is also the option to join online (email Prof Julia Snell for details: j.snell@leeds.ac.uk).