Dr Laetitia Monbec

Profile

I joined the University of Leeds in June 2023 after working at the National University of Singapore, and at City University of Hong Kong where I taught, developed curriculum, and led on various English for Academic Purposes programmes, Interdisciplinary communication modules, Content-based Literacy modules on Colour Semiotics, and a range of Academic Writing modules. I hold a BA in Chinese Studies (Language, Literature and Civilisation), an MEd, and a Doctorate in Education with a focus on Systemic Functional Linguistics/Genre and Legitimation Code Theory application to EAP curriculum design.

I am available to supervise postgraduate research students in the areas of expertise listed above.

Responsibilities

• Director of Scholarship (Language Centre)
• Co-director of CELT https://celt.leeds.ac.uk/
• Programme Lead for STEM Summer Pre-sessional and School of Design In-sessional

Research interests

My background is in Systemic Functional Linguistics, Genre Pedagogy (Sydney School), Multimodality, Critical Discourse Analysis and Curriculum Design in EAP. I am particulary interested in the nature and place of knowledge about language and multimodal resources in curriculum, and in disciplinary discourse. I am also interested in colour semiotics, for which I developed curriculum, with a focus on the social meaning of colour. My research has explored cumulative learning/transfer, critical thinking, disciplinary discourse analysis (specifically Nursing, Design and STEM) and the application of social semiotics theory in curriculum and assessment design with a specialisation in SFL/MDA . I have experience in interdisciplinary educational linguistics scholarship projects, involving subject lecturers (in STEM, Design, Nursing) and addressing teaching/learning issues such as embedding literacy in the disciplines, critical thinking and reflective writing, or analytical rubrics design. I often use Systemic Functional Linguistics in my scholarship in combination with social theory (Legitimation code theory for example). Several of my publications are related to this and I also dissiminate this work through talks (see list below) and blog posts to make it accessible and useful to a wider range of practitioners.

I am also interested in developing a sociological understanding of the EAP field, in particular to critically examine the legitimation practices that favour certain curriculum knowledge over other. I have co-edited a volume on EAP Practitioners: Explorations of Agency and Identy (Bloomsbury) with Alex Ding, with contributions which explore these issues in a range of contexts. This collaboration has led to an interest in innovative qualitative research approaches to Discourse analysis, combining social theory (in particular LCT or Bourdieu’s Field Theory) with detailed linguistic/multimodal analyses (Actors Theory and SFL). The volume ‘Recovering Language in Higher Education: Social Justice, Ethics and Practices’ (Palgrave), with Alex Ding, brings linguistics, socological and ethical concerns into dialogue.

Selected and accessible talks:

• Monbec, L. (15^th November 2023). Text deconstruction for language teaching: A systemic functional linguistics analytical grid. NATESOL, UK. In this talk, I explain how to conduct a genre analysis following an SFL/Genre approach (a linguistics theory which details semiotics resources in relation to the social context and purpose of communication/genre), and how teachers can find salient teachable meaning resources to make visible to their students. Watch the talk here.
• Monbec, L. (31^st July 2020). Theory and practice in EAP: Bridging the divide to include and empower practitioners. Plenary presented at the Language Centre Summer Conference, Leeds University, UK. Video Link to the Plenary

Qualifications

• Doctorate in Education
• Masters in Education
• BA in Chinese Studies

Professional memberships

• BALEAP Research and Publication Officer 2021-2024
• ESFLA (European Systemic Functional Linguistics Association)
• LLEN Language and Literacy in Education Network
• Legitimation Code Theory Centre, Associate member

Student education

At Leeds, I am the Programme lead on the STEM Summer presessional.

I also teach on the insessional programme in the School of Design, including on the MA Design and Undergraduate programmes.

Research groups and institutes

• Language Centre