SINCE 1997
al
17ᵗʰ-19ᵗʰ June 2025 | HYBRID
26ᵗʰ WICAL
Bridging Worlds Applied Linguistics at the Crossroads
Warwick International Conference in Applied Linguistics
ic
wical2025@[Link] @WarwickAppLing
[Link]
Join us in person?
All in-person sessions will be held at the conference venue, Social Science
Building, The University of Warwick, in five rooms on campus.
Conference opening and closing, workshops, and keynotes will be held in
S0.19.
All student presentations (oral presentations and lightning talks) will be
held in one of S0.08, S0.10, S0.17, and S0.28.
All corresponding online sessions will also be streamed in these rooms.
Please note registration opens at 8:45 am each day (all the times are given
in British Summer Time). We warmly invite you to register early and join
the sessions on time.
Join us online?
All online sessions will be held on Microsoft Teams. You can click the
following links to join the rooms.
Main Room (Opening & Closing, Workshops and Keynotes) | S0.19
Parallel Room1 - S0.17
Parallel Room2 - S0.10
Parallel Room3 - S0.08
Parallel Room4 - S0.28
You can also click on the “JOIN” link next to the session you want to go to.
To ask a question, please, raise your hand. You can also type your
questions in the chat box of the sessions.
Where possible, please, switch on your webcam – it helps make the digital
a little more human
Abstracts can be found in the full Conference Booklet on our website.
By Annamaria Pinter
The Head of Department, Applied Linguistics
In my capacity, as Head of Applied Linguistics, I would like to welcome you all to
WICAL 2025!Welcome to all Warwick students and staff and welcome to all the
speakers and visitors from other UK universities and beyond.
Some people know that I completed my PhD studies here at Warwick in this
department (at that time it was called Centre for English Language Teacher
Education) many years ago. Back then, in my second year, I was in charge of
organising one of the very first PhD student conferences, the predecessor of WICAL!
It was at that time a very modest event with about 10 people involved.
It is amazing to see what a fantastic, rich and inspiring event it has been transformed
into by 2025! This is thanks to the dedication and hard work of PGR and some PGT
and UK students and staff in Applied Linguistics. Congratulations to the organisers!
The conference theme is Bridging Worlds, which works as a uniting theme in so many
ways. Contributors bring together different areas of expertise within applied
linguistics, they emphasise connections between different communities and
showcase different types of innovative research approaches. WICAL is truly inclusive
not just because it is hybrid but because in addition to an opportunity to showcase
their work, it offers novice researchers a chance to receive feedback from an
established academic.
The programme looks amazing, and a quick scroll through the titles suggest that this
year is definitely marked by the presence and even dominance of AI and what AI
means for applied linguists.
I look forward to a stimulating 2 days and wish you all a productive and enjoyable
time at this year’s WICAL conference.
th
By the 26 WICAL
Organising Committee
Dear Colleagues and Participants,
It is with immense gratitude and excitement that I welcome you to WICAL 2025, Bridging
Worlds. Serving as Co-Chair is both an extraordinary honour and a profound responsibility -
made possible by our incredible organising team of Doctors, PhD candidates, and
postgraduate scholars. Their tireless dedication, from program design to flawless execution,
has been truly inspiring. As WICAL's first undergraduate chair, I'm deeply grateful for their
wholehearted support and expertise. This conference exists because of their commitment to
creating meaningful dialogue, and I invite you all to join me in recognizing their exceptional
work.
This year’s theme, Bridging Worlds, speaks to the transformative power of language—how it
both reflects and reshapes the boundaries between disciplines, cultures, and ideas. Applied
linguistics, as a field, thrives at these intersections, offering a dynamic space to examine how
language connects, divides, and ultimately drives progress. Whether your research explores
the currently trending AI discourse, sociolinguistic identities, language police, or pedagogical
innovation, your contributions will illuminate the myriad ways language acts as both a bridge
and a force for change.
To our presenters, your voices are vital to pushing our field forward. To our attendees, your
active participation will weave the threads of this event into a tapestry of shared learning. A
special thanks again to our organising team, whose months of effort have prepared the ground
for these exchanges. Let us honour their work by engaging fully, listening generously, and
building connections that extend beyond these days.
Together, we have the chance to challenge assumptions, celebrate diverse methodologies, and
envision how applied linguistics can shape more equitable futures. I am eager to witness the
collaborations and insights that will emerge, and I thank you for being part of this collective
journey.
With appreciation and anticipation,
Stella Shi
Co-Chair, WICAL 2025
Stella Shi Diana Wang
Co-Chair Co-Chair
BA Language, Culture, and MSc Intercultural Communication
Communication for Business and the Professions
Yanyan Li
Xinran Gao Kaiqi Yu Mingzhi Li
Promotion & Catering
Sponsoring & Catering Promotion & Catering Submission & Registration
IAS Early-career Fellow
PhD in Applied Linguistics PhD in Linguistics PhD in Applied Linguistics PhD in Applied Linguistics
Siyu Wang Miyuki Izuo Tea Tóth
Jing Liu
Submission & Registration & Promotion Finance
Submission & Registration
Catering MA Teaching English to MSc Intercultural Communication
PhD in Applied Linguistics Speakers of Other Languages PhD in Applied Linguistics for Business and the Professions
Quynh Nga Nguyen Nermen Kanj Minghao Hu
Andri Saputra
Promotion Promotion Sponsoring & Submission & Registration
MA Teaching English to MA Teaching English to MSc Intercultural Communication for Promotion
Speakers of Other Languages Speakers of Other Languages Business and the Professions PhD in Applied Linguistics
Nusrat Gulzar Cerise Louisa Andrews Daniel Dauber Komila Tangirova
Research Clinics On-Site Arrangement Department Advisor Department Advisor
PhD in English Language Teaching PhD in English Language Teaching
and Applied Linguistics
Associate Professor Reader Assistant Professor
and Applied Linguistics
Bridging Worlds
Applied Linguistics at the Crossroads
Day 1 17 JUNE
wical2025@[Link] @WarwickAppLing
[Link]
9:00 Conference opening Main Room | S0.19
Prof Annamaria Pinter, Professor and Head of Department,
Department of Applied Linguistics, University of Warwick
Stella Shi, Co-Chair of 26th WICAL Organising Committee,
University of Warwick
9:25
9:30 Workshop Main Room | S0.19
‘What if participants hate me?’ Doing Ethnography in Sensitive
Settings: Ethics, Emotions, and Fieldnotes
Dr Polina Mesinioti, Research Fellow, Department of Health
Sciences, University of York
10:45
–coffee break–
11:05 Keynote Main Room | S0.19
Don’t Panic, Just Say ‘Hello’: Bridging the Sociolinguistic Gap
Between Humans and Robots (online)
Prof Jane Stuart-Smith, Professor of Phonetics and
Sociolinguistics, University of Glasgow
Dr Mary Ellen Foster, Senior Lecturer, School of Computing
Science, University of Glasgow
Shaul Ashkenazi, PhD researcher, School of Computing Science,
University of Glasgow
12:10
–lunch break–
13:35 Workshop Main Room | S0.19
Navigating the Path to ECR Application Success
Dr Anastasia Stavridou, Lecturer, Centre for Translation and
Intercultural Studies, University of Manchester
14:50
15:00 Language Teaching and Learning Parallel Room1 - S0.17
Zhurun Li (online) | Adverb Placement Differences Between Chinese EFL Learners and Native
English Speakers: A Corpus-Based Multifactorial Analysis
Rebecca Preston | Developing Language and Pedagogy Curricula for English as a School Subject
in Basic Education
Ting Mo & Yimin Fan (online) | The Impact of Cooperative Learning on Students’ English
Reading Achievement and Motivation in Mainland China: A Quantitative Study of Basic
Psychological Need Satisfaction
Discourse Analysis Parallel Room2 - S0.10
Vincent Wai Sum Tse | Making Teaching Fun: Private Tutors’ Strategies and Resources of
Entertainment in Shadow Education
Yusuf Al Arief | Beyond laughter: stand-up comedy as a resistance tool
Nick King (online) | ‘We are being branded to be like, you know, to be that’: Foreign English
Teachers in Thailand and the Performance of Professional Value
Intercultural Communication Parallel Room3 - S0.08
Ziyou Fang | Using Bourdieusian perspective for exploring Chinese PhD students’ ideologies of
English at a UK university
Thanh Cong Nguyen | “The Best Team English”: An "English Club" as a ‘Linguistic Interaction
Ritual’ in Primary Schools in Vietnam
Mohammed Thowhidul Islam, Muskan Chhaparia & Krishna G (online) | Bridging Linguistic
Divides: Communication Strategies Across Bangla Dialect Boundaries with Focus on
16:30 Chittagonian
–coffee break–
16:50 Language Teaching and Learning Parallel Room1 - S0.17
Chenghui Wu (online) | An Acceptance Analysis of Firm-Generated Credibility-building Posts
on Sina Weibo
Nurfitriah Nurfitriah | LLM-Assisted Terminology Generation for Mining Engineering Software:
Addressing ESP Vocabulary Challenges
Santi Tartila | Navigating intercultural communication in educational research: challenges and
strategies during data collection
Discourse Analysis Parallel Room2 - S0.10
Cagla Karatepe, Mingzhi Li, Yanyan Li & Xinran Gao | Negotiating Care and Academia: A
Discourse Analysis of Female Researchers' Experiences
Tianlai Shi | The Language of Cancer: A Linguistic Analysis of Metaphors in Patients’ Narratives
Tianxin Li (online) | Multimodal Discourses of Voluntary Childlessness on Chinese Social Media:
18:20 A Critical Study
Bridging Worlds
Applied Linguistics at the Crossroads
Day 2 18 JUNE
wical2025@[Link] @WarwickAppLing
[Link]
9:00 Keynote Main Room | S0.19
Critical Interactional Competence (CritIC) in Human-AI Interaction
Dr David Wei Dai, Assistant Professor in Professional Communication, UCL
Institute of Education, University College London
10:05
–short break–
10:15 Poster Presentations
See attached Poster List for full details
10:50
–short break–
11:00 Language Teaching and Learning Parallel Room1 - S0.17
Deli Yang | Power Dynamics and Pragmatic Strategies of Disagreement: Insights from Political
Discourse and Implications for EFL teaching
Yining Wang (online) | Investigating formative assessment practices of EAP writing in NZ pre-
sessional courses: students' and teachers' experiences and perceptions
Jenny Steele | The power of quiet: Re-thinking student engagement in the international
university classroom
Language Teaching and Learning Parallel Room2 - S0.10
Gui Wang (online) | Effects of Learner Proficiency, L1 Backgrounds, and Distributional
Properties on the Acquisition of Progressive Construction: A Cross-Asian EFL Corpus Study
Tsun Yang Chuang | Understanding Non-Comprehension in Refugee and European Migrant
Learners: The Impact of Schooling and Cultural Backgrounds in Belgian French Classes
Nicola McNab (online) | Face threatening acts in threatening situations: Assertiveness for L2
Spanish learners
Discourse Analysis & Intercultural Communication Parallel Room3 - S0.08
Siyu Wang & Xianzhi Chen | Negotiating Intercultural Competence: A Critical Discourse
Analysis of International School Narratives in China
Paul Fernandez | Ensuring effective communication in multilingual high-risk environments
Rawan Almuwayshir (online) | Saudi governmental discourse in international forums
12:30
–lunch break–
13:30 Language Teaching and Learning Parallel Room1 - S0.17
Hira Khadim | Bridging the Feedback Gap: Integrating AI and Teacher Input to Empower ESL Academic Writers.
Hongqin Li (online) | Negotiating Language Ideological Assemblages Through Preservice Teachers’ Field Placement
Hui Wang & Gui Wang (online) | Connecting Worlds Through Words: Linguistic Complexity in English Writing
Across L1 Backgrounds
Language Teaching and Learning Parallel Room2 - S0.10
Niall Walsh (online) | Student-Created Instructional Materials: Attitudes and Implications in EFL Education
Xiaosu Wu (online) | AI as the More Knowledgeable Other (MKO) in Translanguaging: Exploring Human-Driven and
AI-Mediated Language Practices in the Creative Writing Classroom in the AI Era
Yufei Liu (online) | “Let me tell you!”: Storytelling in home-based eldercare interactions
Intercultural Communication Parallel Room3 - S0.08
Zhiyi Chen (online) | Shared and Localized Discourse: Exploring English Hashtag Practices Across Nordic Twitter
Michael Gray | ‘Between here and gone’: fitting-in and belonging on the Outer Hebrides, an island community
15:00 Yanfang Cheng | Urgency and Ideology in Greenpeace UK’s Campaign Discourse (2021–2025)
–short break–
15:20 Language Teaching and Learning Parallel Room1 - S0.17
Shuzhen Qiu (online) | Impact of Mobile-Assisted English Learning on College Students' Learning Motivation Based
on Self-Determination Theory
Jiaqing Wang (online) | Developing L2 student writing feedback literacy with Scripted Checklists in Peer Review
Activities: Perspectives from Spatiotemporal Repertoire
Sachin Wanniarachchi (online) | A Critical Examination of the Mismatch between the National Goals of Education
and ESL Textbooks for Monastic Education in Sri Lanka
Discourse Analysis Parallel Room2 - S0.10
Anastasiia Petrenko (online) | Extending the Corpus Bridge: Developing a New Corpus in Russian for Temporal
Adverbs
Gilberto Giannacchi | A contrastive corpus assisted discourse study of Melody Maker and New Musical Express
album reviews (1980-1999)
Nicola Pelizzari (online) | A multimodal corpus-assisted analysis of semaglutide discourse on TikTok
Discourse Analysis & Language Teaching and Learning Parallel Room3 - S0.08
Alessia Cordaro (online) | Exploring politeness if-constructions: A corpus-based study in British and American
English
Zhiyu Shang (online) | Who I Am, Who I Should Be: Investigating the Effects of Social Desirability Bias on English-
Major Students’ Identity Construction through the L2 Motivational Self System Lens
Chen Lin (online) | Investigating AI Chatbot-Assisted EFL Writing Processes: An Activity Theory Perspective
16:50
–coffee break–
17:10 Keynote Main Room | S0.19
Classroom Interactional Competence and Dialogic Reflection
Prof Steve Walsh, Emeritus Professor of Applied Linguistics, School of
18:15 Education, Communication and Language Sciences, Newcastle University
Parallel Room1 - S0.17
Siyan Chen | Towards an Ecological Understanding of Chinese International Students’ Strategic
Emotion Regulation in Academic Vocabulary Learning: A Longitudinal Multiple-Case Study
Naziha Settari (online) | Evaluating Curriculum Objectives and Pedagogical Materials in
Algerian English Primary Education
Xinyi Wu (online) | Understanding Examinees’ Preparation and Perceptions: A Study of the
English Component in China’s National Teacher Certification Exam
Maria Baranova | A comparative analysis of Russian-to-English idiom translation by Large
Language Models
Parallel Room2 - S0.10
Xiangnan Feng (online) | Emotional Journeys and Identity Constructions: Mapping the
Longitudinal Transitional Experiences of Chinese International Students in UK Higher
Education
Qi Yi | From language attitude to sociocultural adaptation among international students: The
mediation of ethnic identity
Yingqi Wang (online) | The Impact of Written Communication on Identity Construction: A
Study of Childhood Leukemia Patients and Voluntary Teachers
Sadia Islam (online) | The “English-Speaking Self”: Language Proficiency and the Construction
of Belonging
Puput Arfiandhani (online) | Does Pre-service EFL Teachers' Grit Change During Their
Teaching Practicum? : A Short Longitudinal Study in an Indonesian Context
Mohammad Hadi Ahmadi (online) | Investigating Student Perceptions of application of Dialogic
Pedagogy in Iranian University Classrooms
Parallel Room3 - S0.08
Tam Nguyen (online) | AI tools in enhancing reading skills for EAP learners: An empirical study
Cerise Andrews | Trans(languag)ing Use and Purpose: Language teachers’ perceptions of the
use and purpose of languages other than the target language in multilingual language learning
environments
Muskan Chhaparia (online) | Multiple Pathways to Understanding: A Mixed-Methods Study of
UDL Implementation in a low resource context
Hadja Nakhla (online) | Bederina Bridging Pedagogical and Technological Worlds: How
Adaptive Systems Transform Online Language Learning Motivation
Nadjet Haroun (online) | Academic Spoken Discourse and Lecture Comprehension in English-
Medium Scientific and Technical Disciplines in Algerian Higher Education
Leyi Hu (online) | “Voldemort”: A Corpus-Assisted Critical Discourse Analysis of the
Representation of Older Sisters in Chinese Male-Privileged Families on Zhihu and Xiaohongshu
Bridging Worlds
Applied Linguistics at the Crossroads
Day 3 19 JUNE
wical2025@[Link] @WarwickAppLing
[Link]
9:00 Keynote Main Room | S0.19
Transcultural Communication and Global Englishes: Rethinking core
concepts in intercultural communication
Dr Will Baker, Associate Professor of Applied Linguistics, University of
10:05 Southampton
–coffee break–
10:25 Discourse Analysis Parallel Room1 - S0.17
Xiaojiao Zheng | Doing Discourse-Centred Online Ethnography: A Case Study of Fitness Influencer @PamelaReif on
Douyin
Ning Yang (online) | A Multimodal Critical Metaphor Analysis of Sino-US Political Cartoons on Climate Change
Steven Yeung | The development of the Corpus of Academic Writing for Engineering Studies
Language Teaching and Learning Parallel Room2 - S0.10
Nusrat Gulzar | "I keep coming back to my portfolio": Encouraging Online Reflection through the Flexible and
Contextual Use of E-Portfolio Technologies with Bangladeshi MA Students
Sharon Freeman | “So easy for us if we speak English”: Exploring the language ideologies held and faced by adult
migrant learners of English and their teachers in the UK
Kaiwen Wu (online) | Phonological Features in China English: An Analysis of Undergraduate Speakers from Diverse
11:55 Dialects
–lunch break–
12:55 Discourse Analysis Parallel Room1 - S0.17
Jinghan Zhou (online) | “I, The Only Solution.”: An Analysis of Donald Trump’s Discourse in the 2024 First
Presidential Debate with Kamala Harris
Eleonora Kacl | “She loves anyone who talks to her” – Exploring Relational Work via Pet-Inclusion in Veterinary
Consultations
Yijia Zhang (online) | Discourse Construction of High-Frequency Vocabulary in Laomian Language from the
Perspective of Social Construction Theory
Language Teaching and Learning Parallel Room2 - S0.10
Hanying Li | “I’m not really Thai, but I’m not American either”: Southeast Asian Students’ Intercultural Language
Identity Negotiation under Dual Hegemonies
Jamie Adams | Asymmetrical Working Memory Effects in L2 Mandarin Acquisition
Rashmi Pardhi (online) | The Challenge of Gauging Intrinsic Motivation: Establishing a Connection Between Reading
Habits and Reading Competence
Discourse Analysis Parallel Room3 - S0.08
Lucrezia Cattelan (online) | Constructing Motherhood on TikTok: A Multimodal Analysis on Breastfeeding and
Caregiving Narratives
Sharmeishtha Singh | Exploring tradition, modernity, and identity in festive sale advertisements: A multimodal
discourse analysis
Yiyi Zhang (online) | Commodifying Bodies, Gendering Vaccines: Discursive Constructions of the HPV Vaccine on
14:25 Chinese Social Media
14:35 Discourse Analysis Parallel Room1 - S0.17
Nourah Almulhim | Critical Discourse analysis of Xenophobia in UK Political Party Blogs
Evangelia Mourtzanou (online) | Victim or Survivor? Identity construction in victim narratives
Wenwen Dong (online) | Media portrayal of influencers in China Daily and The New York Times: A corpus-assisted
critical discourse analysis
Language Teaching and Learning Parallel Room2 - S0.10
Fangye Luo & Zixiang Wei (online) | Developing Pragmatic Ability in L2 English for Children with ASD Learners in
Middle-Class Families in China: An AI-Enhanced Virtual Reality-Driven Model
Zijin Lu | Examine Chinese EFL Learners' Motivation in an English Medium Instruction Context: A Case Study
Wenqian Luan (online) | Classroom Psychological Environment and L2 Writing Feedback-Seeking Behavior:
Mediating Effects of L2 writing Self-efficacy and Academic Emotions
Intercultural Communication Parallel Room3 - S0.08
Nan Yu (online) | Navigating the online world: Chinese international students’ multilingual practices in digital
communication
Zeyuan Meng | Building mutually beneficial relationships between Chinese Alumni and British Universities
Irene Inoue (online) | The resistance of microaggressions in retellings of interaction: a study of current and former
16:05 Japanese students’ resistance strategies in Switzerland
–coffee break–
16:25 Language Teaching and Learning Parallel Room1 - S0.17
Aneeqa Zafar (online) | Ideological Metamorphosis: Decoding Semiotic Subversion of Ostracism in Pakistani Digital
Advertising Narratives
Farbod Farahandouz (online) | Deictic gestures and their pedagogical role in language classroom
Language Teaching and Learning Parallel Room2 - S0.10
Anissa Cheriguene (online) | AI and the Nature of Learning: Rethinking Educational Theories in Light of ChatGPT
Junjie Li (online) | To motivate or not? Learning from children’s reactivity in qualitative longitudinal research
Imene Safa Chaouche (online) | Improving EFL Listening Comprehension through Narrative-Based Gamified Tasks in
a Blended Learning Environment
Discourse Analysis Parallel Room3 - S0.08
Sharif Alghazo (online) | Engagement strategies in human-written and AI-generated academic essays: A corpus-
based study
Nancy Stimson | Impoliteness in Prime Minister’s Questions – pantomime or purpose?
17:55 Jiayin Wu (online) | Discursive Construction of Marine City Linguistic Landscapes Based on Hymes' SPEAKING
Model: Case Studies of Weihai, Yantai and Nagasaki
–short break–
18:00 Conference Closing Main Room | S0.19
Stella Shi, Co-Chair of 26th WICAL Organising Committee, University of
Warwick
18:15