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Staff Profile

Dr Judith Reynolds

Lecturer in Intercultural Communication

Background

I joined Newcastle University in November 2022 as a Lecturer in Intercultural Communication. I work within the Applied Linguistics and Communication subject area in the School of Education, Communication and Language Sciences.

I teach and research in the areas of intercultural and multilingual communication, workplace and professional communication, and researching multilingually. Prior to joining Newcastle, I held posts at the University of Manchester, Cardiff University and Durham University, teaching and doing research in fields related to my research interests.

My doctoral research, completed in 2018 at Durham University, examines communication between lawyers and clients in the culturally and linguistically diverse setting of UK asylum and immigration legal advice. My doctorate was completed within the AHRC large-grant project Researching Multilingually at the Borders of Language, the Body, Law and the State (2014-2017; PI: Prof. Alison Phipps; AHRC Grant Ref: AH/L006936/1).

I obtained a BA in French and Japanese from Leeds University, and then spent a year living in Japan and working as a Co-Ordinator for International Relations through the JET Programme. I then trained in law and practised as a solicitor for a number of years. I no longer practise law, but my present work is informed by my legal professional background, and my identities as a language learner and teacher, in addition to my academic expertise. 

Qualifications

  • 2018: PhD, Durham University. Thesis - Multilingual and intercultural communication in and beyond the UK asylum process: A study of legal advice-giving across cultural and linguistic borders
  • 2017: Associate Fellow of Advance HE (formerly the Higher Education Academy)
  • 2014: MA Intercultural Communication for Business and Professions, Birkbeck College, University of London
  • 2006: Solicitor of England and Wales (non-practising since 2017)
  • 2001: BA (Hons) French and Japanese, Leeds University

Memberships

Peer Review Experience

I have peer reviewed submissions to the following academic journals:

  • Language and Intercultural Communication
  • Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development
  • Journal of Law and Society
  • Multilingua
  • FITISPos International Journal
  • Manuscript reviewer for Multilingual Matters


Research

Areas of Research Expertise

  • intercultural communication
  • critical perspectives on multilingual interaction
  • legal-lay communication
  • professional and institutional communication
  • researching multilingually
  • reflexivity in linguistic ethnographic research

Research Interests

I am interested in how language and culture intersect, and how both shape our identities, in particular in professional and workplace settings.  I use linguistic ethnography, an approach which combines ethnographic fieldwork and linguistic analysis of recordings of communicative interactions taking place in such settings, to investigate this.

I am also interested in the experiences of migrant individuals and communities when they encounter institutions and institutional representatives in their host countries.

My research necessarily involves careful consideration of what languages are, and how individuals communicate through and across different languages. I have an active interest in researching multilingually, i.e. how researchers become aware of, critically reflect on, and take purposeful decisions about the impact that working with multiple languages has on their research processes, and their research products. 

Research Funding

  • ESRC Post-Doctoral Fellowship 2018-2019: Legal advice-giving communication in intercultural and multilingual contexts: challenges, complexities and strategies for success (grant ref: ES/S010912/1) - £88,100
  • AHRC Research Grant Funded Doctoral Scholarship 2014-2017: part of Researching Multilingually at Borders project large grant (grant ref: AH/L006936/1) - £17,859 p.a.

Esteem Indicators

2022 - Invited keynote speaker, BAAL/Cambridge University Press Seminar 2021-22, 'Researching vulnerable multilinguals: Developing an inclusive research practice', University of West London, June 2022

2021 - Invited panel discussant, Panel on the co-construction and reification of narratives during asylum determination procedures, 18th IMISCOE Annual Conference, online, July 2021

2019 - Candlin Researcher Award: Prize awarded annually by the Journal of Applied Lingustics and Professional Practice for the best post-graduate or post-doctoral paper produced following the ALAPP Conference (2018, Cardiff, UK). Paper entitled 'Discursive structure as a resource for lawyer-client communication'.

2017 - Richard Pemberton Prize: Prize awarded by the British Association for Applied Linguistics for the best postgraduate paper at the BAAL Annual Conference (2017, Leeds, UK). Paper entitled 'Relational work and managing difficult messages in giving refugee legal advice'.


Teaching

Current teaching

At Newcastle, I teach on the MA Cross-Cultural Communication suite of programmes. I convene and deliver teaching on the research methods, research skills and research dissertation-oriented module ALC8003 Research Portfolio, and I also convene an MA-level optional module ALC8002 Sociolinguistics.

Previous experience

At previous institutions, I have taught a wide range of topics including introduction to intercultural communication; qualitative research methods; research foundations; public and professional discourse; forensic linguistics; memory, mediation and intercultural relations; and language learning and teaching. 

I have supervised both MA level and undergraduate level research dissertations on a range of topics.

Publications