I am excited to be the guest of Jilin University (China) for two weeks delivering a lecture series covering issues around sociolinguistics and literacy research. I was supposed to be in China this year as part of my Levehulme Research Fellowship but unfortunately this trip is not possible due to the pandemic restrictions. It is very kind of the School of Foreign Studies to allow this visit to take place online instead.

Each guest lecture is outlined below alongside links and joining instructions (via Tencent/VooV Meeting):

Lecture 1: An Introduction to the Study of Language & Society (语言与社会研究引介)

14th September 2022. See link: https://foreign.jlu.edu.cn/info/1030/5512.htm

This opening lecture provides students with a grounding in the traditional concepts and methodologies upon which the study of language and society, or ’sociolinguistics’, has been developed. Dr Bhatt will address both traditional and contemporary approaches to sociolinguistics in real-world contexts, alongside how sociolinguistics can support the study of social problems and real-world issues where language interfaces with society in complex and unpredictable ways. This lecture is for students at all levels.

本次开篇讲座将为学生提供以传统概念和方法论为基础来进行的语言和社会的研究，或“社会语言学”，它们是在这些概念和方法论上发展起来的。  Bhatt 博士将探讨现实世界环境中社会语言学的传统和现代方法，以及社会语言学如何支持对语言以复杂和不可预测的方式与社会互动的社会问题和现实世界问题的研究。该讲座面向所有程度的学生。

Lecture 2: Researching literacy as a ‘social practice’: An ecological approach  (将读写素养作为一种 “社交实践” 来研究：一种生态方法), 19th September 2022.

See link: https://foreign.jlu.edu.cn/info/1030/5513.htm

Following on from the previous lecture, in this lecture Dr Bhatt will present some theoretical and practical arguments for the study of literacy as a ‘social practice’. He will argue that this is a perspective that foregrounds the intertwining of cognitive approaches to literacy (where literacy is understood as something that peoplehave) with a social, cultural, and historical approach (in which literacy is understood as something that people do). The latter perspective has evolved considerably over the last few decades and has built upon an impetus to gather ethnographic understandings of what reading and writing look like in the everyday lives of people and communities and the dynamic relationship between text and context, thereby moving beyond formal educational models of literacy.

Dr Bhatt will be joined by PhD researcher Xie Pingping who will briefly co-present how her research on the ‘translanguaging’ practices of Chinese students brings practical relevance to the theories outlined in the lecture. Dr Bhatt will conclude with a discussion of what the study of literacy-as-social-practice could portend for future inquiry.

接着上一次的讲座，在本次讲座中，Bhatt 博士将阐述读写素养作为一种“社交实践”的研究，并提出相应理论和实践论据。他认为这是一个将读写素养的认知方法（此处读写素养被理解为人们所拥有的东西）与社会的、文化的和历史的方法（此处读写素养被理解为人们所做的事情）交织在一起的观点。后一种观点在过去几十年里有了很大的发展，它建立在一种动力上，即收集关于人们和社区日常生活中阅读和写作的民族志理解，以及文本和上下文语境之间的动态关系，从而超越了正规的读写素养教育模式。

Bhatt 博士将与博士生谢萍萍一起简要介绍她对中国留学生“跨语言”实践的研究，并将讲座中概述的理论与实际相关性结合起来。 Bhatt 博士最后将总结讨论读写作为社交实践的研究对未来研究的启示。

Lecture 3: Ecologies of knowledge production: Literacies of research writing in contemporary universities (知识生产生态学：当代大学学术写作的素养), 21st September 2022.

See link: https://foreign.jlu.edu.cn/info/1030/5514.htm 

This final lecture examines ecologies of knowledge production in contemporary higher education. Drawing from various studies that have used a socially-oriented view of literacy and writing, this lecture examines how international shifts in research writing, academic performance policies, and research evaluation regimes, are creating a new set of expectations upon academics in different countries, including China. Studies indicate that the culture of research writing in universities has now changed, including the tools and resources academics draw upon, and how academic success, prestige, and internationalism are conceptualised.

Dr Bhatt will be joined by PhD researcher Chen Xiajing who will briefly co-present her research on the research writing culture in Chinese universities. Dr Bhatt will conclude by arguing that the field of academic literacies can help us better understand how academics must now amalgamate new literacy practices in order to contend with multiple and conflicting demands on time, abilities, allegiances, and the double-bind of local versus international research impact, as well as inequalities of experience.

最后这一次讲座探讨了当代高等教育中知识生产的生态学。立足于各种使用社会视角对读写素养和写作进行分析的研究，本讲座探讨了学术写作、科研绩效和评估政策的国际化导向转变如何为包括中国在内的不同国家的学者们带来一系列新的期望。研究表明，大学里的学术写作文化现在正在发生变化，这些变化既包括学者们写作中所使用的工具和资源，也包括对学术成功、声望和国际化等概念的不同定义。

博士生陈夏菁将会加入Bhatt博士的讲座，简要介绍她对中国大学学术写作文化的研究。最后，Bhatt博士认为学术素养理论可以帮助我们更好地理解学者们现在必须结合新读写素养实践来应对学术写作中所遇到：1)时间、能力、忠诚观之间的多重相互矛盾的需求  2)本地与国际研究影响的双重束缚  3)经验的不平等。

Current and former students in China, colleagues, and others interested in the topics being discussed are welcome to attend. I am grateful to the School of Foreign Studies for organising this.