Biography
James Mian Jia obtained his Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin. His research explores the key role of language in various interpersonal, intercultural, health, and mediated contexts. He uses methods such as experimental design, corpus analysis, content analysis, and computerized text analysis. His research has been published in journals such as Applied Linguistics, English Today, Health Communication, Lingua, Pragmatics and Society, and Text & Talk.
Research Interests/Areas
Language and Persuasive Health Message Design
Adopting an integrated approach of discourse analysis and experimental design, this line of research explores how subtle language features shape people’s evaluation of a health problem and their intentions to follow the health recommendations. Some of the health communicative contexts I have examined include antibiotic stewardship, COVID-19, vaccinations for HPV and Pneumonia.
Representative Work:
Jia, M. (2022). Toward an integrated understanding of language and health communication: Discourse-analytic and message design approaches. Applied Linguistics, 43(6), 1217–1221. https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/amac063
Jia, M. & Zhao, Y. (2023). Fear appeals in public signs of COVID-19 prevention in Chinese local communities. Pragmatics and Society, 14(2), 281–305. https://doi.org/10.1075/ps.22009.jia
Language and Interpersonal Communication
Language is a fundamental means of communicating social influence and social support. Focusing on (im)politeness and metadiscourse, this line of research examines how people conceptualize and use these markers differentially and how a strategic choice between these subtle linguistic features shape people’s perceptions, intentions, and behaviors.
Representative Work:
Jia, M. & Yang, G. (2021). Emancipating Chinese (im)politeness research: Looking back and looking forward. Lingua, 251, 103028 [Editors' Choice Article in 2021]. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lingua.2020.103028
Jia, M. & An, Y. (aop). Language as an interpersonal marker in English dissertation acknowledgments: Variations across genres and academic disciplines. English Today. Online First Publication. https://doi.org/10.1017/S026607842200027X
Teaching
EN3329 Discourse and Pragmatics
EN3586 Workplace Culture and Interaction
EN5461 Language in Its Social Contexts
