ORCID iD: 0000-0001-5614-8715
Scopus Author ID: 56734055400
Google Scholar Profile: 0EQG5PEAAAAJ

Metrics for Academic and Research Impact

PhD English Studies (Université Bordeaux Montaigne)
MA English Studies (Université Bordeaux Montaigne)
BA French with Business (Swansea University)
Cert. CELTA (Swansea University) 
Cert. DAEFLE (Université Bordeaux Montaigne)

I am currently recruiting PhD students whose dissertation proposal relates directly or closely with aspects of my RGC-funded project "Culturally Widespread Gestures in Cross-Linguistic Perspective: A Comparative Study of Gestures Associated with Negation in Mandarin Chinese and American English". Informal enquiries are welcome to [email protected].

This project explores and compares gestures associated with negation across Mandarin Chinese and American English spoken language corpora within a validated mode of inquiry known as multilevel or multimodal. The project sets out to discover how various typological and cultural differences affect different dimensions of gesture communication. The results will impact debates in language typology, Chinese linguistics, intercultural pragmatics, multimodal language studies, and recurrent gesture research.

Simon Harrison is PI of the RGC-funded project "Culturally Widespread Gestures in Cross-Linguistic Perspective: A Comparative Study of Gestures Associated with Negation in Mandarin Chinese and American English".

His research explores embodied and relational understandings of language, communication, and culture across diverse settings and scales with particular expertise in the study of gesture.

In addition to specialising in the domain of 'multimodal negation', Harrison also works on topics involving classroom interactivity and English for Academic Purposes, especially studying language and gesture during group interaction tasks and oral presentations. 

His first monograph The Impulse to Gesture: Where Language, Minds, and Bodies Intersect (CUP, 2018) worked at the micro-level of spoken language utterances and developed a cognitive-linguistic view of gesture, focusing on the embodied linguistic system of negation

His current book project is an ambitious monograph nearing completion entitled The Body Language Myth: Understanding Gesture in Language and Communication. Aiming to dramatically expand the micro-scope of his first phase of gesture research, this book interweaves several lines of empirical and theoretical gesture scholarship from multiple disciplines to propose a relational dynamics of gesture and gesturing bodies. 

EN5495 Spoken Language Interactivity

EN2502 Language in Social Interaction

EN2722 Foundations of Language and Communication

EN3321 Public Speaking and Presentations in Context (course coordinator)

EN2011 English on the Move (course coordinator)

GE2410 English for Engineering (course coordinator)

Dissertations supervised by Dr. Harrison in the area of gesture studies include:

• Xia, Yunqi (2023). Spoken Language Assessment across In-person and Online Environments—Multimodal Discourse Analysis of Cambridge B2 First Speaking Test Administration. City University of Hong Kong.
• Lu, Yi (2023). Foreign language anxiety during oral presentations: Analysis of speech acoustic, adaptors and perceived experience. City University of Hong Kong.
• Shi, Lujuan (2021). Language-Related Episodes from a Dynamic View: Multimodal Negotiation and Types of Communication Breakdowns during Peer Interaction. City University of Hong Kong.
• He, Jingyi (2021). Interactional Competence and Gesture during Group Interaction: A Corpus-based Study of Language-Related Episodes. City University of Hong Kong.
• Xu, Jian (2018). A Multimodal Analysis of L2 Learners’ Participation in Peer Interaction Concerning Language-Related Episodes. University of Nottingham Ningbo China. (with Dr. Yu-Hua Chen)
• Stutzman, Levi (2017). Multimodal Corrective Feedback and Interactional Moves within Language-Related Episodes and Inscription-Related Episodes: An Analysis. University of Nottingham Ningbo China.
• Stevens, Michael Paul (2016). Gestural Depiction and Conceptualization in Philosophical Exposition: A Microanalysis. University of Nottingham Ningbo China.
• Wild, Jacob Lee (2015). Second Language Learner Multimodality and Linguistic Development in Naturalistic Settings: A Study of L2 Learners in the Chinese Street Market. University of Nottingham Ningbo China.