The purpose of this conference is to re-visit and re-appraise the key assumptions behind traditional models of academic and workplace communication. Are today’s new realities leading to the emergence of new styles of communication, patterns of social interaction and types of social positioning calling for a redefinition of identity in academic and workplace environments? What consequences does this imply for research and specialized educational programmes?

The conference aims to bring together scholars interested in investigating the changing contexts of academic and workplace environments and the implications these changes have for research and specialized language provision, with particular reference to the fields of ESP, identity studies, intercultural studies and English as a lingua franca.