Discourse Analysis, Pragmatics, Communication, Intercultural Communication in Business, Analysing Professional Discourse, Curriculum Planning, Syllabus Design, Materials Writing

Research Interests

Discourse Intonation, Corpus Linguistics, Conversation and (Critical) Discourse Analysis, Pragmatics, Intercultural Communication, Lexical Studies, Collaborative Assessment, Online Learning and Assessment

Research Projects

1. Excellence in work-integrated education: Evaluation evidence of achievement of learning outcomes
2. English as the language of Asian business and profession
3. Describing surveying and construction engineering English using a specialised corpus of engineering English
4. Determining aboutness in the language of the financial services industry: Keywords and phraseology
5. Constructing a taxonomy of professional communicative competencies derived from the four key industries in Hong Kong
6. Learning and teaching the phraseology of English
7. The discourse processes and products of professionals in Hong Kong
8. Determining 'aboutness' in business English: Keywords and phraseology
9. An initial professional communication audit in the field of logistics: Project management in Geomatics
10. Creating the OLD Corpus for research, learning and teaching purposes
11. Professional literacy in Hong Kong
12. Enhancing teaching and learning through assessment
13. A description of spoken English in Hong Kong
14. The communicative role of intonation in Hong Kong English
15. Sustaining and extending development in learning to learn by integrating learning to learn into teaching and piloting approaches to assessing learning and metacognitive abilities
16. Delivering lecture content on-line: In what ways does it impact our students?
17. Prosodically transcribing a corpus of spoken public discourse in Hong Kong for learning, teaching and research purposes
18. Corpus linguistics: a bridge between IT and discourse analysis
19. Intercultural communication in business and professional organizations in Hong Kong
20. The intonation of Hong Kong English: Form and function
21. A corpus-based study of the conversational English of non-native speakers in Hong Kong
22. Inexplicitness in conversations: a comparative study of NS and NNS of English, City University of Hong Kong
23. Compiling and exploiting a spoken corpus of academic English in Hong Kong for learning, teaching and research purposes
24. Compiling a corpus of spoken public discourse in Hong Kong for learning, teaching and research purposes
25. Compiling a corpus of spoken business English in Hong Kong for learning, teaching and research purposes
26. Learning to learn: Developing students¡¦ cognitive, motivational and interpersonal strategies for learning
27. The language of conference presentations
28. Describing, learning and teaching the lexis and grammar of spoken English
29. A study to determine the feasibility of incorporating peer assessment in ELT at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
30. ELT through WWW: an investigation to identify the techniques for using the internet as a medium for English Language Teaching
31. A survey into the English language learning strategies of students of the PolyU
32. An investigation into the relationship between language learning beliefs and language learning strategies

Research Output

All co-authored output items are shared equally by the authors.

Books

Cheng, W. and Kong, C.C.K. (forthcoming). (Eds.). Professional Communication: Collaboration between Academics and Practitioners. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press.

Cheng, W., Greaves, C. and Warren, M. (forthcoming). A Corpus-Driven Study of Discourse Intonation. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins.

Cheng, W. 2003. Intercultural Conversation. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company. 274 pp. [ISBN: 90 272 5360 9 (Eur.)/ 1 58811 465 1 (US)]

Articles in refereed journals and refereed edited collections

Cheng, W. (forthcoming). Professional communicative competences: Four key industries in Hong kong. In W. Cheng and C.C.K. Kong, (Eds.). Professional Communication: Collaboration between Academics and Practitioners. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press.

Cheng, W. (forthcoming). Intercultural Professional Communication: Approaches and Issues. In W. Cheng and C.C.K. Kong, (Eds.). Professional Communication: Collaboration between Academics and Practitioners. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press (with Kong, C.C.K.).

Cheng, W. (forthcoming, 2008). Bridging the divide between business communication research and business communication practice. In F. Bargiela-Chiappini (Ed). The Handbook of Business Discourse. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.

Cheng, W. (forthcoming). Entries in The Pragmatics Encyclopedia. London: Routledge.

Cheng, W., & Tsui, A. (forthcoming). 'ahh ((laugh)) well there is no comparison between the two I think': How do Hong Kong Chinese and native speakers of English disagree with each other Journal of Pragmatics Special Issue.

Cheng, W., Greaves, C., Sinclair, J. and Warren, M. (forthcoming). Uncovering the extent of the phraseological tendency: towards a systematic analysis of concgrams. Applied Linguistics.

Cheng, W. (2008). Co-constructing prejudiced talk: Ethnic stereotyping in intercultural communication between Hong Kong Chinese and English-speaking westerners. In A. Lin (Ed.), Problematizing Identity: Everyday Struggles in Language, Culture and Education, (pp. 171-191). New York: Lawrence Erlbaum.

Cheng, W. and Warren, M. (2008). // ˆj ONE country two SYStems //: The discourse intonation patterns of word associations. In A. Adel and R. Reppen (eds.) Corpora and Discourse: The Challenges of Different Settings (pp. 135-153). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

Cheng, W. (2008). Concgramming: A corpus-driven approach to learning the phraseology of discipline-specific texts. CORELL: Computer Resources for Language Learning, 1: 22-35.

Cheng, W. and Mok, E. (2008). Discourse Processes and Products: Land Surveyors in Hong Kong. English for Specific Purposes, 27(1): 57-73.

Cheng, W. (2008). A corpus study of pitch concord. In a cura di M. Pettorino, A. Giannini, M. Vallone, and R. Savy (Ed.) La comunicazione parlata (Spoken Communication) (pp. 58-73). Naples: Liguori Editore.

Cheng, W. (2007). ¡¥Sorry to interrupt, but ¡K¡¦: Pedagogical implications of a spoken corpus. In Campoy, M. C. and Luzon, M.J. (Eds.), Spoken Corpora in Applied Linguistics (pp. 199-216). Bern: Peter Lang.

Cheng, W. and Warren, M. (2007). Online collaborative learning and assessment. In S. Frankland (Ed.), Enhancing Teaching and Learning through Assessment: Deriving an Appropriate Model (pp. 198-213). The Assessment Resource Centre, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University / The Netherlands: Springer.

Cheng, W. (2007). Discourse patterns in intercultural conversations. In B. Kraft and R. Geluykens (Eds.), Cross-Cultural Pragmatics and Interlanguage English (pp. 221-242). Muenchen: Lincom Europa.

 Cheng, W., & Warren, M. (2007). Checking understandings in an intercultural corpus of spoken English. In O'Keefe and S. Walsh (Eds.), Corpus-based Studies of Language Awareness. Special Issue of Language Awareness, 16(3): 190-207.

Cheng, W. and Grundy, P. (2007). Thinking for writing. In Pilar Garcés-Conejos Blitvich, Manuel Padilla Cruz, Reyes Gómez Morón and Lucía Fernández Amaya (eds.), Studies in Intercultural, Cognitive and Social Pragmatics (pp. 2-36). UK: Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

 Cheng, W. (2007). The use of vague language across spoken genres in an intercultural corpus. In J. Cutting (Ed.), Vague Language Explored. (pp. 161-181). London: Palgrave Macmillan.

Cheng, W., & Warren, M. (2006). I would say be very careful of.: Opine markers in an intercultural Business corpus of spoken English. J. Bamford and M. Bondi (Eds.), Managing Interaction in Professional Discourse. Intercultural and Interdiscoursal Perspectives (pp. 46-58). Rome: Officina Edizioni. 

 Cheng, W. and Mok, E. (2006). Cultural preference for rhetorical patterns in business writing. Hong Kong Linguist , 26: 69-80.

Cheng, W., Greaves, C., & Warren, M. (2006). From n-gram to skipgram to concgram. International Journal of Corpus Linguistics. 11(4): 411-433.

Cheng, W. (2006). Describing the extended meanings of lexical cohesion in a corpus of SARS spoken discourse. In J. Flowerdew & M. Mahlberg (Eds.), Special Issue of International Journal of Corpus Linguistics: Corpus Linguistics and Lexical Cohesion, 11/3: 325-344.

Cheng, W., & Warren, M. (2006). "// R you need to be RUTHless //: Entertaining cross-cultural differences. Language & Intercultural Communication, 6(1), 1-22.

Cheng, W., Warren, M., & Xu Xun-feng. (2005). Towards a description of spoken English in Hong Kong: Some findings and applications. (?­»´ä­^¤f?ªº´y­z¡A¬ã¨s??¤Î?¥Î). In School of Foreign Studies Editorial Committee, South China Normal University (Eds.), Yuliaoku Yuyanxue de Yanjiu Yu Yingyong (»y¬ì®w»y¨¥¾Çªº¬ã¨s»PÀ³¥Î) (pp. 57-63). China: Northest Normal University Press.

Cheng, W., Greaves, C., & Warren, M. (2005). The creation of a prosodically transcribed intercultural corpus: The Hong Kong Corpus of Spoken English (prosodic). International Computer Archive of Modern English (ICAME) Journal, 29: 47-68.

Cheng, W., & Warren, M. (2005). Peer assessment of language proficiency. Language Testing, 22(1), 93-121.

Cheng, W., & Warren, M. (2005). // a CAN i help you //: The use of rise and rise-fall tones in the Hong Kong Corpus of Spoken English. International Journal of Corpus Linguistics, 10(1), 85-107.

Cheng, W. (2004). // a did you TOOK // a from the miniBAR //: what is the practical relevance of a corpus-driven language study to practitioners in Hong Kong¡¦s hotel industry? In U. Connor & T.A. Upton (Eds.), Discourse in the Professions (pp. 141-166). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. 333 pp.

Cheng, W. (2004). ¡¥well thank you David for that question¡¦: The intonation, pragmatics and structure of Q&A sessions in public discourses. The Journal of Asia TEFL, 1(2), 109-133.

Cheng, W. (2004). // a FRIENDS // aa LAdies and GENtlemen //: Some preliminary findings from a corpus of spoken public discourses in Hong Kong. In U. Connor & T.A. Upton (Eds.), Applied Corpus Linguistics: A Multidimensional Perspective (pp. 35-50). Amsterdam/New York: Rodopi. 279 pp.

Cheng, W., & Warren, M. (2003). Indirectness, inexplicitness and vagueness made clearer. Pragmatics, 13(3), 381-400.

Cheng, W. (2003). Humour in intercultural conversation. Semiotica, 146(1/4), 287-306.

Cheng, W., & Warren, M. Reprinted in 2003. Having second thoughts: student perceptions before and after a peer assessment exercise. In P. Stimpson, P. Morris, Y. Fung & R. Carr (Eds.), Curriculum, Learning and Assessment: The Hong Kong Experience (pp. 261-272). Hong Kong: Open University of Hong Kong.

¾G±ç¼z½¬¡B°¨¤B¡O¨U­Û (2003). ¹ïªB½úµû¦ôªº¦A«ä¡G¾Ç¥Í¦bµû¦ô«e«á©Ò©ê«ùªºÆ[©À ƒÝ Philip Stimpson, Paul Morris, Yvonne Fung, Ronnie Carr / ½s; ¶À°û»ö¡B³¯·ç°í¡B¶¾¬Ià±Ò² / Ķ ƒÝ ½Òµ{¡B¾Ç²ß»Pµû¦ô¡G­»´äªº¸gÅç ƒÝ ­»´ä¤½¶}¤j¾Ç¥Xª©ªÀ (pp. 287-299). (translated from Cheng, W., & Warren, M. (1997). Having second thoughts: Student perceptions before and after a peer assessment exercise. Studies in Higher Education, 22(2), 233-239.

Cheng, W., Warren, M., & Xu Xun-feng. (2003). The language learner as language researcher: putting corpus linguistics on the timetable. System 31(2), 173-186.

Cheng, W., & Warren, M. (2002). The intonation of declarative-mood questions in a corpus of Hong Kong English: // aa beef ball // a you like //. Special Issue of Teanga: Corpora, Varieties and the Language Classroom, 21, 151-165.

Cheng, W., & Warren, M. (2001). The functions of actually in a corpus of intercultural conversations. International Journal of Corpus Linguistics, 6(2), 257-280.

Cheng, W., & Warren, M. (2001). ¡§She knows more about Hong Kong than you do isn¡¦t it¡¨: Tags in Hong Kong conversational English. Journal of Pragmatics, 33(9), 1419-1439.

Cheng, W., & Warren, M. (2001). The use of vague language in intercultural conversations in Hong Kong. English World-Wide, 22(1), 81-104.

Cheng, W., & Warren, M. (2000). Making a difference: Using peers to assess individual students' contributions to a group project. Teaching in Higher Education, 5(2), 243-255.

Cheng, W., & Warren, M. (2000). The Hong Kong Corpus of Spoken English: Language learning through language description. In Lou Burnard & Tony McEnery (Eds.), Rethinking Language Pedagogy from a Corpus Perspective (pp. 133-144). Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang.

Revised:May 22, 2008