Dr Marion Nao

Professional biography

My work history has included teaching as well as academic and industry research. In the past, I have worked as a teacher of English and CLIL to adult learners in a range of educational contexts in Japan, the Czech Republic, Germany, Italy, and (virtually) in Spain, as well as here in the UK. In industry, I have worked on projects that have allowed me to apply my academic groundings in discourse analysis to different sectors, with a predominant focus on medical interactions and communication.

I have previously held an ESRC postdoctoral fellowship in Linguistics and English Language at the University of Edinburgh, prior to which I completed my PhD in Language and Communication Research at Cardiff University.

Research interests

I'm currently working as part of a team investigating English as a Medium of Instruction in European Higher Education, a UKRI project held by Prof. Kristina Hultgren. This makes use of process tracing as a method of identifying causes of outcomes and how they lead there — in this case, to the increasing use of English at university to teach/learn academic subjects other than English itself in European countries where it is not widely spoken as a first language.

I also retain a strong interest in discourse analysis and framing theory, in particular.

Publications

Journal articles

The (in)justice of EMI: a critical discourse analysis of two key stakeholders’ views on the Polytechnic University of Milan court case (2024-08-06)
Zuaro, Beatrice; Yuksel, Dogan; Wingrove, Peter; Nao, Marion and Hultgren, Anna K.
Journal of English as a Lingua Franca, 13(1) (pp. 29-49)

Process Tracing for applied linguistics (2024-08)
Thomas, Nathan; Hultgren, Anna Kristina; Zuaro, Beatrice; Yuksel, Dogan; Wingrove, Peter; Nao, Marion and Beach, Derek
Research Methods in Applied Linguistics, 3, Article 100118(2)

Macro-level language policy and planning to promote and maintain English-taught programmes in Turkish higher education: a Process Tracing perspective (2024)
Yuksel, Dogan; Nao, Marion; Wingrove, Peter; Zuaro, Beatrice and Hultgren, Anna Kristina
Current Issues in Language Planning ((Early access))

University autonomy and the increasing shift to English in academic programmes at European universities: In dialogue with Liviu Matei (2023)
Nao, Marion; Wingrove, Peter; Yuksel, Dogan; Zuaro, Beatrice and Hultgren, Anna Kristina
Sociolinguistica, 37(2) (pp. 287-299)

[Book Review] Philip Seargeant, The Art of Political Storytelling: Why Stories Win Votes in Post-Truth Politics (2022-12)
Nao, Marion
Discourse & Communication, 16(6) (pp. 740-742)

[Book Review] Bonnin, J.E. (2019). Discourse and Mental Health: Voice, Inequality and Resistance in Medical Settings by Juan Eduardo Bonnin (2022)
Nao, Marion
CADAAD Journal, 14(1) (pp. 144-146)

‘The lady doth protest too much, methinks’: Truth negating implications and effects of an epistemic frame trap (2020-07)
Nao, Marion
Language & Communication, 73 (pp. 18-28)

[Book Review] Musolff, Andreas & Jörg Zinken (eds.) (2015, pb). Metaphor and Discourse (2018-07)
Nao, Marion
Journal of Language and Politics, 17(4) (pp. 573-575)

[Book review] Lubie Grujicic-Alatriste (ed.), Linking Discourse Studies to Professional Practice (2017-09-01)
Nao, Marion
Discourse & Society, 28(5) (pp. 567-569)

[Book review] Roberta Piazza and Alessandra Fasulo (eds), Marked Identities: Narrating Lives between Social Labels and Individual Biographies (2016-06)
Nao, Marion
Discourse & Communication, 10(3) (pp. 314-316)

[Book review] Karen Sullivan, Frames and Constructions in Metaphoric Language (2015-08)
Nao, Marion
Discourse Studies, 17(4) (pp. 491-493)

'So You Are from England': Categorization and Cultural Reduction in First-time Conversation Lounge Encounters between Foreign Teachers and Japanese Students of EFL (2015-05)
Nao, Marion
Applied Linguistics, 36(2) (pp. 194-214)

[Book Review] Simon Weaver, The Rhetoric of Racist Humour: U.S., UK and Global Race Joking (2015-03)
Nao, Marion
International Sociology, 30(2) (pp. 180-182)

The preallocation of student topic nomination and negotiated compliance in conversation-for-learning (2013-04-03)
Nao, Marion
Journal of Applied Linguistics and Professional Practice, 7(3) (pp. 251-272)

The pragmatic realization of the native speaking English teacher as a monolingual ideal (2011-12)
Nao, Marion
Journal of Pragmatics, 43(15) (pp. 3770-3781)

[Book Review] ‘Pragmatics in Language Learning, Theory, & Practice' ed. by Donna Tatsuki (2005-11)
Gaskill, Marion
JALT Journal, 27(2) (pp. 246-247)

Raising pragmatic consciousness through ‘Oral Communication’ (2003)
Gaskill, Marion
Studies in Linguistics and Language Teaching(14) (pp. 71-92)

Degrees of causality: Feminist language reform and linguistic determinism (2003)
Gaskill, Marion
Kanda University of International Studies Journal(15) (pp. 353-366)

The Self-Access Learning Centre Research Project (2003)
Gaskill, Marion
Studies in Linguistics and Language Teaching(14) (pp. 262-269)

Book chapters

New insights into the trend towards English as a medium of instruction in European higher education through transdisciplinary participation (2023-10-25)
Hultgren, Anna Kristina; Nao, Marion; Wingrove, Peter; Yuksel, Dogan and Zuaro, Beatrice
In: Hynninen, N.; Herneaho, I.; Sippola, E.; Isosävi, J. and Yang, M. eds. Kieli ja osallisuus – Språk och delaktighet – Language and participation. AFinLAn vuosikirja 2023 [AFinLa Yearbook 2023] (pp. 318-331)
ISBN : 978-951-9388-76-2 | Publisher : Suomen soveltavan kielitieteen yhdistys AFinLA | Published : Jyväskylä

Conference items

Critically assessed: A discourse analytic approach to interview data in Process Tracing methodology (2023-09)
Nao, Marion; Yuksel, Dogan; Zuaro, Beatrice; Wingrove, Peter and Hultgren, Anna Kristina
In : 13th International and Interdisciplinary Conference on Applied Linguistics and Professional Practice (ALAPP) 2023 (4-6 Sep 2023, University of Glasgow)

English as the Language-of-Education Mechanisms in Europe: New Transdisciplinary Approaches in Linguistics (2023-09)
Zuaro, Beatrice; Wingrove, Peter; Yuksel, Dogan; Nao, Marion and Hultgren, Anna Kristina
In : 7th International Contemporary Educational Research Congress (27-30 Sep 2023, Muğla Sıtkı Koçman University, Turkey)

Introducing Process Tracing to Shed New Light on Causal Mechanisms in Applied Linguistics (2023-08)
Thomas, Nathan; Hultgren, Anna Kristina; Zuaro, Beatrice; Yuksel, Dogan; Wingrove, Peter; Nao, Marion and Beach, Derek
In : BAAL 2023 (British Association for Applied Linguistics, 56th Annual Conference) (23-25 Aug 2023, University of York, York, UK)

Higher education autonomy and EMI: A Process Tracing investigation of Italian EMI (2023-08)
Zuaro, Beatrice; Yuksel, Dogan; Wingrove, Peter; Nao, Marion and Hultgren, Anna Kristina
In : The English Language Seminar (ELS) Seminar (28 Aug 2023, Department of English, Stockholm University, Sweden)

Towards a Critical EMI: New Transdisciplinary Approaches in Linguistics (2023-03)
Yuksel, Dogan; Hultgren, Anna Kristina; Wingrove, Peter; Zuaro, Beatrice and Nao, Marion
In : AAAL 2023 (American Association for Applied Linguistics) (18-21 Mar 2023, Portland, Oregon, USA)

Symposium: Research on English as a Medium of Instruction: Applied Linguistics and Interdisciplinarity (2023)
Hultgren, Anna Kristina; Nao, Marion; Wingrove, Peter; Yuksel, Dogan and Zuaro, Beatrice
In : 56th Annual Conference of the British Association for Applied Linguistics (BAAL 2023) (23-25 Aug 2023, University of York, York)

Typicalising language shift as inevitability: From German to English at an Austrian university. (2023)
Nao, Marion and Hultgren, Anna Kristina
In : 18th International Pragmatics Conference (9-14 Jul 2023, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium)

“Let me say this first…” Reactions of stakeholders towards EMI in Turkey (2023)
Yuksel, Dogan; Wingrove, Peter; Zuaro, Beatrice; Nao, Marion and Hultgren, Anna Kristina
In : ELINET First Annual Conference (13-14 Apr 2023, University of Glasgow)

What are the drivers of EMI, and does it matter? A close-up look at an Austrian university (2023)
Nao, Marion; Wingrove, Peter; Yuksel, Dogan; Zuaro, Beatrice and Hultgren, Anna Kristina
In : ELINET First Annual Conference (13-14 Apr 2023, University of Glasgow)

Tracing the Causes of English as a Medium of Instruction through Process Tracing (2022)
Hultgren, Anna Kristina; Nao, Marion; Sah, Pramod and Beach, Derek
In : Sociolinguistics Symposium 24 - Inside and Beyond Binaries (13-16 Jul 2022, Ghent University, Belgium)

'The lady doth protest too much': The use of gendered idiom to unequal ends in interaction (2013-06)
Nao, Marion
In : The Lady Doth Protest: Mapping Feminist Movements, Moments and Mobilizations (FWSA) (21-23 Jun 2013, Nottingham University, Nottingham)

'What's in a frame?': Single play as collaborative action (2012)
Nao, Marion
In : Discourse, Communication, Conversation: An Anniversary Conference (DARG & CAMARG) (22-23 Mar 2012, Loughborough University, Loughborough)

We gotta talk about something, right?’: Topic as metacommunication in first-time encounters between teachers and students in a conversation lounge (2011-06)
Nao, Marion
In : Applied Linguistics and Professional Practice (ALAPP) (23-24 Jun 2011, Cardiff University, Cardiff)

The sequential organization of pragmatic implicature and its consequential meaning trajectory (2011-04)
Nao, Marion
In : i-mean 2 (3-15 Apr 2011, UWE, Bristol)

Signalling expectations on topic nomination in teacher-student interaction: Insights from a pragmatics of metacommunication (2011)
Nao, Marion
In : Invited talk at Language Education Research Seminar Series (2011, Moray House School of Education, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh)

The foreign teacher in conversation: Cross-cultural reduction at the intersection of topic and didactic footing (2010-11)
Nao, Marion
In : Sociolinguistics Symposium 18 (1-4 Nov 2010, University of Southampton, Southampton)

Navigating a ‘local’ conversational trajectory in a ‘globally’ framed institutional event: The pre-allocation of student topic nomination in L2 conversation-for-learning (2010-09)
Nao, Marion
In : 43rd Annual Meeting of the British Association for Applied Linguistics (BAAL) (9-11 Sep 2010, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen)

Constructing parity through topic negotiation in an L2 ‘conversation for learning’ activity (2007-03)
Nao, Marion
In : 17th International Conference on Pragmatics and Language Learning (26-28 Mar 2007, University of Hawai’i at Manoa, Hawai’i)

Using focus group discussions for educational research (2004-01)
Gaskill, Marion
In : The 24th Annual Thailand TESOL International Conference: Prioritising Teacher Development (29-31 Jan 2004, Thailand)

Investigating communicative stereotypes: learners’ perspectives on sociopragmatic norms. (2003-02)
Gaskill, Marion
In : TUJ Applied Linguistics Colloquium 2003 (16 Feb 2003, Temple University, Tokyo)