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October

22

2019

CGED Research Seminar Series

Learning About Sex: Exploring Language Use in Formal and Informal Contexts for Sexuality Education

Learning About Sex: Exploring Language Use in Formal and Informal Contexts for Sexuality Education

Speaker: Dr. Brian W. King, Assistant Professor, School of English, Faculty of Arts, HKU


Moderator: Dr. Lam Wai Ip, Associate Professor, Faculty of Education, HKU


Date: Tuesday, 22 October 2019

Time: 5-6:30pm

Venue: 4.36, 4/F, Run Run Shaw Tower, Centennial Campus, HKU


In this talk Brian King reviews his sociolinguistics research in high-school sexuality education classes in New Zealand. He highlights the many ways in which language is used while communicating information and advice about being sexual, both by teachers and students, and thus illuminate the sexual subject positions that are constituted, made available and/or legitimized through specific linguistic and interactional strategies. In the conclusion he will reflect on didactic approaches to sexuality education and make an argument for a conversation-based approach regardless of setting. 


Speaker bio: 

Dr. Brian W. King is a critical sociolinguist who received his PhD from Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand and an MA from University of Leicester,UK (both degrees in Applied Linguistics). Prior to coming to HKU in 2018, he was a faculty member at City University of Hong Kong. His research focuses on the discursive performance of identities and embodiments at the intersection of ethnicity, gender and sexuality. His work on these themes covers sexuality education, language and healthcare, computer-mediated communication, and the social construction of space/place. 


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