Newcastle University

Introduction

My academic background is in Applied Linguistics and Language Education. I have taught mainly in Brunei, Malaysia, Turkey and the UK. Following work as head of English in a rural secondary school in Borneo (under the auspices of Voluntary Services Overseas), I was appointed as a teacher-trainer with the Malaysian Ministry of Education, during the transition from English to Malay-medium education in the early 1980s. I later joined the Applied Linguistics Department at the University in Brunei, where I built on my interest in sociolinguistics, Austronesian languages, particularly Iban and Penan.

Research Interests

Sociolinguistics, with particular interest in code-switching, and language maintenance & change among minority groups; cultural adaptation; and intercultural communication.

Other Expertise

Knowledge of Austronesian Languages, in particular: Malay, Penan and Iban.

Current Work

Co-researcher on a project that considers code-switching practices in Taiwanese cram schools.

Research into patterns of language use by Penan, both with other Penan and their historically settled neighbours, in Borneo.

Future Research

Future research includes the following: Collaborative work on the issue of language recontextualisation in Brunei, with particular reference to indigenised use of English and Malay following on from work by Saxena and Sercombe (2002); and a collaborative study that intends to examine potential decline of plant knowledge domains, and language associated with this knowledge, among tropical forest swidden cultivating communities in Sarawak.

Research Roles

Principal researcher on project studying language maintenance and change among the Penan of Borneo, 1996-2002

Co-researcher on a project studying hunter-gatherer ethnomedical practices in Borneo, 1998-2000

Postgraduate Supervision

I am currently first supervisor of 20 PhD students, among whom research is being conducted into culture in language teaching, cultural influences on communication strategies, writing strategies, politeness and language and gender. I am particularly interested in students who are interested in pursuing research in sociolinguistics (especially in the field of language contact) and in intercultural communication.

Esteem Indicators

Associate Marker, Doctorate in Education Programme, University of Leicester, 2003-2007

Visiting Scholar, Ming Chuan University, Taiwan, 2005

External Validator, Doctorate in Education Programme,
University of East London, UK, 2005 & 2007

Reviewer, Kluwer Springer's 'Encyclopedia of Language and Education' (2008)

Editor, 'The Linguistics Journal'
http://www.linguistics-journal.com/editorial.php

Co-Translator (Iban to English), BBC, Fat Teens Can’t Hunt www.endemoluk.com/?q=node/319&tid=7&shownews=1

Consultant (translation [Penan to English] and content validity),
BBC Tribes, Series 3, ‘The Penan, Hunters & Gatherers of Borneo’
http://www.bbc.co.uk/tribe/programmes/index.shtml#penan

External examiner for University of York’s Norwegian Studies Centre’s English Fordypning Programme, 2007-2010

External examiner of Birkbeck College, University of London's MA in Communication, MA in Intercultural Communication and Postgraduate Certificate in International Field Leadership (2011-2013)

External examiner of Sheffield University's MA in Applied Linguistics with TESOL (from 2011) 

Reviewer for Sage Publications' book proposal on 'Intercultural Communication' 2008

Reviewer for Journal of 'Current Issues in Language Planning' (Multilingual Matters), Special Issue on 'Language Planning and Minority Languages'

I have conducted PhD viva examinations at the following universities: Aberdeen, Lancaster, Leicester, Newcastle and Sunderland.

Funding

Field Trip Study Grant to study Penan Language Use and Language Change, in Malaysia, sponsored by Endangered Languages Documentation Project, SOAS, University of London, 2003-2007.

Firebird Foundation for Anthropological Research to collect and study Orature among the Eastern Penan of Central Borneo.

Projects

• 'Naming':
  reserach into reasons why students from mainland Chin (may) adopt and use 'English Names'.
• 'Transitions':
  Project Leader(s): Dr Peter Sercombe
  considers the experience[s] of students, both synchronically and diachronically, via various instruments

Postgraduate Teaching

I lead the modules 'Language and Cross-cultural Communication' and 'Sociolinguistics', and have contributed to the module 'Culture, Interculturality and Identity'.

• Sercombe PG, Young TJ, Ming D, Lin L. Naming Practices and Their Significance among Chinese Students. Journal of Sociolinguistics 2012. Submitted.
• Laopongharn W, Sercombe PG. What relevance does intercultural communication have to language education in Thailand?. ARECLS 2009, 6, 59-83.
• Sercombe PG. The Eastern Penan Language of Borneo. In:Shin, C., Harun, K., Alas, Y., ed. Reflections in Borneo Rivers: Essays in Honour of Professor James T. Collins.Pontianak:STAIN Pontianak Press,2006, pp. 1-34.
• Sercombe PG. Multilingualism among the Penan of Brunei. International Journal of Bilingualism 2003, 7(2), 153-175.
• Sercombe PG. Language maintenance and shift: A review of theoretical and regional issues with special reference to Borneo. In: David, M.K, ed. Methodological and Analytical Issues in Language Maintenance and Language Shift Studies. Berlin: Peter Lang Publishing, 2002, pp.1-19.
• Sercombe PG. Small worlds: the language ecology of the Penan in Borneo. In: Creese, A; Martin, P; Hornberger, NH, ed. Encyclopedia of Language and Education: Ecology of Language. Amsterdam: Kluwer, 2007, pp. 183-193.
• Sercombe PG, Sellato B, ed. Beyond the Green Myth: Hunter-Gatherers of Borneo in the Twenty-First Century. Copenhagen: Nordic Institute of Asian Studies, 2007.
• Saxena M, Sercombe PG. Patterns and variations in language choices among Bruneians. In: So, D.W.C., Jones, G, ed. Education and Society in Plurilingual Contexts. Brussels: Brussels University Press, 2002, pp.248-265.
• Garner M, Raschka C, Sercombe PG. Sociolinguistic minorities, research, and social relationships. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development 2006,27 1 61-78.
• Sercombe PG, Garner M, Raschka C (Guest Editors). Sociolinguistic Research – Who Wins? Research on, with or for Speakers of Minority Languages. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development (Special Issue) 2006,27 1 1-3.
• Sercombe PG. Errors in English: description, classification, explanation and remedy. Modern Language Journal 2002, 14, 1-20.
• Aye KK, Sercombe PG. The Noun Phrase in Standard Malay and Myanmar Compared: Pedagogical Implications for L1 MYanmar Speakers. Journal of Southeast Asian Linguistics Society 2013. Submitted.
• Holliday A, Killick D, Montgomery C, Sercombe PG, Young TJ. Exploring 'international' student transition through transcultural interaction: perspectives in and from the UK. In: Higher Education Across Borders: Transcultural Interaction and Linguistic Diversity. 2012, Roskilde University, Denmark.