Biography
Dr. Hannah M. King is a sociolinguist, specializing in multilingualism and transnational identities. She holds a PhD in Applied Linguistics from Birkbeck, University of London, a master's in Cross-Cultural Communication and Applied Linguistics from Newcastle University and a BA with a double major in French and Spanish Language and Literature from Western Washington University (WA, USA). Her main research interests include multilingualism, interactional/discursive identity construction, and transnational language practices. Recently, she has worked on the creation and development of a multilingual library to support linguistic and cultural diversity and to explore questions around inclusion, representation, and identity. She has published on multilingualism within the research process–linguistic reflexivity, labeling practices of highly diverse students in multilingual schools, and multilingual picturebooks.
Hannah currently teaches mainly in the field of applied linguistics, covering courses in academic English and education (eg English language teaching). Her teaching experience is primarily in English language education, including English as a Foreign Language (EFL), English for Academic Purposes (EAP), and Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL), in which she holds a certification. She has given multiple guest lecturers for a bilingualism master’s and a bachelor’s course on Multilingual and Multicultural Individuals and designed the London Met module The Multilingual Classroom for distance learning and on-site master's students.
Hannah’s research focuses on everyday language practices and communication across languages and cultures, seeking to understand the way transnational individuals use talk about space and place to co-construct their identities and belonging to international communities. Her main interests include sociolinguistics, interactional and discursive identities, transnational language practices, cross-cultural communication, and Spanish language practices and identities. Further interests centre around multilingualism, particularly as it relates to education, from both a pedagogical and research point of view. She is an active researcher and presents regularly at academic conferences around the world.
Member of:
- United Kingdom Literacy Association (UKLA) and UKLA’s Literacy and Multilingualism SIG
- British Association of Applied Linguistics (BAAL), including Multilingualism SIG and Linguistic Ethnography Forum SIG
- Association Internationale de Linguistique Appliquée (AILA)
Act/have acted as a peer reviewer for:
- Multilingua: Journal of Cross-Cultural and Interlanguage Communication
- Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development
- International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism
Grants, funding and awards:
- London Metropolitan University Rescaling Funds 2023-2024 (£4,000): Research project entitled Multilingualism in and beyond schools: Literacies, teaching practices, and minoritised languages.
- BAAL Applying Linguistics Fund 2022-2023 (£2,984): Research project entitled Promoting multilingualism at school: How researcher and practitioner collaboration can support and inform the educator-student-community triad
- BAAL Researcher Development Workshop 2021 proposal accepted and funded (£200) by the British Association for Applied Linguistics to organize the workshop series All eyes on-line: Curating an academic digital presence
Conference presentations:
- Rolland, L. & King, H.M. (2022, July 14). Translation as part of the analytical process: Working with foreign language and multilingual data. Paper presented at SS24: Inside and Beyond Binaries, Ghent University [Ghent, Belgium]
- King, H.M. (2021, Sept 10). Here, there and everywhere: Talk about space and place in the co-construction of a transnational Spanish language group in London. Paper presented at BAAL 53: Challenges and Opportunities in Applied Linguistics, Northumbria University [virtual]
- King, H.M. (2021, June 7-10). Space, place, and the construction of linguistic identities: Looking beyond the pedagogical in a Spanish language group. Paper presented at Sociolinguistic Symposium 23, Hong Kong [virtual]
- King, H.M. (2020, Sept 25). Cosmopolitan London: Talk about space and place in the interactional construction of an international community of Spanish speakers. Paper presented at Ethnography, Language and Communication Conference 8: Perspectives across disciplinary and political borders, Oslo, Norway [virtual]
- King, H.M. (2019, Sept 12). Cosmopolitan London: Transnational identities and multilingual conversational practices within an international Spanish language group. Paper presented at Multilingualism and Identity: Interdisciplinary Perspectives, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
- King, H.M. (2019, Jun 11). Researching in an LX: challenges and implications for working beyond your ‘mother tongue.’ CCM Doctoral Seminar Series: Panel Presentations, UCL Institute of Education, London, UK
- King, H.M. (2019, Mar 27). Cosmopolitan London: Transnational identities and multilingual language practices within an international Spanish language group. 37th AESLA (Spanish Society for Applied Linguistics) international conference: Bilingualism and languages in contact, University of Valladolid, Valladolid, Spain
- King, H.M. (2018, Jul 10). Whose Spanish? Ethnolinguistic repertoires, code-switching practices, and identities within an international, London-based Spanish language group. Workshopping Words and Opening Dialogues: Postgraduate Forum in Linguistics, University of Sussex, Falmer, UK
- Whalen, D. H., DiCanio, C. & King, H.M. (2014, Oct 24). From corpus to corpus phonetics: Challenges in adapting an Arapaho corpus for linguistic research. The 46th Algonquian conference, Mohegan Sun, CT, USA
Publications
King, H. M., Garces-Bacsal, R. M., Little, S., & Mohamed, N. (forthcoming). Books, 책들, livres, vitabu, βιβλία: Exploring diverse picturebooks for multilingual literacy, inclusivity, and belonging. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development
King, H. M. & Pérez Andrade, G. (in press). Developing a multilingual library of picturebooks: The impact of a linguistically diverse collection and multilingual storytime on representation and visibility of minoritized languages, speakers, and communities. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development. https://doi.org/10.1080/01434632.2025.2584635.
Pérez Andrade, G., King, H. M., Amin, S. (2025). BAAL Applying Linguistics Fund 2022-2023 Promoting multilingualism at school: How researcher and practitioner collaboration can support and inform the educator-student-community triad. BAAL News, 125 [Newsletter]. https://www.baal.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/BAAL-News_2025_125.pdf
Pérez Andrade, G., & King, H. M. (2024). ‘English as an additional language’, ‘multilingual’, and ‘vulnerable’: a reflexive account of the labelling practices surrounding school pupils in a researcher-practitioner collaboration. Language and Intercultural Communication, 24(5), 458–474. https://doi.org/10.1080/14708477.2024.2369771
King, H. M. & Pérez Andrade, G. (2024, April 30). Creating a multilingual library of picture books. NALDIC’s (National Association for Language Development in the Curriculum) EAL Blog. https://naldic.org.uk/creating-a-multilingual-library-of-picture-books/
King, H. M. (2023). Complex intersections of language and culture: the importance of an ethnographic lens for research within transnational communities. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 44(8), 718–736. https://doi.org/10.1080/01434632.2023.2195385
Rolland, L., King, H. M., & Lorette, P. (2023). Methodological implications of participant and researcher multilingualism: making language dynamics visible. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 44(8), 645–656. https://doi.org/10.1080/01434632.2023.2224774
King, H.M. (2017, November 14). [Review of the book Being Bilingual in Borinquen, by A. Pousada 2017]. The Linguist List, 28.4789
Whalen, D.H., DiCanio, C., Geissler, C., & King, H.M. (2016). Acoustic realization of a distinctive, frequent glottal stop: The Arapaho example. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 139(4), 2212-2213
Whalen, D.H., Katsika, A., Tiede, M.K., King, H.M. (2015). Acoustic measures of planned and unplanned coarticulation. Proceedings of the 18th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences, Glasgow, UK, 10-14 August, 2015
Katsika, A., Whalen, D.H., Tiede, M.K. & King, H.M. (2015). Articulatory measures of planned and unplanned coarticulation. Proceedings of the 18th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences, Glasgow, UK, 10-14 August, 2015
