EMC CPD Webinar: Social and Occupational Groups – An Online Teacher Conference for A Level Language
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Availability -
Places available
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Price - £45 per place
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Location - Online
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Duration - 2-4pm
See Booking Details for how to take advantage of our 2 for 1 offer.
Course details
An A Level English Language teacher webinar exploring the language of social and occupational groups.
With:
- Professor Veronika Koller (Lancaster University): Occupational discourse
- Dr Salina Cuddy (University of York): The mixing of identity: how gender, sexuality, and football interact
- Clare Mellor (regular emagazine writer): The language of fans and fandoms
Presented and introduced by Dan Clayton with a Q&A at the end.
Salina Cuddy: The mixing of identity: how gender, sexuality, and football interact
This talk explores the interplay of gender, sexuality and identity and how it can affect accent. To understand this complex intersection of identity, I will discuss research I undertook with players from a local women’s football team and how they compared to speakers who were not part of the team. This research demonstrates the nuance to identity and encourages us to think about how we create our identity in the moment.
Clare Mellor: Do you speak Swiftie? The language of fans and fandoms
Following on from her article, 'Do you speak Swiftie? The rise of the ‘fanilect’ and the ‘revolutionary’ language of young women’, Clare will consider linguist William Labov’s claim that young women drive language change. Drawing on linguistic research, Clare will explore how artists such as Taylor Swift both reflect and influence linguistic change.
Veronika Koller: Occupational discourse
This course will be recorded but attendees will not be audible or visible.
EMC's Webinar Packages
- See 'Further Details' for how to join this webinar if your department has bought a package (EMC Annual Webinar Package 2025-26 or EMC Termly Webinar Package – Spring 2026).
Online, via Zoom. Details of how to join will be sent before the session.
- If relevant, course materials will be sent the day before the course in the email with your joining instructions. Please either print these out or have them available on screen during the session.
- After the session you will receive the PowerPoint presentation and any resources used on the course.
- After the session you will receive a link to register to watch a recording of this session on-demand until 30th April 2026.
How to join this course if your department has bought the webinar package
- To join the live session, register using the registration link sent to the departmental key contact. You can register to join the live session right up to the start of the webinar. Use the unique link sent by [email protected] to join the webinar on the day.
- To watch the recording on-demand, register using the on-demand registration link sent to the departmental key contact the day after the live session. This email will also include the PowerPoint presentation and any additional resources. On-demand access expires 30th April 2026.
Great to hear about socio-linguistic studies – how research is conducted and analysed – some inspiration here for pupils' NEAs. Emma's talk on prescriptivism has sparked our planning and resourcing of language issues lessons – loved the popular culture sources and examples – we are sending our pupils on a mission to find more. Thank you - we both really enjoyed the session and feel invigorated to get back in the classroom and share with our A level pupils. Rosalind Williams, St John's School, Leatherhead, Accent, Dialect and non-Standard English – An Online Teacher Conference, 2025
Interesting content, fabulous speakers, thank you. Helen Condron, Ontrack Education, Accent, Dialect and non-Standard English – An Online Teacher Conference, 2025
Dan Clayton
Dan Clayton is an education consultant at the EMC and specialises in English Language work at A Level and language education across the secondary curriculum. He has been a teacher of A Level English for over 20 years, senior examiner and moderator for different awarding bodies and is author/editor of many books for A Level English Language, including ones for Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press & Routledge, as well as publications for the EMC and NATE. Dan has worked closely with many universities to help develop links between A level and HE, worked as a research fellow at UCL and runs the EngLangBlog site and @EngLangBlog Bluesky account, as well as being part of the Lexis Podcast team. He has also taught Media and Film Studies and is Associate Editor of emagazine and MediaMagazine.
Clare Mellor
Clare is a former Head of English who now works as a freelance writer. During her teaching career, she enjoyed teaching both Literature and Language at A level. Clare volunteers as a governor at a local primary school where she is the link for English, PE and SEND. She has written numerous articles for emagazine on topics ranging from the importance of play for child language acquisition to the language used to describe climate change.
Salina Cuddy
Salina Cuddy is a Part-Time Teacher at the University of York. She is a sociophonetician with a focus on gender and sexuality and in particular is interested in how women may demonstrate their gender and sexuality in their speech. She is especially interested in participation in sport and how this may interact with gender norms or expectations.
Veronika Koller
Dr Veronika Koller is Professor in Discourse Studies at Lancaster University and is interested in political and business discourse, and language and gender. Recent publications include the co-authored book Voices of Supporters: Populist parties, social media and the 2019 European elections (Benjamins, 2023) and the co-edited book Discourses of Brexit (Routledge, 2019). Veronika is associate editor of the journal Metaphor and Symbol and co-editor of the Cambridge University Press Elements series on critical discourse studies.
EMC's Webinar Packages
- This webinar is included in EMC's Webinar Packages. Click here for details of the EMC Termly Webinar Package – Spring 2026 and to order for your department.
- See 'Further Details' for how to join this webinar if your department has bought a package (EMC Annual Webinar Package 2025-26 or EMC Termly Webinar Package – Spring 2026).
Booking this course as a 'one-off' purchase
- Bookings for this course will close at 8am (London, UK) on Monday 23rd March, or when capacity is reached, whichever is the sooner.
- This course is part of our 2 for 1 offer
- Book a place on this course and you’ll be sent a voucher code entitling you to book a further place on the same course for a colleague at your school. Your code will be emailed to you as soon as we have received your booking.
- Please note: bookings for this course close at 8am on Monday 23rd March. The 2nd free place must be booked before the closing date, so please make sure you give yourself enough time!
- Your voucher can only be redeemed online and is only eligible against this course.
(Any issues please email Lucy.)
- This course must be booked and paid for online. Payment by invoice is not available for this session. Please note: your fee is non-refundable.
- To book this course you must be signed into one of the following accounts (registering an account first if you need to):
- UK Trust/Academy – Head Office (purchasing)
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- UK Teacher – Home Address Only
- UK Private Individual
- Overseas
- If you have a UK Educator Standard account you will not be able to book the course. Sign in to your account and add it to your Wishlist. See the list of people able to book courses at your organisation by clicking ‘My Account’, then ‘Our Admin Users’.
- Click 'Book now’ (right-hand column).
- Add the number of places you need.
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- Click submit and then Go to basket.
- Checkout. (Payment by invoice is not available for this session.)
- IF TAKING ADVANTAGE OF OUR 2 FOR 1 OFFER, PLEASE WAIT TO BE SENT YOUR CODE BEFORE BOOKING YOUR 2ND PLACE.
- Once you have booked your place, you will see a screen indicating your order has been successful. You may want to make a note of your order number. The person making the booking and the attendee will receive an automatic acknowledgement of your booking.
- Instructions on how to join the course (including Zoom login details) will be sent from [email protected] for the first time on the day bookings close. Reminders, including any course handouts, will be sent the day before and one-hour before the course. Please check your junk or promotions folder. Still no luck? Email us before 1pm on the course day [email protected].
Cancellation and amendments
- Afternoon and twilight webinars must be paid for by card at the time of booking.
- The fee is non-refundable.
- However, the webinars are recorded. Anyone who books a place on the course will be sent a link to register to access the recording of the webinar until 30th April 2026, regardless of whether they attended live.