Stef SLEMBROUCK (Prof.)

Lic (Ghent, 1985), Sp. Lic. Applied Linguistics (Ghent, 1986), Ph.D. Linguistics and Modern English Language (Lancaster, 1992)

On a research sabbatical until the end of Sept 2013

• Office: 130.009, Blandijnberg 2
• Tel: 32-9-264.3794
• Office hours: Thursday 9-12am
• E-mail:

• Language and interactional practices in institutions and professional contexts, esp. the construction of client and worker identities in bureaucratic contexts, in the context of child protection work (mainly social work), and in medical interaction (frontline health care and health visiting).
• The sociolinguistics of globalisation: social and linguistic processes in contexts of heightened multilingualism as a result of immigration and diaspora (implications for the provision of services, for language education and for interaction at the community level of neighbourhood contact and institutional responses).
• Approaches to discourse and discourse analysis incl. the relationship between social theory, ethnography, the study of language use and social interaction.

• Director, "Uses and effects of Community Interpreting in Flanders", an EIF/ESF-funded project (2012-2013)
• Co-director "Validiv", an SBO-project funded by IWT (2012-2016) - weblink
• Co-director, "Thuistaalproject", funded by the City of Ghent (2008-2012) - weblink
• Coordinator for Flanders of IUC-project VLIR/University of the Western Cape, Dynamics of Building a Better Society (phase II, 2008-2013) - brochure
• Team Leader for "Multilingualism", Project no. 5 of IUC-project VLIR/University of the Western Cape (phase II, 2008-2013).
• Project Leader for "Culture, Language and Identity", Project no. 5 of IUC-project VLIR/University of the Western Cape (phase I, 2003-2008)

• coordinator of the AILA Research Network on Language and Migration
• member of the DANASWAC-network (Discourse and Narrative Approaches to Social Work and Counselling)
• member of the Ghent Africa Platform

• S. Slembrouck & C. Hall, 2011, 'Family support and home visiting. Understanding communication, "good practice" and interactional skills', in: Handbook of Communication in Organisations and Professions, eds. C. Candlin & S. Sarangi. Berlin: Mouton, 481-497.
• C. Hall & S. Slembrouck, 2011, 'Categorisations of child 'in need' and child 'in need of protection' and implications for the formulation of deficit parenting', in: Discourses of Deficit, eds. C. Candlin & J. Crichton. London: Palgrave, 63-80.
• S. Slembrouck, 2011, 'The research interview as a test. Alignment to boundary, topic, and interactional leeway in parental accounts of a child protection procedure', in: Language in Society, 40:1, 51-61.
• C. Hall, S. Slembrouck, E. Haigh & A. Lee, 2010, 'The management of professional roles during boundary work in social welfare', in: International Journal of Social Welfare, 19, 348-357.
• G. Jacobs & S. Slembrouck, 2010, 'Notes on ethnography as a liminal activity', in: Text & Talk, 30:2, 235–244.
• S. Slembrouck, 2010, 'Discourse' and 'Discourse Analysis', in The Pragmatics Encyclopedia, ed. L. Cummings. London: Routledge, 116-120 and 120-122.
• J. Collins, S. Slembrouck & M. Baynham, 2009, Globalization and Language in Contact: Scale, Migration, and Communicative Practices, London: Continuum.
• J. Collins & S. Slembrouck, 2009, 'Goffman and globalization: frame, footing and scale in migration-connected multilingualism', in: Globalization and Language in Contact: Scale, Migration, and Communicative Practices. London: Continuum, 19-41.
• C. Hall & S. Slembrouck, 2009, 'Professional categorization, risk management and inter-agency communication in public inquiries into disastrous outcomes', in: British Journal of Social Work, 39, 280-298.
• S. Slembrouck, 2009, 'Goffman's frame analysis: a recent rejoinder', in: From "Will" to "Well". Studies in Linguistics Offered to Anne-Marie Simon-Vandenbergen. Ghent: Academia Press, 381-392.
• C. Hall & S. Slembrouck, 2009, 'Communication with parents in child welfare: skills, language and interaction', in: Child & Family Social Work, 14, 461-470.
• J. Collins & S. Slembrouck, 2007, 'Reading shop windows in globalised neighbourhoods. Multingual literacy practices and indexicality', in: Journal of Literacy Research, 39:3, 335-359.
• S. Slembrouck, 2007, 'Transcription - the extended directions of data histories. A response to M. Bucholtz, "Variation in transcription"', Discourse Studies, 9:6, 335-356.
• J. Collins & S. Slembrouck, 2006, 'You Don't Know What They Translate : Language Contact, Institutional Procedure, and Literacy Practice in Neighborhood Health Clinics in Urban Flanders' (with J. Collins), in: Journal of Linguistic Anthropology, 16:2, 249-268.
• C. Hall, S. Slembrouck & S. Sarangi, 2006, Language Practices in Social Work. Categorisation and Accountability in Child Welfare, London: Routledge.
• S. Slembrouck, 2005, 'Discourse, critique and ethnography: Class-oriented coding in accounts of child protection', in: Language Sciencies , 27:6, 619-650.
• J. Blommaert, J. Collins & S. Slembrouck, 2005, 'Polycentricity and interactional regimes in "global neighborhoods"', in: Ethnography , 6: 205-235.
• J. Collins & S. Slembrouck (guest eds.), 2005, Multilingualism and diasporic populations: Spatializing practices, institutional processes, and social hierarchies, Special issue of Language & Communication , 25:3, 189-334.
• J. Blommaert, J. Collins & S. Slembrouck, 2005, 'Spaces of Multilingualism', in: Language & Communication , 25:3, 197-216.
• S. Slembrouck, 2004, 'Reflexivity and the research interview: habitus and class in parents' accounts of children in public care', in: Critical Discourse Studies , 1:1, 91-112.

• Full list of publications

• Reviews and Forum Editor of Applied Linguistics (2003-2013, Oxford University Press)
• Member Editorial Board of Written Communication. An International Quarterly of Research, Theory, and Application (Sage), Journal of Applied Linguistics and Professional Practice (Equinox) and Multilingual Margins. A Journal of Linguistics from the Periphery (University of the Western Cape)