Office: NW914A

Email: [email protected]

Website: robbielove.org

Bluesky: @robbielove.org

I am a Senior Lecturer in English Language and Linguistics in the Department of Communication and Culture, where I am Programme Director for our BA (Hons) Digital Media and Communication degree. In addition, I am the Associate Dean Education and Student Experience for the School of Law and Social Sciences.

I am a researcher and educator in English language and linguistics, working in the areas of corpus linguistics, applied linguistics and discourse analysis. I specialise in variation and change in contemporary spoken British English.

Before joining Aston, I held research positions at Cambridge University Press & Assessment and the University of Leeds. I completed my BA (Hons), MA and PhD degrees at Lancaster University where, as a member of the ESRC Centre for Corpus Approaches to Social Science, I was lead researcher on the design and construction of the Spoken British National Corpus 2014.

My research draws upon methods from corpus linguistics, applied linguistics and (critical) discourse analysis.

Variation and change in contemporary spoken British English

• short-term diachronic language variation
• corpus-based sociolinguistics
• swearing in casual conversation
• variation in lexis and grammar

Applied (corpus) linguistics

• commercial language research
• forensic linguistics
• language in education
• language teaching materials development
• news discourse
• strategic communications

Methods in corpus linguistics

• spoken corpus design and construction
• methods for the analysis of spoken corpora
• manual and automated transcription
• critical corpus evaluation

As of 2025-26, I convene the following modules:

• LE3134 Applied English Linguistics
• LEM138 Corpus Linguistics

Previous:

• LE1104 Practical Applications of Language Description
• LE2101 Crime Fiction
• LE2118 Advanced Topics in Sociolinguistics
• LE2120 Language in the News Media
• LE2126 Introduction to Corpus Linguistics
• LE3115 Multimodal Analysis
• LE3120 English Dissertation
• LE3123 Digital Approaches to Analysing Texts
• LE3133 Corpus Linguistics
• LEM100 Analysing Discourse
• LEM133 Multimodal Analysis
• LEM136 Variation and Change in English

• 2026-: Associate Dean Education and Student Experience, School of Law and Social Sciences
• 2025-: Programme Director, BA (Hons) Digital Media and Communication
• 2024-25: Programme Development Lead, Department of Communication and Culture
• 2021-25: Co-Director (prev. Director), Aston Corpus Linguistics Research Group
• 2022-24: Director of Undergraduate English Language, English Literature and TESOL Programmes
• 2020-24: Academic Offences Officer, College of Business and Social Sciences

Completed

• Lily Calloway (2026; Aston University; associate supervisor)
• Polina Gavin (2024; Aston University; associate supervisor)
• Caroline Godfrey (2025; Aston University; associate supervisor)
• Ikram Messaoudi (2025; University of Limerick; external co-supervisor)
• Darren Perrett (2025; University of Leeds; external co-supervisor)

2026-present: Advisory Board, Studies in Corpus Linguistics (John Benjamins)

2022-present: Board of Referees, Research in Corpus Linguistics

2021-2023: Associate Editor, Humanities & Social Sciences Communications.

• 2023-2024: Principal Investigator, College of Business and Social Sciences Learning and Teaching Project Fund, ‘English assessment and generative AI: opportunities, risks and perceptions’ (£2,150), Aston University.
• 2023: Co-Investigator, Crown Prosecution Service, ‘Corpus Linguistic Analysis of Ethnic Disproportionality in Prosecution Case Files’ (£55,192), Aston University.
• 2022: Principal Investigator, Aston Research & Knowledge Exchange Pump Priming Fund. 'Engaging the public: local government organisations' communications during the Covid-19 pandemic' (£10,453.80), Aston University.
• 2021-2022: Principal Investigator, Aston Institute for Forensic Linguistics (AIFL) Seed-corn and network funds programme. 'Evaluating human and automated transcripts of speech recordings: implications for forensic linguistics' (£6,000), Aston University.
• 2021: Lead organiser. BAAL/Cambridge University Press seminar. 'Corpora in Applied Linguistics: Broadening the Agenda' (£1,500), Aston University.
• 2019: Principal Investigator, National Trust commissioned research contract, 'The changing nature of language' (£3,500).
• 2018: Visiting Research Fellow, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS), Post-doctoral Fellowship (Short-Term). 'Updating AntConc for spoken and educational language data' (£8,363).

Since joining Aston, I have been nominated for and won several staff and student-led teaching awards:

2024

• Winner of Aston University College of Business and Social Sciences Highly Commended Staff Award for Excellence in Public Engagement
• Nominated for Aston Students' Union Academic Award for Feedback and Development

2023

• Winner of Aston University College of Business and Social Sciences Staff Award for Excellence in Public Engagement

2022

• Winner of Aston Students’ Union Academic Award for Research or Dissertation Supervisor
• Shortlisted for Aston Students’ Union Academic Award for Teaching – Engagement

2021:

• Shortlisted for Aston University Achievement Award for Best Newcomer
• Winner of Aston University College of Business and Social Sciences Staff Award for Best Newcomer
• Shortlisted for Aston Students’ Union Academic Award for Teaching – Engagement
• Shortlisted for Aston Students’ Union Academic Award for Online Learning

I sit on the Executive Committee of the British Association for Applied Linguistics (BAAL) as Editor of BAAL News, and I am the Convenor of the BAAL Corpus Linguistics Special Interest Group.