Alan James Runcieman

Alan Runcieman holds a PhD in Educational Linguistics in the field of Interpreting from King´s College London (The University of London).

His principal research interests lie in interpreter training with regard to new post-modern challenges, in particular the rise of ‘translanguaging’ practices in urban settings with the emergence of increasingly superdiverse and multilingual populations. In this respect, he was one of the first academics in the field to propose that a ‘translanguaging space’ be introduced into Interpreter Studies curricula to prepare students for potentially far more complex interactions than a one-to-one linguistic and cultural exchange (Runcieman, 2021, 2023).

He has also carried out extensive research into the construction of professional identities in higher education, through the lens of narrative and ethnographic inquiry. Specifically, how continuing mono-lingual/cultural approaches to teaching interpreting in higher education can impact the developing professional identities of interpreter students and potentially leave them ill-prepared for a multilingual and multicultural world (Runcieman, 2018, 2022a).

More recently, he has begun to research translanguaging practices in legal interpreting contexts where increasing examples of hybrid and melded linguistic forms of language are emerging in courtrooms, and the problems this poses for standard interpreting approaches (Runcieman, 2022b) .