Dr. NGAI Bo Wan Jonathan 魏寶雲博士

Describing himself as a language lover, Jonathan has a deep fascination with different aspects of language ranging from pidgin English and prose style to learner strategies and lexicography.  

He graduated with distinction from Hong Kong Baptist College (now HKBU), where he majored in English Language and Literature while studying French and German. In addition to an MA in TESOL/TEFL from the University of Birmingham (UK), he holds an MA in Linguistics, an MA in Applied Linguistics (Distinction) and a PhD in Applied Linguistics from the University of Hong Kong.

Formerly an English panel head, Jonathan has more than 15 years of English teaching experience at the secondary level. He joined HKMU in 2017 and teaches both undergraduate and postgraduate courses in linguistics and applied linguistics.

His current research interests centre primarily on academic, journalistic and promotional texts, with a strong focus on evaluation/stance, style and rhetoric.

His book Evaluation across newspaper genres: Hard news stories, editorials and feature articles (Routledge, 2022) is the first book-length study of evaluation or stance in three major newspaper genres: hard news stories, editorials and feature articles. It offers “fascinating insights” (Yuan Ping, 2022) into how evaluation (or evaluative language) plays a vital and yet dynamic role in constructing the three newspaper genres. “[A]n engaging and profound examination of evaluation”, the book “represents an inventive, perceptive, and practical contribution, offering considerable referential significance and inspiration to a wide-ranging readership intrigued by the intricacies of evaluation and its manifestation within newspaper discourse” (Wang & Wang, 2024).

Apart from his academic work, he writes regularly for the Chinese newspaper Hong Kong Economic Journal, sharing his thoughts about language.

Book review on Evaluation Across Newspaper Genres:

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/01968599241264518