Guy Cook

Who is Guy Cook?

Guy W. D. Cook is an applied linguist. He is currently Professor of Language in Education at King's College London in the UK and is also Chair of The British Association for Applied Linguistics for the period 2009-2012. He teaches and writes about English language teaching, literary stylistics, discourse analysis, advertising, and the language of food politics.

He is known for three strands of research:

on language teaching, where he has argued for a return to the use of translation and bilingual methods, and for a move away from what he considers to be dull functional approaches

on language play and creativity, not only in literature and genres such as advertising, but as a phenomenon which permeates language use, bringing with it educational, social, and cognitive benefits

on the language of food politics, in particular genetically modified and organic food, where he has shown how the campaign for GM crops and food is in his belief unscientific, driven by partisan interests, and characterised by bullying tactics, irrational arguments, and emotive language.