I'm particularly interested in theoretical models of semiotic mediation, and
how these might account for variation in abstract thought in intra-cultural
settings.
For the last few years I have been working on two projects: semantic variation
in interaction between caregivers and young children during shared
book-reading in relation to family social locations; and young children's use
of systemic functional grammar as a literacy tool in primary school. In the
latter project I've been thinking particularly about Vygotsky's discussion of
the ontogenesis of voluntary attention, and the problem of what linguistic
features different metalanguages draw attention to.
I work closely with other systemic function linguists and critical literacy
people, including particularly Ruqaiya Hasan at Macquarie University.