Janet Ho

Janet Ho’s research foci are metaphors and discursive representation of social actors. She is interested in uncovering impositions of power, exploitation, and stigmatisation in media and social media discourses. Her recent publications have appeared in reputed journals including Metaphor and Symbol, Discourse Studies, and Discourse, Context, and Media.

Janet Ho has more than 10 years of teaching experience at local universities, in addition to her volunteer teaching in Beijing, Inner Mongolia, and Krakow. She was a visiting research fellow at the Centre for Advanced Research in English, University of Birmingham, in 2010. She also completed her Cambridge TEFL Certificate in 2013.

• PG Cert in International Affairs (King's College London)
• Cambridge Cert. TEFL
• BA, PhD (PolyU)

• Associate Professor, Department of English, Lingnan University (2022 – present)
• Assistant Professor, Department of English, Lingnan University (2018 – 2022)
• Senior Lecturer, Department of English, Lingnan University (2016 – 2018)
• Lecturer, Department of English, Lingnan University (2014 – 2016)
• Visiting Lecturer, Department of English, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (2011-2014)
• Tutor, School of Arts and Social Science, The Open University of Hong Kong (2011-2014)

• Metaphor studies
• Discourse analysis
• Corpus linguistics

Journal articles and book chapters

• Gu, J.P., and Ho, J. (2026). Divorce stigma on Weibo: A corpus-assisted social media critical discourse analysis of platform-mediated contestation. Discourse, Context & Media. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dcm.2026.101032

• Gu, J.P., & Ho, J. (2026). Asymmetric discursive struggle: The discursive representation and contestation of Africanness and Blackness in Chinese cyberspace. Journal of Language Aggression and Conflict. https://doi.org/10.1075/jlac.00143.gu 

• Ho, J., & Chiu, M. M. (2025). Exploring the media representation of migrant domestic workers in Hong Kong: a mixed-methods analysis. Review of Communication. https://doi.org/10.1080/15358593.2025.2485065

• Gu, J.P., & Ho, J. (2024). Linguistic hostility, social exclusion, and the agency of African migrants in Hong Kong. Language in Society. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1017/S004740452400037X

• Ho, J., & Gu, J.P. (2023). Small stories of a key moment: Exploring discursive construction in digital quarantine stories. Discourse Studies. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/14614456231184597 

• Gu, J.P., and Ho, J. (2023). Anti-Black sentiments in Chinese Weibo discourse: a critical discourse historical analysis. Social Semiotics. https://doi.org/10.1080/10350330.2023.2210506

• Ho, J., & Sewell, A. (2023). Exploring mediated representations of migrant domestic workers in the Chinese-language media in Hong Kong. Ethnicities.  DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1468796823116472

• Ho, J. (2022). #FleeingWuhan: Legitimation and Delegitimation Strategies in Hostile Online Discourse. Applied Linguistics. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/amac061

• Ho, J. (2022). Evading the Lockdown: Animal Metaphors and Dehumanization in Virtual Space. Metaphor and Symbol, 37(1), 21-38.

• Ho, J., & Chiang, E. (2022). 'Those lunatic zombies’: The discursive framing of Wuhan lockdown escapees in digital space. In A. Musolff, R. Breeze, S. Vilar-Lluch, & K. Kondo (Eds.), Pandemic and Crisis Discourse: Communicating COVID-19 and Public Health Strategy (pp.484-508). London: Bloomsbury.

• Ho, J., & Chiu, M. M. (2022). Media portrayals of the Hong Kong Occupy Central Movement's social actors: Multilevel and critical discourse analysis. Journal of Language and Politics, 21(1), 81-116.

• Ho, J. (2021). Metaphors, powerlessness and online aggression: How Wuhan lockdown escapees were dehumanised during the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of Language Aggression and Conflict. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1075/jlac.00073.ho

• Ho, J. (2021). “Hope it’s not just the honeymoon phase”: Online discursive portrayals of migrant domestic helpers. Text & Talk. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/text-2020-0100

• Ho, J. (2021). Purposeful life or sugar-coated lies: how Elizabeth Homes legitimised her fraud. Language & Communication 77, 106-120. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.langcom.2021.01.001

• Ho, J. (2021). "I found what I felt like I was born to do": Exploring corporate legitimacy through video interviews with Elizabeth Holmes. Discourse, Context & Media 39. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dcm.2020.100461

• Ho, J. (2020). “She Starts Breakdancing, I Swear!”: Metaphor, Framing, and Digital Pregnancy Discussions. Metaphor and Symbol, 35(3), 171-187. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/10926488.2020.1767335

• Ho, J. (2020). Gamifying the flipped classroom: how to motivate Chinese ESL learners. Innovation in Language Learning and Teaching, 14(5), 421-435. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/17501229.2019.1614185

• Ho, J. (2020). Discursive representations of domestic helpers in cyberspace. Discourse Studies 22(1), 48-63.

• Ho, J. (2019). Heroes or criminals: discursive representation of cancer patients in health awareness advertisements. Visual Communication. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1470357219887521

• Ho, J. (2019). An earthquake or a category 4 financial storm? A corpus study of disaster metaphors in the media framing of the 2008 financial crisis. Text & Talk 39(2), 191-212.

• Ho, J. (2019). “Sensible protesters began leaving the protests”: A comparative study of opposing voices in the Hong Kong political movement. Language & Communication 64, 12-24.

• Ho, J. (2016). When bank stocks are hobbled by worries: A metaphor study of emotions in the financial news reports. Text & Talk 36(3), 295-317.

• Ho, J., & Cheng, W. (2016). Metaphors in financial analysis reports: How are emotions expressed? English for Specific Purposes 43, 37-48.

• Cheng, W., & Ho, J. (2015). A corpus study of bank financial analyst reports: Semantic fields and metaphors. International Journal of Business Communication, 1-25.

• Cheng, W., & Ho, J. (2014). Brainwashing or nurturing positive values: Competing voices in Hong Kong’s national education debate, Journal of Pragmatics 74, 1-14.