John Swales, professor emeritus of linguistics and former director of the English Language Institute, died peacefully March 18, 2025. Known for his groundbreaking work in genre analysis, he leaves behind a legacy of over six decades of work in applied linguistics that has shaped how scholars and educators approach discourse analysis, genre studies, and the teaching of research writing.
After earning a degree in psychology from Queens’ College, Cambridge, John taught English internationally, along the way completing an M.A. at Cambridge in 1964 and later a postgraduate degree in linguistics and English as a second language from the University of Leeds.
He eventually settled at the University of Michigan in 1985 where he spent the majority of his career. As director of the English Language Institute, he transformed the ELI into an unparalleled English for Academic Purposes program. He was instrumental in creating MICASE (Michigan Corpus of Academic Spoken English) and MICUSP (Michigan Corpus of Upper-Level Student Papers), groundbreaking corpora still widely used by teachers and scholars worldwide.
He also served as professor of applied linguistics until his official retirement in 2007 and remained an active scholar as professor emeritus, submitting his final contribution to the journal “English for Specific Purposes” in February 2025.
John authored or co-authored 20 books and around 130 research articles and book chapters. His seminal works include “Genre Analysis: English in Academic and Research Settings,” “Other Floors, Other Voices: A Textography of a Small University Building,” “Research Genres and Applications,” and the widely acclaimed textbook, “Academic Writing for Graduate Students.”
He received honorary doctoral degrees from Uppsala University (2004) and the University of Silesia (2015). He was a much sought after speaker at conferences around the globe, with well over 300 colloquia, plenaries and talks to his credit. He was also co-editor of “English for Specific Purposes” from 1986-94. Despite his accomplishments, he was a humble scholar, always giving credit to others when it was due.
A masterful teacher and materials developer, John bridged the gap between research and pedagogy. John enjoyed nurturing the next generation of scholars and instructors. Driven by the belief that it was always good to be generous, he gave of his time, talent and intellect.
He nudged those he mentored to maximize their talents, do what they do best and follow their intuitions. He established the Michigan Morley scholar program, which brought together scholars doing outstanding ESP research in places such as Japan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Tunisia, Italy and Spain.
John was passionate about birding and spotting butterflies. These interests led to his co-authorship of “The Birds of Washtenaw County, Michigan” and “The Butterflies of Our Local Park.” When not outdoors, he investigated Honduran postmarks, where he found yet another discourse community, and published his insights in the “West Indies Philatelic Study Group Journal.” Wherever he had an interest, a publication emerged.
John is survived by his loving partner Vi Benner; his children Claire, Kirby and Harvey; his grandchildren Maxime, Lucas, Arabella and Margot; and his sister, Ann Flack.
He will be remembered not only for his scholarly accomplishments, but also for his wit, humor and storytelling. He was a deeply kind human being who welcomed students, friends, newcomers, colleagues and visitors into his home.
He will be deeply missed by those who knew him. Despite the enormity of our loss, John’s legacy will live on through the countless individuals whose lives he touched. As he always said, “there’s still lots to do, and no shortage of good projects.”
A full obituary can be found on the English Language Institute’s website.
— Submitted by Christine Feak
