School of Languages and Area Studies (SLAS)

Profile

Qualifications:

• BA (Hons) German, Linguistics and TEFL
• RSA Dip TEFLA
• MA TEFL (dist.)
• PG Cert in Learning and Teaching (dist.)
• I am currently working on a PhD thesis investigating email requests sent by students to lecturers
• Member of the Higher Education Academy

Recent teaching posts:

• Centre for English Language and British Studies, University of East Anglia, 1988-2002.
• School of Languages and Area Studies, University of Portsmouth, 2002 to present.

Further professional responsibilities:

• Member of the Faculty Research Ethics Committee
• Coordinator of SLAS Visiting Scholar Programmes
• Certified IELTS examiner since 2004.
• External Examiner for foundation courses at the University of Sussex since 2006.
• Member of the BALEAP Executive Committee since 2007

Areas of expertise:

• Teaching a wide range of non-specialised English language courses to students from all over the world, both in monolingual and multilingual groups, and in the UK and overseas. Special interests include phonology, degrees of formality and the use of metaphor.
• Teaching a wide range of English for Academic Purposes (EAP) courses. I have delivered in-sessional and pre-sessional courses to international and European students for over twelve years.
• Teaching several areas of linguistics including Second Language Acquisition Theory, Syntax, Semantics and Pragmatics.
• Coordination/Organisational skills:  I have coordinated in-sessional and pre-sessional courses to international and European students, including the coordination of the UoP pre-sessional course for five years. This course was successfully guided through an external inspection in Summer 2007. I have been involved in the organisation of several conferences.
• A particular interest in students from China. I have been working with Chinese students for the last ten years, have attended and contributed to several conferences dealing with this particular topic, and have recently had an article published on transition from the Chinese to the UK education system.