Professor in Education and TESOL, National Teaching Fellow
Professor in Education and TESOL, National Teaching Fellow
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My work entails a join between writing as a poet and storyteller, teaching resources for the development of creative and academic writing, and research publications exploring first and second language writing and pedagogy (see my Waterstones author page). My publications below are categorised to reflect these three stepping stones, which are closely interconnected to my teaching, as well as writing. I have published by 4 of the major educational publishers: Oxford University Press (bio here), Edinburgh University Press, Routledge, Palgrave Macmillan. Also, I have run the MA in TESOL for international teachers of English between 2001 – 2015, developed a 3-year doctoral writing programme and have been research lead for the Applied Linguistics group since 2014. My work has included keynotes in Japan, Malaysia, Croatia, and the US, interviews and webinars, and development events for teachers with Oxford University Press and the British Council.
My work entails a join between writing as a poet and storyteller, teaching resources for the development of creative and academic writing, and research publications exploring first and second language writing and pedagogy (see my Waterstones author page). My publications below are categorised to reflect these three stepping stones, which are closely interconnected to my teaching, as well as writing. I have published by 4 of the major educational publishers: Oxford University Press (bio here), Edinburgh University Press, Routledge, Palgrave Macmillan. Also, I have run the MA in TESOL for international teachers of English between 2001 – 2015, developed a 3-year doctoral writing programme and have been research lead for the Applied Linguistics group since 2014. My work has included keynotes in Japan, Malaysia, Croatia, and the US, interviews and webinars, and development events for teachers with Oxford University Press and the British Council.
Further links to my publications, some of which are pictured to the right, can be found below. If you would like to find out more about each of these publications please click on the individual covers (or pictures) below.
Further links to my publications, some of which are pictured to the right, can be found below. If you would like to find out more about each of these publications please click on the individual covers (or pictures) below.
Teaching resources
Teaching resources
Poetry and narratives
Poetry and narratives
Spiro, J. (2007) Storybuilding Oxford: Oxford university Press
Spiro, J. (2004) Creative Poetry Writing : Oxford University Press
Williams, K., Wooliams, M and Spiro, J. (2020) (2nd edition) Reflective Writing Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan
Spiro, J. (2015) Playing for time Kingsbridge, UK: Oversteps
Spiro, J. (2017) is a gateway Kingsbridge: UK Oversteps
Spiro, J. (2019) Testimony of Flight Richmond, UK: Palewell Press
Research and academic book publications
Research and academic book publications
Published PhD Thesis
Published PhD Thesis
Spiro, J. (2013) Changing Methodologies in TESOL Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press
Spiro, J. and Crisfield, E. (2018) Linguistic and Cultural Innovation in Schools: the languages challenge Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan
The aim of my thesis is to tell the story/stories of how I arrived at a living theory of creativity which I shall call 'knowledge transformation'. I explore this theory through 'story' as a methodology that connects both the creative writer and action researcher.
The aim of my thesis is to tell the story/stories of how I arrived at a living theory of creativity which I shall call 'knowledge transformation'. I explore this theory through 'story' as a methodology that connects both the creative writer and action researcher.
Further Book Reviews
Further Book Reviews
… Jane Spiro's Creative Poetry Writing grows out of the context of this work … While its methodology may lead to a view of poetry as technical and mechanical, that sense of writing should disappear …Spiro has made a significant contribution to an emerging area of language teaching …
… Jane Spiro's Creative Poetry Writing grows out of the context of this work … While its methodology may lead to a view of poetry as technical and mechanical, that sense of writing should disappear …Spiro has made a significant contribution to an emerging area of language teaching …
Jane Spiro's poems are deeper than they appear on a first reading and there's a gradual progression in her first collection towards a darker sense of history which is nevertheless expressed through a reading of individual lives. Her experience as a language teacher also infiltrates these poems and there's a constant sense of movement, between the here and now and the then and there, where echoes of different times and places are foregrounded in the present moment.
Jane Spiro's poems are deeper than they appear on a first reading and there's a gradual progression in her first collection towards a darker sense of history which is nevertheless expressed through a reading of individual lives. Her experience as a language teacher also infiltrates these poems and there's a constant sense of movement, between the here and now and the then and there, where echoes of different times and places are foregrounded in the present moment.
Journal articles and chapters online
Journal articles and chapters online
Click on the hyperlinks below to discover further information
Click on the hyperlinks below to discover further information
J. Spiro - English in Education, 2007 - Wiley Online Library.
J. Spiro - English in Education, 2007 - Wiley Online Library.
This paper considers the ways in which the authentic strategies and struggles of the creative writer in formulating a text, can be translated into classroom activity. It explores four activities which derived from my own practice as a writer, and demonstrates the process of adapting …
This paper considers the ways in which the authentic strategies and struggles of the creative writer in formulating a text, can be translated into classroom activity. It explores four activities which derived from my own practice as a writer, and demonstrates the process of adapting …
J Spiro - In Testing the untestable in language education, 2010 - books.google.com
J Spiro - In Testing the untestable in language education, 2010 - books.google.com
This chapter explores the process of arriving at an assessment of creativity. It describes the transition from critical appreciation to creative production among a group of native and non-native English-speaking students at a post-1992 university.
This chapter explores the process of arriving at an assessment of creativity. It describes the transition from critical appreciation to creative production among a group of native and non-native English-speaking students at a post-1992 university.
J Spiro - In exploring second language creative writing, 2014 - John Benjamins Publishing
J Spiro - In exploring second language creative writing, 2014 - John Benjamins Publishing
In this chapter, Jane Spiro explores a Creative Writing pedagogy in which the experienced writer and the second language learner writer meet in search of a second language writing voice. Drawing on the insights from an international group of undergraduate students at a UK university engaged in a creative writing component in their undergraduate program, Spiro suggests that the success of the project derives partly from its four-part cycle, entailing student choice of text, the articulation of reasons for their choice, applying their reading insights to writing creative texts of their own, and reflection on the process, and partly because students were participating in a writing community.
In this chapter, Jane Spiro explores a Creative Writing pedagogy in which the experienced writer and the second language learner writer meet in search of a second language writing voice. Drawing on the insights from an international group of undergraduate students at a UK university engaged in a creative writing component in their undergraduate program, Spiro suggests that the success of the project derives partly from its four-part cycle, entailing student choice of text, the articulation of reasons for their choice, applying their reading insights to writing creative texts of their own, and reflection on the process, and partly because students were participating in a writing community.
J, Spiro & S, Dymoke - In Creativity in Language Teaching , 2016
J, Spiro & S, Dymoke - In Creativity in Language Teaching , 2016
As writers move between poetry and writing in and for their subject disciplines, it is interesting to ask whether the adaptations they make are mainly ones of language and discourse, or whether they reflect something fundamental about the selves they are as writers.
As writers move between poetry and writing in and for their subject disciplines, it is interesting to ask whether the adaptations they make are mainly ones of language and discourse, or whether they reflect something fundamental about the selves they are as writers.
S, Dymoke, & J Spiro - Writing in Practice, 2017
S, Dymoke, & J Spiro - Writing in Practice, 2017
This paper reports on a pilot project which investigates the writing identity construction, writing practices and experiences of 17 authors from varied subject disciplines in Higher Education, whose publications include poetry and academic writing.
This paper reports on a pilot project which investigates the writing identity construction, writing practices and experiences of 17 authors from varied subject disciplines in Higher Education, whose publications include poetry and academic writing.
J, Spiro - Higher Education Quarterly, 2014
J, Spiro - Higher Education Quarterly, 2014
This study explores the view that student engagement with one another is critical in the internationalisation mission. Although universities make powerful claims regarding their international mission and goals, international and home students report isolation from one another.
This study explores the view that student engagement with one another is critical in the internationalisation mission. Although universities make powerful claims regarding their international mission and goals, international and home students report isolation from one another.
J, Spiro - Educational Journal of Living Theories, 2009
J, Spiro - Educational Journal of Living Theories, 2009
This paper explores the journey through a career which combines that of teacher/educator, team leader and writer, and attempts to find connections and coherence between them. In taking this journey, I am asking the question: which values and beliefs connect the different roles I have played as an educator, a poet and novelist, and a team leader? Why has creativity as a driving force been important to me throughout these roles and since childhood, and what exactly do I mean by this term? Why do I continue to use the term creative when it is so fraught with debate and ambiguity?
This paper explores the journey through a career which combines that of teacher/educator, team leader and writer, and attempts to find connections and coherence between them. In taking this journey, I am asking the question: which values and beliefs connect the different roles I have played as an educator, a poet and novelist, and a team leader? Why has creativity as a driving force been important to me throughout these roles and since childhood, and what exactly do I mean by this term? Why do I continue to use the term creative when it is so fraught with debate and ambiguity?
J, Spiro - Creativity in Language and Literature—The State of the …, 2011
J, Spiro - Creativity in Language and Literature—The State of the …, 2011
Contemporary readers will acknowledge the volatile nature of reader taste. We are ready to agree that notions of literary quality 'mutate along with the cultural evolution of a society'(McDonald 2007: 23). Yet we are also able to identify easily the guardians of our …
Contemporary readers will acknowledge the volatile nature of reader taste. We are ready to agree that notions of literary quality 'mutate along with the cultural evolution of a society'(McDonald 2007: 23). Yet we are also able to identify easily the guardians of our …
When I was a doctoral student, I recognized a transformation in both perception and experience, from doctoral journey as compliance and imposition to doctoral journey as empowerment. It enabled me to clarify my values and understand how these are lived in practice, as an educator researcher-writer. ‘Creating space’ emerged as a founding principle that connected these different roles and provided congruence between them. In becoming a doctorate supervisor myself, my concern was how to offer ‘creative space’ for others to clarify their own values in a cycle of self-discovery and empowerment.
When I was a doctoral student, I recognized a transformation in both perception and experience, from doctoral journey as compliance and imposition to doctoral journey as empowerment. It enabled me to clarify my values and understand how these are lived in practice, as an educator researcher-writer. ‘Creating space’ emerged as a founding principle that connected these different roles and provided congruence between them. In becoming a doctorate supervisor myself, my concern was how to offer ‘creative space’ for others to clarify their own values in a cycle of self-discovery and empowerment.
J, Spiro - RESEARCH LITERATE, 2018
J, Spiro - RESEARCH LITERATE, 2018
This article suggests teachers move through stages of alienation, social acculturation, and ownership as they become research writers. This view is verified by 50 teachers who perceived research writing as less authentic than professional writing. This article describes a writing programme scaffolding the writing leap from alienation to ownership.
This article suggests teachers move through stages of alienation, social acculturation, and ownership as they become research writers. This view is verified by 50 teachers who perceived research writing as less authentic than professional writing. This article describes a writing programme scaffolding the writing leap from alienation to ownership.
J, Spiro - The European Journal of Applied Linguistics and TEFL, 2014 -
J, Spiro - The European Journal of Applied Linguistics and TEFL, 2014 -
This article explores teacher experiences of reading in and outside their lives in education, and asks how this reading influenced their beliefs and practice as teachers. As part of my own doctorate writing process, I started with a personal reading history which surprised me …
This article explores teacher experiences of reading in and outside their lives in education, and asks how this reading influenced their beliefs and practice as teachers. As part of my own doctorate writing process, I started with a personal reading history which surprised me …
J, Nixon, A Buckley, A Cheng, S Dymoke, J Spiro… - 2016
J, Nixon, A Buckley, A Cheng, S Dymoke, J Spiro… - 2016
This chapter developed from a number of conversations that took place at the 4th International Conference on Value and Virtue in Practice-Based Research the twin themes of which were 'openness' and 'criticality'. These chance and often fleeting conversations …
This chapter developed from a number of conversations that took place at the 4th International Conference on Value and Virtue in Practice-Based Research the twin themes of which were 'openness' and 'criticality'. These chance and often fleeting conversations …
Interviews and keynotes
Interviews and keynotes
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