research Projects

PIVOTAL THINKING

Technology integration is increasingly an important element of education strategies worldwide. These policies are, however, often unsupported by research evidence, in particular evidence for the effectiveness of specific technologies. This is unsurprising given the pace of technological innovation. It is simply not feasible to evaluate every new technology and every possible application thereof. Teachers’ practical pedagogical knowledge, the practices and beliefs teachers develop through their experiences in their own teaching contexts, is an important alternative source of evidence of what works that takes into account the complexity of different educational settings. This project will therefore explore teachers’ practical pedagogical knowledge for technology integration in different educational contexts through national surveys and follow-up interviews with a view to understanding:

current levels of technology use,
gaps in teachers knowledge bases,
how teachers make decisions about technology use, and
how teachers develop their practical pedagogical knowledge about technology.

The first in this series of studies will focus on secondary school teachers of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) in Kuwait.

Collaborators: Dr Maha Alghasab, College of Basic Education in Kuwait.

PIVOTAL TRAINING

This project will evaluate a pedagogically-driven model of technology professional development. Participants in the research will be pre-service teachers of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) in Kuwait.

Collaborators: Dr Maha Alghasab, College of Basic Education in Kuwait.

Second language oral fluency and its Development

Within the area of oral fluency, We are currently completing two projects. The first, funded by the British Academy through a Skills Acquisition Award, focuses on answering the question “What is fluency?” and explores the relationship between Chinese masters students’ linguistic knowledge and processing and their oral fluency, where fluency refers to the fluidity of oral production. The second, funded by the British Council through an English Language Teaching Research Award, investigates the impact of study abroad on Chinese master’s students’ oral fluency development and compares a cohort of students studying in the UK with a similar cohort studying in China. These projects have the potential to inform approaches to measuring and assessing oral fluency as well as the focus of in-sessional support for Chinese international students.

Collaborators: Dr Haiping Wang, East China University of Political Science and Law, Shanghai, China

iSPEAK

The iSpeak re-examines the value of social networks for successful international study in the new digital “always connected” globalised UK higher educational context and asks:

How do students build (digital) social networks in first and second languages?
What are students’ academic and linguistic attainment?
Are there associations between students' (digital) social networking patterns, academic and linguistic attainment?

Collaborators: Dr Clare Wright, The University of Leeds, UK.

iTESOL: Artificial Intelligence (AI) for Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL)

This project explores University English language teachers’ knowledge, beliefs and practices in relation to the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies, focusing on but not limited to generative AI, to support language learning and teaching. Drawing on a large-scale survey and follow-up interviews, it asks:

What do EAP tutors know about (generative) AI?
What are EAP tutors' reported perceptions of (generative) AI?
How, if at all, do EAP tutors report using (generative) AI to support language learning and teaching? Why?
What do EAP tutors report influence their use of (generative) AI?

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