After a first degree in Modern Languages and then a PGCE, I spent a few years teaching French and German in secondary schools in the UK before moving into teaching English as a Foreign Language (EFL) in Asia, the Middle East and Africa.
For a number of years, after an MA Ed in Applied Linguistics at Southampton, I taught EFL and carried out many development and research projects in the area of language teaching and learning within the Language Centre at Southampton, later the Centre for Language Study.
My teaching and research interests are now in the area of innovation in language teaching and in learner and teacher autonomy. Autonomy in this sense implies setting personal learning and professional goals and taking responsibility for one's own actions towards these goals. These interests feed into my teaching at Masters Level and the supervision of PhD students who are working in these areas.
I am also involved in language strategy and in promoting the uptake of language learning both within the University of Southampton and within the UK more widely. I am the vice-Chair of the University Council of Modern Languages which is a UK-wide umbrella association working with other professional associations and national bodies to represent Languages in the UK higher education sector. As Vice-Chair of UCML, I represent language learning and teaching and chair the national Routes into Languages Committee. Routes into Languages is a network of universities working together across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland to promote language learning and closer cooperation between schools and universities. It seeks to address the falling numbers of foreign language learners in UK schools and universities.
