Postgraduate Prospectus

The University has recently established a research and development wing in the Centre and a wide variety of research and development activities are currently undertaken. These range from the needs analysis of the English language preparation and support of international students in a multi-site University, to the use of emerging technologies in English for Academic Purposes, to current issues in standardisation, quality assurance and assessment. The Centre also has particular research interests and expertise in spoken English (theories of interaction, including cross cultural issues, and applications in teaching).

In 2003 the Centre launched the large ‘foundation’ programme for the University’s campus in Ningbo, China and this provides an increasing focus for research interest, internationally. Work is currently being undertaken with the Universities of Tsinghua, Massey, National University of Singapore and others on the future directions of academic literacy for an international academic community.

Two Research Fellows (Dr Beatrice Szczepek-Reed and Dr Xin Gao), a lecturer in EAP (Dr Juliet Thondhlana) assist the experienced teaching team in these and other areas. There are strong collaborative links with the School of English Studies and the Centre for Research in Applied Linguistics. Relevant research-active staff in the Centre return through the School of English Studies for Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) purposes. The Centre and the School are jointly responsible for the new BA programmes in English language currently being developed for the China campus and this will provide additional research opportunities staff in future.