Dr James Simpson

Research Fellow

Photo of James Simpson

Tel: +44 (0)113 3434687

Email: j.e.b.simpson@education.leeds.ac.uk

Research Fellow in Language Education

Member of Centre for Language Education Research.

Interests

I joined the School of Education at Leeds in January 2004. My background is in TESOL and Applied Linguistics, and I have taught in a variety of contexts in Greece, Saudi Arabia and the UK.

At Leeds I am a Research Fellow, working on language education research projects. I also coordinate the undergraduate module EDUC3030 Language Learning Technology and Materials, and contribute to the postgraduate module EDUC5979 Language teaching and learning with ICTs. I have written several research papers, project reports and articles, and my book ESOL: A critical guide, co-written with Melanie Cooke, was published in August 2008 by Oxford University Press. I have recently been appointed editor of the Routledge Handbook of Applied Linguistics, which will be published in 2011.

Recent invited plenary and keynote presentations:

Research

My main research interest is the teaching and learning of English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL). Visit the ESOL Research home page for more information about ESOL research at Leeds. I am the founder and manager of the email discussion list ESOL-Research, a forum and message board for researchers and practitioners with an interest in research into teaching and learning ESOL. I also convene the ESOL Research Group meetings and the ESOL Research Seminar series at Leeds. My other research area is computer-mediated communication (CMC). My particular concern is how computer-mediated language relates to language learning, literacy and identity. My PhD thesis (University of Reading, 2003, funded by the ESRC) was entitled Discourse and computer-mediated communication: A study of an online community (pdf file).

I currently supervise a number of PhD students working in adult ESOL and in language learning with new technology. 

Current and recent research projects

Identity Online
I am the principal investigator on the Identity Online project, funded by the British Academy. The aim of this project is to establish how adult learners of ESOL construct textual identities in their electronic literacy practices using networked computer media both within and outside their places of learning. That is, how do they identify themselves, and how are they identified by others, in their online literacy practices? How do these practices differ in and out of class?

Placement Practices Project
I was the principal investigator on this project which was instigated by the NRDC. We asked: how do ESOL and bilingual students get placed or place themselves in ESOL and/or literacy classes? On this project I worked with Mike Baynham here in Leeds and Melanie Cooke at King's College London.

ESOL Effective Practice Project
From 2004 to 2006 I worked on this large-scale study, funded by the ESF and the NRDC, which investigated the classroom teaching of ESOL to adults. The final report was published by the NRDC in January 2007.

ESOL Teacher Development Project
This project was an extension of the ESOL Effective Practice Project. Groups of ESOL tutors in London and Leeds carried out research in their own classrooms around the topic of talk. Melanie Cooke at King's College London led the project, while I coordinated the Leeds end.

Professional activities

  • Member of advisory boards of the journal Language Issues and Action Aid's Reflect for ESOL project.
  • Member of the AILA Language and Migration Research Network and the UK Linguistic Ethnography Forum. 
  • Executive committee member of the British Association for Applied Linguistics (BAAL), as Postgraduate Liaison and Development Oficer (2001-2003) and as an ordinary member (2003-2004)
  • Member of BAAL
  • Member of NATECLA 

Selected Publications

PAPERS

Cooke, M. and J. Simpson (2009). "Challenging agendas in ESOL: Skills, employability and social cohesion". Language Issues, 20/1, 19-31.

Simpson, J. and White, G. (2008). "Teaching and learning listening in ESOL classes: 'The rock we build the house on'". Language Issues, 19(2), 4-19.

Roberts, C., Cooke, M., Baynham, M. and Simpson, J. (2007). "Adult ESOL inthe United Kingdom: Policy and research". Prospect, 22 (3), 18-31. Read Abstract.

Simpson, J. (2006). "Differing expectations in the assessment of the speaking skills of ESOL learners". Linguistics and Education, 17, 40-55. Read Abstract.

Simpson, J. (2005). "Conversational floors in synchronous text-based CMC discourse". Discourse Studies, 7 (3), 337-361. Read Abstract.

Simpson, J. (2005). "Learning electronic literacy skills in an online language learning community". Computer Assisted Language Learning, 18(4), 327-345. Read Abstract.

BOOKS

Simpson, J., Cooke, M. and Baynham, M. (2008). "The Right Course: An exploratory study of learner placement practices in ESOL and literacy (Research report)". London: NRDC.

Cooke, M. and Simpson, J. (2008). "ESOL: A critical guide". Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Baynham, M., Roberts, C., Cooke, M., Simpson, J. and Ananiadou, K. (2007). "Effective teaching and learning ESOL (Research report)". London: NRDC.

CHAPTERS

Simpson, J. (2007). "Adult ESOL in England: Policy, Practice and Research" in: N. Faux (Ed.) Low-educated Second Language and Literacy Acquisition: Research, policy and practice. Richmond, VA: Commonwealth University of Virginia.

Simpson, J (2005). "Language learning in a virtual world" in: F. Benhamamouche et al (Ed.) Passerelle: Langues et modernite. Oran, Algeria: Editions Dar El Gharb.

Simpson, J. (2002). "Discourse and synchronous computer-mediated communication: Uniting speaking and writing?" in: P. Thompson & K. Spelman Miller (Ed.) Unity and Diversity in Applied Linguistics. British Studies in Applied Linguistics Volume 17. London: Continuum.

Extended list of publications.

This page last updated by James Simpson on 1st June 2009