Dr Siân Etherington
Lecturer in EFL
Email: s.etherington@salford.ac.ukTelephone: +44 (0) 161 295-5648
Room: Maxwell 917
Current responsibilities
Programme leader for the MA TEFL, Applied Linguistics and Applied Linguistics pathways.
Co-ordinator of EFL short courses, including Transnational University of Limburg (tUL), English for Academics, BESP (Business English Study Programme) and ELSIT (English Language Skills with Interpreting and Translation).
I teach several modules on the MATEFL programme (SLA, Teaching Grammar and Vocabulary, Research Methods in Linguistics and Language Teaching, Professional Development).
Research
Researcher in Higher Education Research Centre.
I am the co-ordinator of the EFL/Language Pedagogy research group in the School of Languages.
I completed my doctorate at the University of Manchester (Language and Literacy Studies in Education) on student perceptions of English for Academic Purposes, with particular emphasis on views of grammar and grammar teaching. The thesis utilises questionnaire, Q methodology, and case study approaches. My other research interests are SLA, the teaching and learning of grammar, English for Academic Purposes, teaching and testing academic writing.
My current research focuses on language learning and teaching within HE contexts and the place of international students within HE. A central theme is student transition into the HE context, particularly in terms of their perceptions and understandings of language related matters. My thesis centred on the transitions of international students into HE in terms of their beliefs about language learning and use, in particular the role of grammar in this. Other research has dealt with similar themes: the changes in students' understanding of academic writing as they move from pre-sessional courses to subject programmes (University of Salford TLQIS funded research) and the development of students' awareness of academic cultures as they progress through the university.
Publications
| Siân Etherington, (2006),Teaching and testing academic writing: exploring staff and student experiences, British Association of Lecturers in EAP (BALEAP) Conference Proceedings (forthcoming) |
| Siân Etherington, (2006),Teaching and Testing Academic Writing: Exploring Staff and Learner Experiences , -Education in a Changing Environment: 3rd Learning and Teaching Research Conference |
| Siân Etherington, (2006),Becoming a different kind of learner: a case study of a Japanese EAP learner , East Asian Learner |
| Siân Etherington, (2005),Transitions into Higher Education: Chinese EFL learners to international students , British Association for Applied Linguistics Annual Conference, University of Bristol |
| Siân Etherington, (2005),Student Perceptions of Grammar and its role within the UK university English for Academic Purposes context , University of Manchester |
| Siân Etherington, (2004),Innovation in the assessment of English for Academic Purposes , Second Education in A Changing Environment Conference University of Salford |
| Siân Etherington, (2003),Transitions into University Life: Case study of an International Student, Education in a Changing Environment Conference University of Salford |
| Siân Etherington, (2002),Sections on Cultural Britain The English Odyssey (Japanese English Language Textbook), - |
| Burgess, J ,Siân Etherington, (2002),'Focus on Grammatical Form: Explicit or Implicit?', System |
| Siân Etherington, (1999),Second Language Interviewing Graduate Education Forum (University of Manchester), - |
Etherington S 1999 Teaching Grammar Communicatively BA TESOL University of Manchester Distance Module
Conference papers
January 2006 Etherington S ‘Testing and Teaching Academic Writing’ paper presented at Third ‘Education in a Changing Environment’ Conference, University of Salford
September 2005 Altshul L and Etherington S ‘Developing Independent Language Learning; cultivating engagement’ paper presented at the Association for Learning Technologies Conference (ALT-C), University of Manchester
September 2005 ‘Transitions into Higher Education: Chinese EFL learners to international students’ poster presentation at British Association for Applied Linguistics Annual Conference, University of Bristol
April 2005 ‘Testing and Teaching Academic Writing’ paper presented at the British Association of Lecturers in English for Academic Purposes (BALEAP) conference, Heriot Watt University, Edinburgh
September 2004 ‘International Student Perspectives on Grammar: Moving into the HE context’, paper presented at the Second Education in a Changing Environment, University of Salford
September 2004 Innovation in the Assessment of English for Academic Purposes, poster presentation, Second Education in a Changing Environment conference, University of Salford
September 2003 ‘Transitions into University Life: Case Study of an international student’ Conference Poster, Education in a Changing Environment conference, University of Salford
November 2001: ‘The search for a research methodology’ Postgraduate Educational Research Methodology conference, University of Keele.
March 2000 ‘Approaches to the Teaching of Grammar’ Invited Presentation for the Northern Association of Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (NATESOL).
August 1999 ‘Teacher and Student attitudes to the teaching of grammar’ Paper at the Association Internationale de Linguistique Appliquée (AILA) World Congress, Tokyo:
March 1999 ‘Teacher and Student attitudes to the teaching of grammar’ Paper at International Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language (IATEFL), Heriot Watt University, Edinburgh