Joe is the Programme Director for the MA in TESOL and the Faculty of Social Science & Public Policy Academic Lead for GTAs. He has been a teacher since 1997, working in Spain, Egypt and the UK, teaching general English, English for Specific Purposes and English for Academic Purposes. Whilst in Spain (1997-2010), he worked principally with the British Council and the Universidad Complutense de Madrid as well as other companies and institutions.

Joe is a teacher trainer and has taught on Trinity College Certificate and Diploma programmes in TESOL and on Cambridge Distance Delta courses. He worked as an online/distance tutor on MA programmes in TESOL and Applied Linguistics at Aston University and the University of Leicester, and on EAP pre-sessional courses at Aston and the University of Birmingham. Between 2011 and 2020, Joe was based at the University of York where he was the Director of Taught Masters Programmes (Teaching and Learning) in the Department of Education.

Joe is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (HEA) and a reviewer on the HEA’s National Teaching Fellowship Scheme Award. He is an external examiner on UG and MA programmes in TESOL, Applied Linguistics and ELT and he is a reviewer for the European Journal of Applied Linguistics and TEFL.

Research

Joe completed his PhD in 2019 (Aston University) with a thesis which focused on the teaching and learning of modality across genres in pre-sessional academic writing. His research combined a detailed discourse analysis with a materials evaluation and a study of teacher cognition. 

As well as all the areas noted above, Joe is also interested in teacher development more generally and in teaching and learning in higher education settings.

His research interests include: 

• Learner (academic) English.
• Teaching and learning of modality.
• ELT teacher development.
• Teacher cognition.
• Reflective practice.
• Materials design and evaluation.
• Teaching and learning in higher education settings.

Teaching

Joe contributes to teaching on the following modules on the BA in English Language and Linguistics, the MA in TESOL and the MA in Applied Linguistics and ELT:

• Teaching language as communicative skills (BA year 2)
• Language teaching methodology (MA)
• Principles and Practices in Second/Foreign Language Teaching (MA)
• Materials development (MA)
• Teacher education (MA).

PhD supervision

Joe is keen to supervise postgraduate research in the topics related to his research interests above.