Barbara Skinner

Biography

Dr Barbara Skinner is a Senior Lecturer in TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) in the School of Education at Ulster University. She was the first lecturer in Ulster’s Centre for English Language Teaching (CELT) and moved to the School of Education to take up the role of Course Director of MA TESOL in 2006. She is originally from Cornwall, has taught ESOL and EAP as well as being an UCLES examiner and IELTS examiner; she graduated from the University of Bristol with a Doctorate of Education in 2014. Dr Skinner’s research findings have been published in key international journals including the English Language Teaching Journal, Journal of Studies in International Education and Journal of Education for Teaching. She has secured £11,516 from external funders such as the British Council and UKISA (UK Council for International Student Affairs) and £56,460 from clients in Spain and Korea for knowledge transfer consultancy work. Her work explores issues concerning language teacher education, higher education pedagogy and intercultural competence. Projects have included the EAL training needs of initial teacher trainees in Northern Ireland, cross cultural partnerships for international and home students; cultural diversity in primary schools through international playground games; embedding the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) for language proficiency in online language teaching materials and the assessment of non-native speaking student teachers’ practicum. She has also developed an ‘English Language Teacher Training’ DVD and booklet of accompanying tasks for Gyeonggi-do Institute for Foreign Language Educationin Korea.

Research Interest

focus on teacher talk, and second language classroom interaction, especially themes relating to conversation analysis, threshold concepts, teacher identity, teacher education.