Our Critical Friends

Prof. Dr. David Gerlach is a full professor for English language education at the University of Wuppertal (Germany). In his research, he focusses on the professional development of language teachers, teacher identity and teacher knowledge (especially for inclusive and critical language education).

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Richard Smith is Professor of ELT and Applied Linguistics at the University of Warwick, where he teaches BA, MA and PhD students. He is known for his research and leadership in the field of history of language learning and teaching as well as for his practical work engaging teachers of English in Latin America, Africa and South Asia in Exploratory Action Research, a form of practitioner research developed specifically for teachers in the ‘difficult circumstances’ of low-resource classrooms in the Global South. He is the chief instigator of MenTRnet, an international network of mentors of teacher-research, of the International Festival of Teacher-Research, and of the Teachers Research! series of (now online) conferences.   

James Corcoran is an Associate Professor of English as a Second Language & Applied Linguistics in the Department of Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics at York University. His research interests include language teacher education, (critical) English for specific/academic purposes, and relations of power in global academic knowledge production. James' current research projects include investigations into i) Plurilingual scholars' research writing; and ii) English for Academic Purposes (EAP) Programs and Practitioners in Canada.

Martina Emke coordinates the academic staff development programme for Netzwerk hdw nrw, an association of twenty universities of applied sciences in Northrhine-Westphalia, Germany. She holds a doctorate in education from the Open University (UK). For the European Centre for Modern Languages (ECML) Martina has worked as teacher educator, project co-coordinator and materials developer in several projects. She is also the co-editor of the Castledown book series Developing Online Language Pedagogies. Martina’s research interests include language teacher professional development, posthuman education, networked learning and the use of social media in language teaching and learning.