Dr Fiona Copland

Profile

Fiona joined the English team at Aston in 2007.   She started teaching English in Nigeria with VSO (Voluntary Service Overseas) and then spent seven years in Hong Kong and Japan working for the British Council. Since returning to UK, she has run CELTA and DELTA courses as well as Masters programmes and teaching certificates in a number of different institutions.   She is interested in language teaching pedagogy and in feedback given to teachers-in-training.

Qualifications

• B.A. (Hons) Drama
• PG Diploma in Drama
• Diploma in Teaching English Overseas (PGCE)
• MA Applied Linguistics (with distinction)
  PhD Education

Teaching

• MSc TESOL programmes: Analysing Spoken Interaction; Teaching Young Learners; Dissertations
• MA TESOL/TESOL and Translation Studies: Approaches to Teaching and Learning; Teaching Practice; Dissertations
• BSc English Studies: TESOL; Learning English; Dissertations

Responsibilities

Course Director for MSc TESOL Programmes

Membership of Professional Bodies

• BAAL (British Association for Applied Linguistics)
• IATEFL (International Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language)
• UK LEF (UK Linguistic Ethnography Forum) - Treasurer

Research Interests

• Feedback in teacher training and education.

• International students’ experiences in UK. 

• Feedback technologies.

• Linguistic ethnography.

• Research interviews.

Publications

Copland F (2008) Deconstructing the Discourse: Understanding the Feedback Event.  In Garton S. and Richards K. Professional Encounters in TESOL. London: Palgrave

Copland F. (2004) MA Courses in TEFL/TESOL: Are we meeting the needs of our Asian Students?  Teacher Development SIG Issue 1/04

Copland F. (2004) Planning for Successful Teaching and Learning.  In Harnisch H. and Swanton P. (eds)  Adults Learning Languages A CILT Guide to Good Practice London: CILT

Copland F. (2004) In the Classroom: the Teaching and Learning Process. In Harnisch H. and Swanton P. (eds)  Adults Learning Languages A CILT Guide to Good Practice London: CILT

Recent Publications

Copland F. and Garton S. (2008) ‘They reply well and I bought my sim card finally’: international students’ self reports of their English language speaking experiences.  Paper presented at SRHE conference, Liverpool.

Copland F. (2008) Legitimate Talk. Paper presented as part of the Colloquium Classrooms as cultural context: The legitimacy of educational exchange. Paper presented at BAAL conference, University of Swansea

Copland F. and Garton. S. (2008) ‘I like this interview; I get cakes and cats’: role and identity in the research interview. Paper presented at Advances in Language, Ethnography and Communication.  Aston University, Birmingham.

Copland F  (2007) Power relationships in initial teacher training post-observation feedback: what a genre analysis can tell us. Paper presented at BAAL conference, University of Edinburgh

Copland F. (2007) Expectations and Realities: how to behave in the post-observation feedback event.  Paper presented at Linguistic Politeness Conference, University of Leeds.

Copland F (2006)From Applied Linguistics to linguistics applied: delivering bad news in the pre-service teacher training event.  A linguistic and paralinguistic analysis.  Paper presented at BAAL Conference, University of Cork.

Copland F. (2006) The feedback event: an invitation to rudeness? Poster presented at Linguistic Politeness Conference, University of Huddersfield.