Dr Natalie Sharpling

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My Bio​

I am a language specialist with over 30 years of teaching, admin and research experience in Further and Higher Education in the UK and France. My main current areas of professional interest are: language teaching methodology; French language and culture; language testing, assessment and evaluation; course management; on-line delivery of language teaching (including use of synchronous voice conferencing software); provision of asynchronous language support; genre analysis; English for Academic Purposes; English for Specific Purposes. I worked for 22 years within the Applied Linguistics department at Warwick (originally known as the Centre for English Language Teacher Education) before transferring to Warwick Foundation Studies in January 2021. Here I am responsible for the development of specialised ESP programmes. I also oversee the university's generic EAP programme, and contribute to various committees within the department and across the university. In my teaching and research, my approach is humanistic and anti-essentialist, with a preference for qualitative methods of enquiry. I have examined many PhD theses over the years in areas relating to my own specialism, both in external and internal roles, and in the past, have also served as an external examiner for a wide variety of language programmes across the UK. Outside the classroom, I am a skilled language editor, having been involved in proofreading many academic books and peer-reviewed articles over the years, in subjects as diverse as law, economics, business, medicine, engineering and IT. I am also experienced in translation (mainly French to English) and have previously translated numerous scientific, medical and historical texts for commercial audiences, as well as poetry and miscellaneous documents such as restaurant menus, CVs and death certificates. I have held a number of voluntary positions during my career, ranging from being a governor of a primary school in the South Birmingham area, to assisting in the delivery of literacy and numeracy skills in the adult education sector. A further, more recent specialism is Health and Social Care. I hold a first class honours degree in HSC from the Open University. I have several mental health diagnoses and have particular interests in users' experience of (NHS) mental health services. I am transgender and an active supporter of trans rights within the UK and beyond.

Qualifications

• BA (Nott), BSc (Open) MA, PhD (Birm), RSA Dip. TEFL. Dip. HSC (Open)

Roles within Department

• Course Director for generic and specialist In-sessional English courses

Modules Taught

• Generic cross-university EAP courses
• Specific EAP and ESP courses across departments
• Academic writing for sciences (transferable skills certificate)
• Assessment in TESOL (within the Department of Applied Linguistics)

Memberships/Fellowships

• BALEAP

Research Interests

• After a twenty-five year career devoted to research in language teaching and language teacher education, I am returning to my early research interests in post-war theatre and psychoanalysis, especially with reference to Artaud, Claudel, Sartre and Beckett. I continue to develop innovative ways of supporting higher level academic writing at PhD level and beyond.

Publications

• You can access my main publications via Google ScholarLink opens in a new window