I’m a Professor at the University of Niigata Prefecture in Japan where I teach EAP. I have worked in English language teaching for about 26 years, mostly in Japan, but also in the UK, Germany and Thailand. Before becoming a teacher, I was working in various companies in the UK and Germany. I originally studied business administration in Middlesex Polytechnic and a Fachhochschule (University of Applied Science) in Germany and so have retained a keen interest in ESP/Business English-related issues. Upon opting for a career in teaching, I gradually took various qualifications (RSA Diploma TEFLA, MA Applied Linguistics, and a Doctorate of Education (Ed.D.) in Applied Linguistics & TESOL).
My research and academic interests have evolved over the years and have embraced areas such as ESP/Business English, Discourse Analysis (especially of research interviews), sociolinguistics, interdisciplinarity, Self Access, CLIL and EAP. Additionally, I’ve been involved in building up Asian EFL Journal where I am now Chief Editor, and its sister journals The Linguistics Journal and Asian ESP Journal both at which I used be Chief Editor. Apart from senior editing, I also take care of editorial/reviewing issues at Asian EFL Journal through a new reviewer development and mentoring programme. I do a lot of reviewing for various journals so journal-related work has become one of my main academic activities both on a practical level and for research with Roger Nunn and Theron Muller.
Finally, I work as an online tutor for the University of Birmingham for their MA programmes and have supervised Master dissertations for Birmingham. I’m an external assessor for postgraduate degrees at the University of the Western Cape, SA, and other universities for their Ph.D. programmes.
For more information about recent publications and presentations: