Dr Hania Salter-Dvorak

Personal statement

Hania is bilingual (Polish/English) and started her career as a linguist (Italian and French BA; Arabic BA). She has taught in HE for 30 years, most recently at the University of Exeter (2012 -2022), where she worked on the M.Ed in TESOL and supervised doctoral students in Applied Linguistics. Earlier in her career, she taught Arabic and Linguistics at BA level and led English for Academic Purposes provision at two London universities.

Through working with international students, she become increasingly interested in how language, culture, identity and power intersect in the acquisition of academic literacy. This became the subject for the doctorate which she completed at Bristol University in 2011.

In her research, Hania uses linguistic ethnography to explore how learning is mediated and enabled through a second language, particularly in relation to processes surrounding communication in academic settings, and the roles played by feedback, assessment and proofreading in academic writing. Her publications identify ways in which universities can accommodate a highly diverse student body through appropriate course design and community building.

Hania is currently leading the following projects funded by HEQR:

• Developing Argumentation in L2 doctoral students’ academic writing through Pedagogical Innovation and Linguistic Ethnography.

This exploratory interpretive study employs an ethnographic approach to examine the development of argumentation in the writing of L2 doctoral students working in Education.

• How Conceptualisations of culture frame identities of English Language learners in Poland: a constructivist case study.

This research project with BSU GALA partner institution, SWPS University Warsaw, will enable a case study of how culture is integrated into the secondary English Language classroom in Poland, and the implications of this for identity construction of learners who will be communicating through English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) in the future.  

Academic qualifications

• Ed D in Applied Linguistics/TESOL, Graduate School of Education, Bristol University
• MA in English Language Teaching (merit), Thames Valley University
• BA Arabic (1st class Hons), Polytechnic of Central London
• BA Italian with French (2nd class Hons), Bristol University.
  

Professional memberships

• British Association of Applied Linguistics (BAAL)
• International Association for Languages and Intercultural Communication (IALIC)
• European Association for Teaching English for Academic Purposes (EATAW).

Other external roles

• External examiner at Southampton University on MA Applied Linguistics for Language Teaching; MA ELT TESOL; MA ELT TESOL Studies, IPhD first year taught modules in TESOL, Applied Linguistics (current)
• External PhD examiner at University of Sydney (2021) and University of Southampton (2020)
• Reviewer of full-length articles for TESOL Quarterly, Written Communication and Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching journals
• Contributor to ‘People studying people: Research Ethics in Society MOOC’, University of Leicester (2017)
• External examiner on BA Hons International Professional English, Hanoi University of Science and Technology in partnership with University College Plymouth, St Mark and St John (2011-2015)
• Editorial panel member for book entitled ‘Literature teaching in the EFL/ESL Context: New perspectives’ published by Sultan Quaboos University Press, Oman (2011)
• External examiner on the Graduate Diploma in Management/Finance/Law with English at INTO, University of Exeter (2008-12)
• Advisor on curriculum & assessment design for EAP and the PG certificate in teaching and learning at Westminster International University in Tashkent, Uzbekistan (2006-8).
  

Areas of expertise

• Culture and identity in formal and informal language learning
• Development of L2 students’ academic literacy in Anglophone academia, especially with regard to argumentation skills
• Processes surrounding lecturer feedback and assessment of the academic writing of L2 students in Anglophone academia
• Spoken communication in academic settings and the influence of cultural norms
• Constructivist course evaluation.

Contact Hania about

• Advice on applying for PhD in TESOL/Applied Linguistics
• Advice on applying for MA TESOL
• How to develop argumentation and critical thinking in academic writing.