Biography

Katie Gray was educated at the Lycee Francais de Londres from the age of 6–17, and learnt to read in French long before she could read in English. She went on to Oxford and read Modern Languages (Italian and French) at Somerville, when it was still a women’s college, and enjoyed her tutorials with an eccentric Enid Starkie. From then on she moved slowly North, first to Leicester and then to Stirling in Scotland where she spent over 20 years, teaching French, Italian and Applied Linguistics and where her final post was as Senior Tutor at the Centre for English Teaching. She was on secondment for 18 months of that time to a postgraduate institute in Kobe, Japan, and as a result has developed a great interest in the culture of that country. She came back to Oxford in 1993 and has since then been Director of Language and Cultural Studies at the Department for Continuing Education.

Teaching

In previous posts:

• Adult Education and Open University work;
• French and Italian Language Courses at University level;
• BA in English as Foreign Language;
• BA in Applied Linguistics.

Currently:

At UG level, courses on:

• Cross-cultural Communication;
• British Studies;
• Teacher Development.

At PG level, courses on:

• Applied Linguistics.

Research interests

• Translation Studies
• Cross-cultural Communication
• Syllabus Design

Publications

1988: 'Using Teaching and Learning in Focus', British Council

1990: 'Syllabus Design for the General Class', ELT Journal 44/4

1990: York Notes on J.B. Priestley's An Inspector Calls, Longman (June 1990)

1992: 'About Translation', JALT Journal

1993: 'The Translator's Turn', Modern Language Review

1993: 'English in Discourse'

1994: 'Error Awareness and the Japanese Learner', The Language Teacher

1995: 'Language Awareness: A Learner Centred View', Language Awareness Vol 3/3 and 3/4

1996: 'How Academic Should an EAP Course be? Evaluation and Course Design in EAP (Prentice-Hall Macmillan)

1997: `Language and Literature: Reading Texts', in Linguistic and Methodological Aspects of Texts. English Department, University of Perm

1997, July: 'There are No Rules that can't be Broken'. The Oxford Writer

1997: 'Teacher Cognition in Language Education', Review in Language Teaching Research, 1/21 79-181

1999: 'Hidden Agendas and the Pursuit of Linguistic Excellence', in Academic Standards and Expectations: The Role of EAP. Eds Bool H. and Luford P. Nottingham UP

1999: 'Reflective Practice in ITT: What TEFL can Teach Us', in English Teacher Education in Europe Ed Faber et al. Peter Lang

2000: 'Assessment in EAP: Moving Away from Traditional Models', in Assessing English for Academic Purposes. Eds Blue G, Milton J & Saville J. Peter Lang

2008: 'English as a Lingua France', Review in System 36/4

Presentations

TESOL 1988: Syllabus Design for the General Class

TESOL 1989: From Project Work to Task-based Learning

IATEFL SIG SYMPOSIUM 1990: Methodological Change and the Non-native Teacher

IATEFL 1990: Learning How to Teach Japanese Students

TESOL 1990: Why Not Reverse the Information Gap and Let the Learners Teach?

JALT 1992: Errors: Collection or Correction?

JAET Symposium 1992: A British View on Foreign Language Teaching in Japan

IATEFL 1992: Translation Theory and Practice

BALEAP 1993:How Academic Should an EAP Course be?

ALA 1994: Language Awareness: a learner centred view

TESOL 1994: Language Culture and Videotapes

BALEAP 1995: Hidden Agendas and the Pursuit of Linguistic Excellence

BALEAP 1997: Assessment in EAP: Moving Away from Traditional Models

OUSSA 1997: How the English Language Works

Bologna 1998, The British Council National Conference for Teachers of English: Language and Literature: Reading Texts

Croatian Association of Applied Linguists Annual Conference 1998: What is Happening to Standard English?

BALEAP 99: Capturing Speech

British Council, Tokoyo 2001: Countering Stereotypes

British Council, Tokoyo 2003: Globalisation and the English Language