Overview

BA, MPhil, PCAP, PhD

Li Li is Associate Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Global Engagement in the Faculty of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences (HASS). She is responsible for the Faculty’s global strategy, engagement, and activities, including developing global partnerships, enhancing global reputation, leading international student recruitment, and enriching student and staff global experience. Li Li is also Deputy Secretary-General for the UK-China Humanities Alliance, a grouping of some of the best universities in the UK and China, focusing on developing research and connections in the Humanities. She coordinates the work for the Alliance among the member universities in the UK.

Before her role as APVC, she was Associate Dean of Global (ADG) in the College of Social Sciences and International Studies (SSIS). Other leadership roles include Assistant ADG for SSIS, Director of Research, and Director of Global Engagement at the Graduate School of Education. 

Li Li has been involved in English language teaching and research for nearly 20 years and has worked in various cultural contexts. Her research areas include teacher cognition, 'applied' conversation analysis, social interaction, thinking skills, and technology-enhanced language learning. She has widely published in these areas. She has founded and is leading international research groups such as THINK Network and the Exeter-Fudan Global Thought Network. The most recent project is a research monograph, Language Teacher Cognition: A Sociocultural Perspective (Palgrave Macmillan, 2020), which aims to expand the understanding of teacher cognition from a sociocultural perspective, highlighting the significance of 'context' and 'social interaction' in the development of one's knowledge. This book is built on her book Social Interaction and Teacher Cognition (Edinburgh University Press, 2017), which discusses teachers' knowledge, understanding, believing, conceptualizing, and stance-taking using discursive psychology. Her recent project also includes Thinking Skills and Creativity in Second Language Education (Routledge, 2019), and she has also co-edited Routledge Handbook for Researching in Teaching Thinking Skills, which has been sold worldwide. She has a long passion for integrating technology in teaching and learning, and her book on New Technologies and Language Learning (Palgrave Macmillan, 2017) is an example of where learning theories meet new technological tools and apps in a language setting. This book has been widely used by researchers, teachers, and teacher trainers. The most recent projects that she has led include an international project funded by ESRC and MOST (Taiwan) investigating the development of second/foreign language teachers' digital literacies across different cultures and an international project on 'Deconolising Curriculum' with Jadavpur University (India) funded by British Council Going Global Scheme. 

Outside the university, Li has been invited as guest editor of a prestigious journal, Thinking Skills and Creativity, and serves on the editorial board for Thinking Skills and Creativity and Classroom Discourse. She also serves as a reviewer for prestigious journals in education, applied linguistics, and TESOL. In 2012, she was elected to the British Association for Applied Linguistics Executive Committee. She acted as Seminar co-ordinator until 2019, working closely with Cambridge University Press and Routledge to develop funding schemes to support seminars and research development workshops. Her work is very influential in international contexts. She has been invited by many prestigious universities in China, the UK, Spain, and the USA as a guest speaker and a visiting professor, including Tsinghua University, East China Normal University, Beijing Normal University, the University of Hong Kong, and Chinese University of Political Science and Law in China.

She is a very experienced doctoral supervisor who has successfully supervised 26 PhD projects and currently supervises 11 doctoral students worldwide. 

Her article about teachers' beliefs is featured in Taylors and Francis Group what’s trending in language and linguistics? You can read it for free here: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/19463014.2011.562657#.VPhioC4sp2A

Want to know important issues in using computer-assisted language learning?  Read the online article here: http://elt.i21st.cn/article/9610_1.html

If you are interested in developing thinking skills in language education, you might find this white paper useful: Pathways for the development of student's critical thinking in EAP programmes

 https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/0873/e4f8fd0b61ed6722860cf8534e6e72fad418.pdf

Qualifications

• PhD in Applied Linguistics and TESOL 
• MPhil in Second Langauge Education Across Cultures
• BA in English Literature and English Language Teaching
• PCAP

Links

• British Association for Applied Linguistics
• European Association for Computer-Assisted Language Learning
• International Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language
• Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages

Research group links

• Centre for Research in Writing
• Language and Education Network
• Thinking Schools @Exeter

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Research

Research interests

My research interests include 

• Language teacher cognition
• Thinking skills
• Social interaction
• Technology use in (language) education 

I am also interested in mixed methodology and sociocultural theory and welcome research proposals and collaboration in these areas.

Research projects

I am currently working on the following projects:

• Decolonising Curriculum 
• Digital Literacies for Second Language Teachers 
• The role of metacognition in the success of reading and writing tasks across cultures
• Teacher cognition about developing critical and creative thinking skills across cultures

Research networks

UK-China Humanities Alliance for Higher Education 

Exeter-Fudan Global Thought Network

Think Network

Research grants

• 2022 British Council
  Building Connections to Decolonise the Curriculum
• 2021 Economic and Social Research Council
  Developing digital literacies for second/foreign language teachers
• 2021 The International Society for Chinese Language Teaching
  International Chinese education and creativity
• 2018 British Association of Applied Linguistics
  BAAL-Routledge Research Development Workshop: Language Teacher Cognition Research
• 2015 British Council
  The role of metacognition in the success of reading and writing tasks across Cultures

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Publications

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External Engagement and Impact

Committee/panel activities

British Association for Applied Linguistics Executive Committee (Seminar co-ordinator) (2012-2017)

• BAAL-CUP Seminar Series
• BAAL-Routledge Research Development Workshop

Editorial responsibilities

Special Issue editor

• Thinking Skills and Creativity: SE Asian Perspective (2010)
• Thinking Skills and Creativity in Second Language Education (2016)

Editorial Board

• Classroom Discourse
• System 
• Thinking Skills and Creativity 

External Examiner Positions

Certificate in Professional Education, University College Plymouth St Mark and St John (2010-2011)

External doctoral examining nationally and internationally

I have examined PhD theses in the following universities:

• University of Cambrdige
• The University of Hong Kong
• University of Southampton
• Newcastle University
• University of Leicester
• Birkbeck university

International recognition, such as international research collaborations, visiting research posts in overseas institutions, involvement at senior levels in international research associations, acting as referee for national and international research councils.

I have been invited to the following university as visitng professor to conduct collaborative research

• Tsinghua University (China)
• East China Normal University (China)
• China University of Political Science and Law (China)
• Lleida University (Spain)

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Teaching

• Classroom discourse
• Teaching methodology
• Research methodology in Applied Linguistics
• e-learning and new technologies in language education
• Teacher cognition and teacher education / professional development

At MEd level, I am teaching the following modules:

• EFPM 267 Language Awareness 

• EFPM 309 New Technologies and Language Learning (module leader)

I have also developed a module specifically for teachers with less two years teaching experience

• EFPM 280 Developing Practical Knowledge for TESOL Classrooms

At doctoral level, I have been involved in various modules, and currently I am teaching and leading the following module:

• EEDD043 Perspectives on Professionalism

Modules

2024/25

Information not currently available

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Supervision / Group

Research Fellows

Postgraduate researchers

Alumni

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