Dr William Pearson
Lecturer
School of Education
University of Exeter
Baring Court
St Luke's Campus Heavitree Road
Exeter EX1 2LU
About me:
Office hours (Mondays 09:00-10:00 and Fridays 10:00-11:00).
I am a Lecturer in Language Education at the School of Education, working on the MEd TESOL programme. I am module leader for Teaching English to Young Learners (EFPM787) and Foreign Language Testing and Assessment (EFPM835). I also deliver sessions on the modules, Analysing and Teaching Language Systems and Skills (EFPM333) and Developing Practical Knowledge for TESOL (EFPM280), and supervise students on the module Preparing for TESOL Inquiry and Dissertation (EFPM329). I am also working in partnership with the AS Hornby Educational Trust to deliver 10 fully funded scholarships for students from least developed, low, and middle income countries to study on the MEd TESOL programme at the University of Exeter.
I started in TESOL back in 2006 and have been very fortunate to work with a wide range of English language learners and teachers in a variety of contexts, including language teaching organisations in the Russian Federation, Singapore, Ethiopia, Republic of Korea, Qatar, Japan, and the UAE.
I completed a PhD in Education in 2021 (Supervisors: Dr Susan Riley and Dr Esmaeel Abdollahzadeh), with a project entitled, "Student engagement with teacher written feedback on IELTS Writing Task 2 rehearsal essays". The study explored how four student writers preparing for IELTS (International English Language Testing System) engaged with content- and form-focused written feedback on essays undertaken as simulated practice for the test. Prior to my current role, I was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Exeter, working with Dr Esmaeel Abdollahzadeh and Professor Debra Myhill on the Writing the Future project. I have been a copyeditor for the journal TESL-EJ and am now one of its co-editors.
Interests:
My main research activities address written feedback on second language writing, particularly in the context of candidate preparation for L2 writing assessments (notably, the International English Language Testing System). I have an interest in the role student engagement plays in untapping the learning potential of written feedback, notably how learners engage affectively, behaviourally, and cognitively with written feedback targeting higher-order textual features such as the response to the task, argumentation, cohesion and coherence, and voice. I am also interested in the powerful effects of beliefs on mediating students’ reactions and responses to content-focused written feedback on L2 writing.
I am also interested in the application of bibliometric/informetric research approaches to applied linguistics, for instance, identifying changes in the focal areas of research through keyword from authors and keyword from abstracts analysis, investigating patterns in successful academic publication through citation analysis, and charting trends in author collaboration.
Qualifications:
PhD Education
University of Exeter, 2018 – 2021
MSc Educational Research
University of Exeter, 2017 – 2018
MA Applied Linguistics
University of Birmingham, 2014 – 2016
PGCE Secondary Citizenship
Canterbury Christ Church University, 2005 – 2006
BA (Hons) Politics
University of the West of England, 2001 – 2004
