LANG A881F

English Language Systems I

Guest Lecture

Outline

1. Who am I?

2. Which institution and which doctorate

programme are more suitable for me?

3. How can we choose a research topic?

4. What else can I do as an academic?

1. Who am I? • HO Siu Yee Winnie

a. Teaching

• 2007 – present: Department of English, Chu Hai College of Higher Education

• 2004 - 2007: Language Centre, HKIVE

b. Voluntary Work

• Vocational Qualifications Unit, Hong Kong Air Cadet Corps

b. Education

• Interdisciplinary: PhD Candidate in Applied Linguistics, Lancaster University

• Interpreting:

Dip – IoL HK & SCS, CUHK

• Education:

PGDE – HKU

Cert – TLC, VTC

• Linguistics:

MSt – Oxford

BA – CityU & Lancaster

• Business English:

Dip – Wall Street (Continuing Education Fund)

2. Which institution and which

doctorate programme are more

suitable for me?

i. Programmes:

• EdD

• PhD by Thesis and Coursework

• PhD by Research and Thesis

ii. Institutions:

• Local

• Overseas

iii. Mode: FT / PT / FT away from the campus

Useful Information 1. Research Assessment Exercise (RAE)

• The Research Assessment Exercise was conducted jointly

by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), the Scottish Funding Council (SFC), the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW) and the Department for Employment and Learning, Northern Ireland (DEL).

• The primary purpose of the RAE 2008 was to produce quality profiles for each submission of research activity made by institutions.

• http://www.rae.ac.uk

2. UK University Ranking 2012 Times

Brainstorming Task 1

1. Research topics are too board! How

can we choose a research topic?

2. Some of the research areas are

overdone! What can I do?

3. How can we choose a

research topic? Type 1 – Publications involving my own work

(Coniam, 2012): - using xxx as a resource

• Myself e.g. analyzing my own academic writing (2004)

• My kid(s) e.g. kids’ computer literacy (1992)

• My student(s)

e.g. A teacher developing wikis for writing with his own Ss (2009)

d. My students as subjects in experiments

e.g. using data collected in marker training sessions (1999)

e. Working with teachers on specific projects e.g. the impact of wearing a face mask in a public oral examination (2005)

f. Out of my own teaching – Describing what I do / materials I have developed

e.g. analysis of materials developed for my MA ELT course (2004)

Type 2 – Web search / Library search e.g. title, key words e.g. sample thesis proposal

Type 3 – My own previous work

e.g. extension / modification of a term paper for my bachelor’s degree

Type 4 – Research gaps

e.g. refer to the final chapter of a good thesis ‘Limitations of the study & further directions of future research

Brainstorming Task 2

1. Why are there limitations?

2. Why do each PhD candidate point out

his/her own ‘mistakes’?

Limitations Research Gaps

Possible research topics!

E.g. http://scholar.google.com.hk/

4. What else can I do as an

academic?

a. Academic conferences

b. Journal Paper submission

Reference

Coniam, D. (2012, May). Using your

professional activities to promote

research and publishing. Hong Kong

Association for Applied Linguistics

Seminar, Hong Kong.