Professor Angela Goddard

National Teaching Fellow 2008 Professor Angela Goddard is Head of Subject for Languages and Linguistics at York St John University. She teaches on undergraduate programmes in English Language and Linguistics within the Faculty of Business and Communication. Her work at York St John continues a lifetime contribution to the study of English Language. In 1983, Angela helped to establish the first A Level in English Language, creating a whole new curriculum for schools. Michael Hoey, Baines Professor of English Language at Liverpool University, comments on this achievement: "Angela Goddard is one of a small number of people who have changed the status of English Language in the UK both in sixth forms and at Universities." Angela has a passionate commitment to active student enquiry, constructing her students as researchers, herself as expert guide, and everyday life as a language lab. She has taught in every educational phase and believes that a research approach to knowledge is achievable at any level. She believes that every individual learner has unique linguistic insights that deserve to be shared and valued. Angela's modules always have contemporary relevance to modern social practices. A particular focus of her work is the use of new technologies to communicate across spatial and cultural boundaries. For example, on an international module, students work with peers in European and American universities to study issues of language and culture. The focus on real communication and on genuine research questions results in high levels of student achievement and enjoyment. As well as studying new forms of communication, Angela incorporates them into her ways of working. She has recently started to give assignment feedback orally, via mp3 recordings attached to the university's Virtual Learning Environment. This initiative, entitled Writing in the Margins, has become a student research project which will lead to student union publications on how to make the most of tutor's comments.