About
I studied Early & Modern Irish at Trinity College Dublin before teaching Irish and French at a Dublin comprehensive school. I moved to Scotland in the 1970s, where I studied applied linguistics and worked as researcher and lecturer in Stirling and in Edinburgh. In the 1980s I moved to Southampton where I was lecturer and professor in the School of Education and later in Modern Languages. In 2014 I became Emeritus Professor in Applied Linguistics. I am a former editor of the OUP journal Applied Linguistics and Chair of the British Association for Applied Linguistics; I am a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences.
Research
Research groups
Research interests
- Second language acquisition
- Language in education
- Student mobility and study abroad
Current research
I am currently researching the long term impact of study abroad on the later careers of Modern Languages graduates. I am also researching aspects of early foreign language learning in the English primary school.