Summary
Dr Julie King is the Director of the Centre for Academic English. Since joining Imperial in 2013, she has expanded and diversified the Centre’s provision so that it benefits both staff and students in the communication of their academic work in STEMM disciplines. Examples of this include the embedding of academic literacy in departmental curricula for both undergraduate and Master’s courses, developing a series of academic writing and speaking courses for doctoral students, and supporting doctoral students and academic staff in successful research publication. Together with Hilary Glasman-Deal, she worked with the Faculty of Engineering in preparation for the 2021 Research Excellence Framework. Imperial was ranked top in the 2021 REF with a greater proportion of world-leading research than any other UK university
Julie is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. She has nearly 30 years’ experience of working in higher education, and has previously worked at Durham University and Nottingham University, where she focused on the training and teaching of English for Academic Purposes (EAP). At Nottingham University she led a major review of the presessional programme driving innovative practice by setting knowledge as the core of the EAP curriculum, and together with Alex Ding, created an online MA in Teaching English for Academic Purposes.
Julie is an experienced assessor for the BALEAP Accreditation Scheme for EAP courses and is a member of the BAS Committee. She was also a member of the working party that created the BALEAP TEAP Competency Framework, which now informs professional development in the field of EAP.
She worked with Cambridge Assessment and the British Council in various senior capacities for the IELTS test for twenty years and was a Principal Examiner for IELTS for eight years. She was invited to be the lead advisor for Epigeum’s English for Academic Studies online course which was launched in 2016.
Since joining Imperial she has given invited presentations on EAP for STEMM at the universities of Durham, Leeds, Glasgow and Birmingham and has advised and consulted on EAP and EAP for STEMM for Durham University, Liverpool Xi'an Jiaotong University, University of Glasgow/UESTC China, and the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.
Presentations and publications
King, J, Silva, M. & White, R. (2022). Designing a collaborative online learning experience to train Graduate Teaching Assistants using a socio-cultural framework. [Publication] In Golam, J. & Morley, D. (Eds.), Agile Learning Environments amid Disruption. Palgrave Macmillan, Switzerland.
Kirk, S. & King, J, (2022) EAP teacher observation: Developing criteria and identifying the forms of pedagogic practice they afford. [Publication] Journal of English for Academic Purposes vol 59.
King, J., Silva, M. & White, R. (2021) Promoting connectivity during lockdown: Adopting a socio-cultural approach for the training of Graduate Teaching Assistants to support STEMM undergraduate students’ academic writing
development. [Presentation] Rethinking STEM Higher Education, HE Academy STEM Conference 2021.
King, J., Mowat, R., Northern, A. & Riley-Jones, G. (2019) Moving beyond the EGAP/ESAP dichotomy: How an understanding of approaches to EAP teaching in specialised contexts at the extreme ends (STEM and Arts & Humanities) could inform and transform the teaching of EAP in between. [Symposium] BALEAP Conference, University of Leeds.
King, J. & de Wilde, J. (2019) A retreat to move forward: Pooling expertise to create an innovative, fully supported writing retreat for STEM postdoctoral researchers. [Presentation] BALEAP Conference, University of Leeds.
King, J., Mowat, R. & Northern, A. (2018) Don’t be scared by the science. [Presentation] BALEAP EAP in the SE event, University of Reading.
Cowley-Haselden, S., Ding, A., King, J. & Kirk, S. (2015) On the Purposes in EAP. [Symposium] BALEAP Conference, University of Leicester.
Ding, A., Hannam, S. & King, J. (2013) EAP – the state we are in: a manifesto for higher education(al) aims and ideals, [Presentation] BALEAP Conference, University of Nottingham.
King, J. (2012) Credibility, Credentials and the EAP Tutor. [Plenary] BALEAP PIM, Durham University.
King J. & Murby, C. (2010) Experienced vs novice EAP teachers: How they approach published materials.[Presentation] IATEFL ESP SIG and Bilkent University event: EAP in university settings: teacher and learner competencies. Ankara, Turkey
King, J. (2010) Metaphor research and the EAP classroom: Developing students’ metaphoric competence. [Presentation] IATEFL ESP SIG and Bilkent University event: EAP in university settings: teacher and learner competencies. Ankara, Turkey
Alexander, O., Cardew, S., King, J., Pallant, A., Thomas, D. & Ward Goodbody, M. (2007) What’s so special about an EAP teacher? [Presentation] BALEAP Conference, University of Durham
King, J. (2007) CEFR and Assessment to Foster Learner Autonomy in Asia. [Plenary] International Symposium: Globalization and English Education in the 21st Century: International Collaboration in English Education, Learner Autonomy and the Development of ELT Professionals, Kumamoto University, Japan.
King, J. (2006) Giving students what they need and academics what they want: developing students’ academic writing skills in a British university in China. [Presentation] Invitational Symposium: Language Issues in English Medium Universities across Asia, University of Hong Kong.