Dr Jie Liu

Job: Senior Lecturer in English Language Teaching

Faculty: Arts, Design and Humanities

School/department: School of Humanities and Performing Arts

Address: De Montfort University, The Gateway, Leicester, LE1 9BH

T: +44 (0)116 250 6419

E: jie.liu@dmu.ac.uk

 

Personal profile

Jie Liu is a Senior Lecturer in English Language Teaching at School of Humanities and Performing Arts, ADH. She obtained a doctorate degree in Applied Linguistics in 2012 at Cardiff University. Jie has gained extensive experience of teaching in different countries. Before joining in DMU in 2017 as the programme leader of MA English Language Teaching, Jie taught English language at tertiary level in China for over 15 years, and the MA TESOL and Applied Linguistic programmes at University College Dublin (UCD), Ireland for 2 years. Drawing on her own teaching experience, Jie has developed strong research interests in instructions on English reading and students’ reading development, in particular, how critical thinking, classroom teaching/learning, and the situated learning environment are intertwined to affect students’ reading development over time.

Research group affiliations

Institute of English

Publications and outputs

  • 2023. How is critical thinking incorporated in pre-service English teacher education in China? TeachingEnglish: ELT Research Papers, The British Council.
  • 2017. A comparative study of students’ strategy use in reading texts for the IELTS test and those for academic reading. IELTS Report. British Council.
  • 2016. How does studying abroad change Chinese students’ choices of reading strategies? Canadian Modern Language Review 72(1), 40-65. 
  • 2015. Reading transition in Chinese international students: Through the lens of activity system theory. Journal of English for Academic Purposes 17, 1-11.

Research interests/expertise

Jie's research interest include:

  • Levels of cognitive processing in reading
  • Reading development
  • Interpreting pedagogical practice from sociocultural perspectives
  • Understanding language use and language development from complexity theory
  • Teachers' instruction and learners' deployment of reading strategies

Areas of teaching

Trends and issues relating to English language teaching and learning, language learning strategies, teaching receptive and productive skills, psycholinguistics, and research methods

Qualifications

  • SFHEA (2018) Senior Fellowship of High Education Academy
  • PhD (2012) Applied Linguistics
  • MA (2007) Applied Linguistics
  • MA (2000) English Language and Literature
  • BA (1986) English Language Teaching

Courses taught

  • Research Methods
  • Trends and Issues in Communicative Language Classroom
  • Teaching Receptive and Productive Language Skills
  • Psycholinguistics
  • ESP and Course Design
  • Teaching EAP
  • Applied Linguistics

Membership of professional associations and societies

British Association of Applied Linguistics

Projects

  • (2021-2022) How is critical thinking incorporated in the pre-service teacher education in China? English Language Teaching Research Partnership Awards 2020 
  • (2015-2016) IELTS Research Programme 2015-2016 (Round 20)

Conference attendance

  • 2022. Presenting a paper on Enacting education policy: teaching critical reading in China at the BAAL annual conference held at Queen's University, Belfest.
  • 2021. Invited talk on Transition from the IELTS to academic reading at Glasgow University.
  • 2020. Invited talk on Changes in international students' reading strategy use in Swansea University.
  • 2019. Invited talk on IELTS reading and academic reading at the School of Foreign Studies, University of Science and Technology, Beijing, China. 
  • 2017. Presenting a paper on The impact of the IELTS-prep on the test-takers’ academic reading development: through the lens of activity system, at BAAL Language Learning and Teaching SIG Conference at University of Central Lancashire.
  • 2015. Presenting a paper on Needs analysis of international master’s students’ academic reading at BALEAP PIM conference at University of Reading.
  • 2014. Presenting a paper at 7th International Conference on English Language Teaching in China at Nanjing University, China, entitled Environmental impact on Chinese students’ deployment of reading strategies: from the perspective of activity theory.
  • 2013. Presenting a paper at 46th BAAL Annual Conference at Heriot Watt University, entitled Patterns of syntactic parsing: An insight into Chinese international students’ academic reading.
  • 2013. Presenting a paper on Reading differences in Chinese master’s students’ academic reading at 9th BAAL Language Learning and Teaching SIG Conference at St Mary’s University College, London.
  • 2013. Invited presentation on International students’ reading difficulties at the Department of Logistics And Operation Management, Business School, Cardiff University. 
  • 2012. Invited presentation on Reading development of international master’s students at the Department of Logistics And Operation Management, Business School, Cardiff University. 
  • 2011. Presenting a paper on The development of Chinese international students’ academic reading strategies: social cultural perspectives at AILA 2011, Beijing Foreign Languages University, China. 
  • 2010. Presenting a paper at Transnational Dialogues in HE: Responding to the Needs of the Asian Learner in Higher Education, University of Portsmouth. The paper was entitled Social-cultural perspectives towards international students’ strategic reading.

Current research students

Tarek Mohmoud, international PhD, 1st supervisor



Externally funded research grants information

How is critical reading incorporated in the pre-service teacher education in China. Funded by the British Council (2020--2021) PI, collaborated with Dr Xiaohui Sun (Beijing Normal University and Dr Hongying Zheng, Sichuan Normal University)

A comparative study of students’ strategy use in reading texts for the IELTS test and those for academic study. Funded by the British Council (2015-2016), PI.

ORCID number

0000-0001-8151-537X

jie-liu