Dr Alex Leung

Associate Professor

Department: Humanities

I grew up in Hong Kong where I obtained my BA (Hons) in Contemporary English studies. During my undergraduate years I've spent some time in the States at Franklin and Marshall College, Pennsylvania and also in the UK at the University of York. Upon the completion of my BA, I came to the UK to pursue my (Integrated) PhD studies at Newcastle University in English Language and Linguistics. I successfully defended my thesis on second language phonology acquisition under the influence of multiple varieties in 2012. I first joined Northumbria as a part time lecturer in TESOL at the beginning of 2012 and have been employed as a full time lecturer since the academic year of 2012-2013. In addition to my Northumbria duties, I work as an external examiner for the MA programmes of UCLAN and was the external examiner for Leeds between 2018-2021. I’m the Secretary of the British Association for Applied Linguistics (BAAL) and have previously served as the Meetings Secretary (2013-2019) and the Publications Secretary (2021-2024). I am a section editor for Open Linguistics (De Gruyter) and the Key Concepts co-editor of the ELT Journal (Oxford) and also a regular reviewer for various journals. I am currently co-editing the second edition of the Cambridge Handbook of Second Language Acquisition alongside three colleagues.

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Research Themes and Scholarly Interests

Second Language Acquisition
Second Language Speech & Phonology
Applied Linguistics and TESOL
Teacher Identity and Experience
Racialisation of the TESOL Profession
Language Attitudes and Variations
Lived Experience of Ethnic Minoritised Students
English Historical Linguistics

Key Publications

Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
Ethnic group affiliation and second/foreign language accentedness in English and Mandarin among Hong Kong speakers, Leung, A., Lee, P. 2 Apr 2024, In: Language, Culture and Curriculum
Situating Moral and Cultural Values in Elt Materials: The Southeast Asian Context, Leung, A. 1 Aug 2024, In: Applied Linguistics
The Impact of Virtual Exchanges Using English as a Lingua Franca on Students’ Linguistic and Intercultural Competence, Nguyen, N., Leung, A., Hien, H., Thiet, N. Nov 2024, In: TESL-EJ
Wearing face masks in different speech styles during the COVID-19 pandemic: A study of Thai L2 English learners, Kitikanan, P., Leung, A. 6 Aug 2024, In: International Journal of Applied Linguistics
ESL classroom interactions in a translanguaging space, Lin, S., Leung, A. 14 Sep 2023, In: Applied Linguistics Review
(Mis) perception of consonant clusters and short vowels in English as a foreign language, Leung, A., Young-Scholten, M., Almurashi, W., Ghadanfari, S., Nash, C., Outhwaite, O. 23 Sep 2023, In: IRAL - International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching
The impact of Filipina domestic workers on Hong Kong primary school children’s L2 English spoken CAF and reading accuracy and fluency, Wolfaardt, F., Leung, A. 31 Oct 2023, In: Applied Linguistics
“We don’t normally require that in other contexts, do we”: Interpersonal meanings of tag questions in British university seminars based on the BASE corpus, Wei, L., Leung, A., Sun, Y. 10 Jan 2023, In: Frontiers in Psychology
L2 English Reading Fluency in Korean Elementary Schools: Analyses of National English Curriculum and Textbooks, Kim, J., Leung, A. 30 Sep 2021, In: Journal of Asia TEFL
Reality check: Identity struggle and experiences of NESTs living and teaching abroad, Leung, A., Yip, T. 22 Apr 2020, Language teacher identity in TESOL: Teacher education and practice as identity work, New York, Taylor & Francis

PGR Supervision

Caroline McCullock "I think I am better off than I was when I arrived": An exploration of international postgraduate student experiences at a UK university through the lens of their ‘academic self-concept’ Start Date: 15/05/2024 End Date: 25/06/2024
Andrea Canavosio Attitudes Towards the Cordobese Accent and Their Implications for the Acquisition of Spanish as a Second Language in Argentina Start Date: 01/01/2020 End Date: 10/05/2023
Nancy Dieu-Ngoc Nguyen TRANSNATIONAL VIRTUAL EXCHANGE FOR GLOBAL CITIZENSHIP EDUCATION BEYOND WEIRD CONTEXTS: FROM DESIGNING TO EVALUATION Start Date: 01/10/2022
Qianwen Cheng Family of Chinese BA-construction - A Cognitive Approach Start Date: 29/09/2017 End Date: 24/10/2018
Fatuma Abdulkader Exploring Saudi EFL Teachers' and Learners' Perceptions regarding the Application of Communicative language Teaching (CLT) in the English Language Classroom Start Date: 09/06/2014 End Date: 06/11/2019

Qualifications

Education (other/general) PGCHE July 20 2015
Linguistics DPhil November 23 2012
English BA (Hons) September 01 2007
Fellow (FHEA) Higher Education Academy (HEA) 2015

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