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Learner Autonomy SIG Pre-Conference Event Wednesday 18th April 2007 The following brave academics have become the keepers of the worms that were unleashed into the world this year (read more). In addition to agreeing to contribute to our newsletter Independence, sending their worms on to other experts, they have also agreed to speak at our pre-conference event in Aberdeen next April. 
Marina Mozzon-McPherson
(keeper of the "Counselling/ Advising" worm)Marina Mozzon-McPherson is a Senior Open Learning Adviser at the University of Hull. She has worked in this role since 1993. In 1995 she collaborated on a BT-project which explored the capabilities of a video-conferencing system for the delivery of a language programme to business people. From September 1997 to September 2001 she managed project SMILE (Strategies for Managing Independent Learning Environments). This project focused on the promotion and development of good practices in the implementation of independent learning environments (classroom, online and self-access). Amongst its outcomes were: an online postgraduate qualification for language advisers (http://www.hull.ac.uk/languages) and a book (Beyond Language Teaching towards Language Learning). A new edition of the book is currently under consideration. She has recently been awarded a doctorate on the construction of online speech communities (The Open University). When Marina isn't looking after her counselling worm, she enjoys practising sport, in particular swimming. 
Richard Pemberton (Keeper of the "Self-access" worm)Richard Pemberton has been an Associate Professor in TESOL in the School of Education at the University of Nottingham, UK since January 2006. Before that, he spent nearly 15 years at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, where he was responsible for setting up and coordinating the Self-Access Centre, and helped integrate self-access language learning into the first-year course. And before that, he taught ESL for 11 years at secondary level in the UK and Zimbabwe and tertiary level in Papua New Guinea (University of Technology). Apart from SALL and learner autonomy, his research interests include L2 listening and vocabulary acquisition. He was co-editor of 'Taking Control' (Hong Kong University Press, 1996) and has published on self-access advising and supporting self-directed language learning in mainstream courses. He was Secretary of the Hong Kong Association for Self-Access learning and Development for many years, and project manager for VELA, the Virtual English Language Adviser [http://vela.ust.hk/] (now managed by Sarah Toogood). When Richard isn't looking after his self-access worm, he can be found learning to speak Putonghua (standard spoken Chinese) and dance Cuban salsa.  Barbara
Sinclair (Keeper of the "Learner Training" worm)
Barbara Sinclair is Director of Postgraduate Taught Courses at the
University of Since the early eighties, Barbara has lectured and published widely on a number of themes related to autonomy in language learning, including ‘learner training’, teacher education, curriculum design, materials and task design, self-assessment, self-access learning and cross-cultural aspects of promoting autonomy. Her books include the prize-winning Learning to Learn English, (1989) co-authored with Gail Ellis, the Activate your English series of courses for adult learners (1996/97), published by Cambridge University Press, and Learner Autonomy, Teacher Autonomy: Future Directions (2000), co-edited with Ian McGrath and Terry Lamb, published by Longman. Read Barbara's
contribution to Independence
on the topic of Learner Training (Part I, Part II)  Ema Ushioda (Keeper of the "Motivation" worm)
Ema Ushioda is a
lecturer in ELT and applied linguistics at the Centre for English
Language Teacher Education, University of Warwick, having spent nine years at Trinity College, Dublin. Her main research interests are motivation and autonomy (among language learners and teachers), sociocultural theory and teacher development. Publications include: Learner Autonomy 5: The Role of Motivation (Dublin: Authentik 1996), and ‘Motivation, autonomy and sociocultural theory’, in P. Benson (ed.), Learner Autonomy 8: Insider Perspectives on Autonomy in Language Learning and Teaching (Dublin: Authentik 2006). When Ema isn’t looking after her motivation worm, she enjoys eating out with friends and going to the cinema and theatre. Flávia Vieira is an Associate Professor in Methodologies of Education (Foreign Languages) at the University of Minho  Hanne Thomsen (Keeper of the "Assessment Worm") Hanne Thomsen has been an English and German teacher at Karlslunde Skole, Denmark, since 1978. She is also Advisor to foreign language teachers at The Teachers' Resource Centre in Roskilde. Regretably, Hanne will be unable to attend the IATEFL conference this year. The assessment worm will be accompanied by Viljo Kohonen.  Viljo Kohonen happliy receiving the "assessment worm" from Hanne Thomsen |