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University of Essex homepage Christina Gkonou
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Dr Christina Gkonou

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Department of Language and Linguistics
Dr Christina Gkonou

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  • Location

    3.306, Colchester Campus

  • Academic support hours

    Please email me to arrange a meeting

Biography

I received my PhD in English Language Teaching and MA in Teaching English as a Foreign Language from the Department of Language and Linguistics at the University of Essex. I also have a CELTA qualification at Pass Grade A and a BA in English Language and Literature from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece. In 2006-2007 I studied French-Greek translation at the University Paul Valery Montpellier III, France. At Essex, I lead the MA TESOL programme and teach on a range of different modules on language teacher education and the psychology of language learning and teaching. Under the Erasmus+ scheme, I have taught undergraduate and postgraduate students at universities overseas including the University of Santiago de Compostela (Spain), University of Bremen (Germany), Pontificia Universidad Catolica in Lima (Peru) and Freie Universitat Berlin (Germany). My research is concerned with the affective dimension of language learning and teaching, particularly language learner anxiety and language teacher emotions. I am currently looking - through narrative, interview accounts - at how and why teachers undertake emotional labour in their daily practice, how they perform emotion regulation relationally, and how emotions are perceived and function within EMI institutions. Additionally, I work closely with Cambridge University Press on a number of projects on emotional skills (as part of the new Cambridge Framework for Life Competencies in Education), test/retest anxiety, anxiety among children, and psychological wellbeing. My previous book (2020) was on "The Emotional Rollercoaster of Language Teaching" (co-edited with Jean-Marc Dewaele and Jim King; published by Multilingual Matters). My new co-authored book (2022) with Kate Brierton is on "Cultivating Teacher Wellbeing" (published by Cambridge University Press). My work has received recognition and attracted interest at an international scale, and I am often invited to discuss it through plenaries and keynote presentations at international conferences. I also have extensive experience in supervising doctoral students on topics surrounding the psychological dimensions of language learning and teaching. Additionally, I have examined over 20 PhD theses as Internal Examiner at Essex and as External Examiner across the UK and in Australia, Pakistan, Malaysia and Hong Kong. In 2013 I was shortlisted for a British Council ELTons Award for Innovative Writing, and in 2015 I received a British Council English Language Teaching Research Award for a collaborative research project on English language teachers' emotional and social intelligence. In 2017 I received a Celebrating Excellence Award from the Faculty of Social Sciences for innovative ideas and for promoting the department's TESOL programmes. In 2019 I was invited to act as Expert Panel Member of the new MA TEFL programme of the Arab Open University (in Egypt but also across eight other countries in the Middle East). I have served as External Examiner for the MA TESOL and MA Applied Linguistics and TESOL at the University of Birmingham and the University of Kent. I currently serve as External Examiner for the MA TESOL, MEd TESOL and MA TESOL China at the University of Leeds.

Qualifications

  • BA Hons (Aristotle University)

  • MA (Essex)

  • RSA Cambridge CELTA

  • PhD Essex

  • Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (SFHEA) Advance HE,

Appointments

University of Essex

  • Deputy Head of Department, Language and Linguistics, University of Essex (1/8/2021 - present)

  • MA TESOL Course Director, University of Essex (1/9/2017 - present)

  • Deputy Director of Education (Linguistics), University of Essex (1/9/2017 - 30/7/2021)

  • GTA Coordinator, University of Essex (1/8/2018 - 30/7/2021)

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  • +44 (0) 1206 873333
  • University of Essex
  • Wivenhoe Park
  • Colchester CO4 3SQ

 

 

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