James Stubbs

James is a Language Lecturer in the School of Languages. He has a Master’s degree in applied linguistics and TESOL. He is currently co-running an international language exchange which offers over 100 students each semester the chance to participate in multilingual conversations with their peers from other countries. He is particularly interested in how this low-stakes translanguaging and social environment contrasts with language learning apps which focus on explicit memorizing, repetition and through which languages are removed from their social setting. Along with his research colleagues Jonathan Tillotson and Aaron Kelly, he has looked at how students make sense of language learning within the social environment, encouraging students to reflect on what language learning consists of and trying to identify the assumptions which inform their ideas. He has also encouraged his colleagues to participate in the language exchange and reflect on how they view learning through discussion. These conversations are aimed at unpacking and critically reflecting upon their assumptions about language learning. James is committed to doing small pieces of action research like these that deliberately make no claim to objectivity but instead embrace the dialectical co-construction of ideas that happens when people talk together and reflect. This blurs the subject (researcher) and object (researched) boundary in order to help each try to understand the complexity of learning.