- Ms Jennifer Alford
- Lecturer in TESOL
Faculty of Education,
School of Cultural and Professional Learning
- Discipline *
- Curriculum and Pedagogy, Cultural Studies, Language Studies
- +61 7 3138 3433
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Master of Education TESOL (Queensland University of Technology), Grad Dip Education (University of Queensland), Bachelor of Arts (University of Queensland)
- Professional memberships
- Australian Council of TESOL Associations (ACTA) including QATESOL
- Australian Literacy Educators’ Association (ALEA)
- Australian Association of Teachers of English (AATE) incuding ETAQ
- American Educational Research Association (AERA)
- Founding member of the QUT Critical Discourse Analysis Research group
- Member of the International and Intercultural Education Scholarly Interest Group at QUT
- Founder of ‘TESS’- Teaching EAL/D Senior Syllabus network, Queensland, Australia
- Member of academia.edu – https://qut.academia.edu/JenniferAlford/Papers
Critical Discourse Analysis, Critical Literacy, EAL/D learners, Second Language Teaching Pedagogy, TESOL, Critical Case Study research, Language and Content Education
Jennifer Alford coordinates the English as a Second Language (ESL) curriculum area in the Bachelor of Education (Secondary).
Previously, she was:
- a mainstream English/Humanities and ESL teacher in various high schools in Queensland, Australia.
- an ESL teacher in adult migrant education programs and various private English language colleges (1987-1999).
Jennifer is currently completing her PhD studies in teacher knowledge and practice of critical literacy with senior high school ESL students.
- part of the organising committee for the highly successful second Biennial International Conference for the Australian Council of TESOL Associations.
- awarded a $10,000 Women In Research grant by the University Equity committee. The aim of this grant is to support women returning to higher degree study.
- part of a QUT team that won a Queensland Government Industry Partnership Award for furthering international education with Fraser Coast Anglican College.
- coordinator of the Faculty of Education EAL/D SIG and EAL/D core B.Ed unit writing team (ongoing).
- organising member of the joint QUT-IPGKIK Outward Mobility 2 wk Study Tour program for B.Ed students to Malaysia, Sept-Oct, 2013.
- participant in the 6th Beijing Normal University-QUT international doctoral forum, Beijing, China, Nov 2013.
Jennifer’s areas of interest include:
- ESL teachers’ understandings and practice of language and literacy teaching in high schools
- TESOL pedagogy and practice
- Critical Discourse Analysis
- Second Language Acquisition
- Language immersion programs for overseas trained teachers.
- Intercultural Understanding
- ESL Curriculum Studies – Bachelor of Education
- Various undergraduate electives in the ESL/languages area and in Sociology of Education
- Master of Education (TESOL) units: Second Language Acquisition; Language and Culture; From Theory to Practice; Functional Grammar
- TESOL short courses for overseas trained teachers.
In 2009, Jennifer was awarded a QUT Faculty Teaching and Learning Scholarship of Teaching Award for her involvement in the production of a DVD to support international students on field experience in schools (practicum) and the publication of associated research papers (see Publications).
In 2010, Jennifer was part of the Languages Education Team which was awarded a Teaching Excellence Award by the Faculty of Education at QUT. This award acknowledges sustained outstanding student evaluations of teaching, and team collaboration to produce effective, innovative pedagogy for diverse learners.
Jennifer’s real world engagement includes 12 years of teaching in high schools and in adult second language education institutions. She also regularly conduct workshops for teachers in schools on the following topics:
- Second language acquisition;
- Curriculum design and enactment;
- Teaching strategies for EAL/D learners across the school curriculum;
- Critical literacy: theory and approaches.
- Milpera High School. May 15, 2014. Copperative Learning Strategies for Language Learning Professional Development Seminar (40 teachers).
- QATESOL ‘TESOL Classroom Strategies’ presented at Metropolitan South Institute of Technical and Further Education. September, 2013.
- John Paul College, Brisbane. May 2012. Embedding EAL/D strategies across the curriculum P-12.
- Yeronga High School, Brisbane. TESOL Classroom Strategies Refresher. March 2010.
- Pacific Gateway International College, 232 Adelaide St, Brisbane : ‘Communicative Language Teaching and the Grammar Gap’. Oct 26, 2001.
- QATESOL- Critical Literacy. Metropolitan area workshop – April 27, 2002.
- MacGregor High School ESL & Critical Literacy professional development project: with Jennifer Lawrence and Jaelle Thompson: June 2001 – Dec 2002.
- Critical Literacy for Junior school and ESL. All Hallow’s School workshop. Feb 4, 2003.
- Fraser Coast Anglican College, Hervey Bay. Assisting students with language across the curriculum. Feb 13-14, 2003. “The Bastards of Baghdad” or “Young Knights of the Skies”? Constructions of refugee groups in media texts. QATESOL Workshop for secondary English teachers:Teaching Refugee Related Issues. March 27, 2004. Albion, Brisbane.
Selected Conference Presentations
- Alford, J. & Windeyer, A. (2013). Teaching reading comprehension across the national curriculum with EAL/D learners: are we brave enough to really take it on? Paper presented at the ALEA/AATE national conference. July 2013. Brisbane, QUT.
- Alford, J. (2013). Standing brave in the face of rapid curriculum change: EAL/D teachers speak about critical literacy and its place in senior English teaching.Paper presented at the ALEA/AATE national conference. July 2013. Brisbane, QUT.
- Alford, J. (2010). Becoming more than a ‘go-to person’: Preparing pre-service teachers of EAL for colaboration with the mainstream. AARE 2010 Symposium on Discourse analysis and the interpretation of univeristy spaces and practices. Melbourne University, Nov/Dec 2010.
- Alford, J. (2009). Teaching English as an additional language in senior high school: critical discourses in critical times. Paper presented at the Discourse and Cultural Practices Conference, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, July 2009.
- O’Gorman, L., D. Tangen and J. Alford, (2009). Crossing Borders into field experience:providing support to international pre-service teachers in the field. Paper presented at the Australian Teacher Educators’ Association Conference. Albury-Wodonga, June 2009.
- Alford, J. (2008). Enhancing participation of culturally and linguistically diverse students in classrooms – from secondary school to beyond. Paper presented at the QATESOL Jacaranda Conference, University of Queensland, October 2008. (invited speaker).
- Campbell, M., L. O’Gorman, D. Tangen, R. Spooner-Lane and J. Alford (2008). Ethical Issues in Assessing International Pre-service Teachers during the Field Experience: A pilot study. Paper presented at the Australian Association of Research in Education (AARE) Conference, Brisbane 2008.
- Alford, J. (2001). Exploring cross-cultural conceptions of good teaching : pre-service English language teachers from Hong Kong in Australian classrooms. Paper presented at International Language Education Conference, Hong Kong, Dec. 2001.
- Alford, J and D. Hart, (2002). The border territory of parodic and aesthetic hybrid texts: implications for English language teaching. Paper presented at Australian Assoc. for Research in Education Conference, Brisbane, Dec. 2002.
- Alford JH, Jetnikoff A, (2011) High-challenge teaching for senior English as an additional language (EAL) learners in times of change, English in Australia p11-20
- Campbell MA, O'Gorman LM, Tangen DJ, Spooner-Lane RS, Alford JH, (2009) Issues in assessing international pre-service teachers during the field experience: a pilot study, Proceedings of Australian Association for Research in Education 2008 International Education Research Conference. Changing Climates: Education for Sustainable Futures p1-11
- Alford JH, Tangen DJ, Campbell MA, O'Gorman LM, Spooner-Lane RS, (2008) Bridge to Field Experience, QUT Faculty of Education
- Alford JH, (2005) Critical Literacy in High School Preparation Language Programs: Challenges and Possibilities, Curriculum Perspectives p44-50
- Alford JH, (2005) Discursive patterns in ESL Policy: competing discourses in the new `Education Queensland' ESL Policy and Guidelines document, Refereed Proceedings of 1st International Conference on Language, Education and Diversity p1-17
- Alford JH, (2001) Critical Literacy and Second Language Learning in the Mainstream Classroom: An Elusive Nexus?, Designing Educational Research:theories, Methods And Practices. p127-139
- Alford JH, (2001) Learning language and critical literacy: Adolescent ESL students, Journal of adolescent and Adult Literacy p238-242
For more publications by this staff member, visit QUT ePrints, the University's research repository.