Alasdair Gillon

Teaching Fellow in English for Academic Purposes

Biography

Background

I am a Teaching Fellow in English for Academic Purposes in the Centre for Open Learning at the University of Edinburgh. I organise and teach provision in academic literacies, enhancing students' communication skills and deepening their knowledge of language use at university, to help them communicate effectively as confident and effective members of their disciplines.

I work with students at different levels (foundation, undergraduate and postgraduate), in different disciplines and with diverse cultural backgrounds and language repertoires. Many are speakers of English as an additional language. I am passionate about this diversity and my interests include raising multilingual and intercultural awareness to facilitate successful communication in internationalised universities.

My main focus is to create and organise Academic Language and Literacies provision for students in the fields of education and sports, linking up with Moray House School of Education and Sports.

Before joining the University of Edinburgh in 2019, I worked in Spain as a language teacher and Spanish-to-English translator. Previously, I worked in Scotland in secondary education and editorial journalism. I studied at the universities of Aberdeen, Strathclyde and Edinburgh.

Qualifications

MSc Applied Linguistics, University of Glasgow (Distinction award, 2022).

  • Dissertation: An Academic Language and Literacies Anxiety Scale: an Evaluation of Three Sources.  

MSc English: Nation, Writing, Culture, University of Edinburgh (Distinction award, 2005).

  • Dissertation: Class Identity and the Scots Vernacular in the Poetry of Tom Leonard.

PGCE (Secondary) English, University of Strathclyde (2002).

Responsibilities & affiliations

  • Associate Fellow in Teaching English for Academic Purposes (BALEAP) 

Current research interests

I am interested in how learner emotions interact with language use in Higher Education institutions, particularly in the contexts of internationalisation and Widening Participation. My MSc Applied Linguistics dissertation on creating an Academic Language and Literacies Anxiety Scale was a runner-up for the 2024 BALEAP Masters Dissertation Award.

Spanish - full professional proficiency

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