Alasdair Gillon

Teaching Fellow in English for Academic Purposes

Biography

Background

I'm a Teaching Fellow in English for Academic Purposes. I teach Foundation, Undergraduate and Postgraduate level students at the University of Edinburgh on courses provided by English Language Education. These include Foundation English for Academic Language and Literacies, Academic Writing for In-sessional Students and the Graduate Writing Centre.

I organise Edinburgh University's pre-sessional course for students working towards Masters degrees in the field of Language Education, English for Language Teacher Education Masters (ELTEM). I also work in partnership with undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in the Moray House School of Education and Sports (MHSES) to tailor and organise Academic Language and Literacies provision for students across the school. 

I work with many students with English is an Additional Language as well as students from Widening Participation backgrounds. I am passionate about using English for Academic Purposes and Academic Language and Literacies to enable successful transitions into and through higher education.

I previously worked as an editorial journalist (news production) in the UK media, a secondary school English teacher and a Spanish-to-English translator, with translation clients in the higher education, heritage and government sectors.

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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