Dr Jane Sunderland

National Teaching fellow 2007 Jane Sunderland is Senior Lecturer in Linguistics in the Department of Linguistics and English Language at Lancaster University. A teacher for more than 30 years, she combines her own research experience in the field of linguistics, language education and doctoral education to guide and inspire others conducting doctoral research in the social sciences: in particular, in the area of language and gender, her specialist field of research and teaching. Jane has made a significant contribution to innovation in research degree training at Lancaster, both through her own programme development and student supervision, and through her extensive research and publications. She has initiated two thesis and coursework doctoral programmes at Lancaster University which introduce largely non-traditional students to the excitement and rigours of PhD research. Jane says, I start with the assumption that the students are mature professionals, like myself, and have a lot to offer each other. I integrate this into my teaching, for example through shared online work. I take the view that knowledge and understanding are socially, discursively constructed, and can accordingly be talked into being, in particular through pair- and group-work, and whole-class discussion. I thus see my role (and input) as providing a scaffold , which allows students thinking to develop to their different next stages. Appreciating that becoming a member of a new academic community is often difficult, Jane arranges for students to work together during the distance modules, to enhancing the quality of the following online interaction and discussion. Jane has changed the way doctoral and distance education are perceived in her department. As one colleague attests: "Without doubt, Jane's biggest contribution to staff development is in showing how effective doctoral schemes may be devised for research students studying at a distance. This success is now trickling down to other levels of student learning. In fact, I have recently created a Masters scheme by distance, and the structure of this, not to mention the mechanics of how it will be run, owes much to the inspirational doctoral schemes that Jane devised and ran." Jane has used her National Teaching Fellowship to develop her understanding of Language and Gender in African Contexts, and has organised three seminars on this; in Leeds, London and Botswana. Two more, in Cameroon and Kenya, are planned. These will inform her teaching and PhD supervision and will also result in the publication of an edited collection and special issue of a journal.