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Faculty of Education and Language Studies > People Profiles > Ann Hewings

Ann Hewings

HoD (CLAC)/SL (English Lang/App Ling)

The Open University Faculty of Education and Language Studies Centre for Language and Communication


Profile

I am Director of the Centre for Language and Communication and oversee the co-ordination of the undergraduate English language curriculum within the Centre. English language modules contribute to a number of different awards including the BA (Hons) English Language and Literature and the BA(Hons) Modern Language Studies. I have been part of the teams producting both Master's and undergraduate modules.Most recently, I chaired the production of a new second level module - Worlds of English. (U214) and this is currently leading me in some interesting new research directions. I have taught English in UK language schools, and overseas in Sweden, Malaysia and Australia. I worked for ten years as a member of the COBUILD team researching and writing English language dictionaries and reference materials, and have a long standing interest in disciplinarity, particularly as revealed in academic writing within higher education. More recently, I have been investigating the discipline of English Studies oth in the UK and internationally. what constitutes the research and teaching area under the umbrella of English Studies and how do the differenct areas of interest inform approaches to English.

Teaching Interests

I have been involved in the production of both master’s level and undergraduate level English language courses as well as teacher training materials for Brazilian English teachers. I was involved in the setting up of the cross-faculty English language and literature degree (http://www3.open.ac.uk/courses/bin/p12.dll?Q01B39) and currently co-ordinate undergraduate English language courses.

I have contributed to the teaching of a Master's module Teaching English to speakers of other languages worldwide (E841), and to undergraduate modules - English grammar in context (E303), Exploring the English language (U211), Children's literature (EA300), and Worlds of English (U214). I'm currently working on Exploring English grammar (E304) and Languages and cultures (L161).

Research Interests

The development of the discipline of English studies in global contexts. In particular I am interested in how English language study is incoorporated or ignored within the subject area of English in higher education.

Using detailed textual analysis to focus on areas such as Thematic patterning, metadiscourse and the semantic contents of grammatical subjects in order to analyse different genres of academic writing including computer conference discussions: student essays written by native speakers studying geography; international students writing dissertations in business administration; published research articles in a variety of disciplines; answers written by international students in response to the IELTS examination academic writing component; essays and computer mediated discussions in the fields of applied linguistics and health and social care; psychology articles written in English by non-Anglophone context scholars. 

Learning to argue through on-line conferencing: This research project looked at the discourse of students participating in on-line tutorial conferences. Contributions resulting from different tutor strategies to encourage reflection and critical engagement on-line were compared to the final written assignments produced by students. Findings relate to stutor strategies and to the hybrid nature of both on-line and assignment writing.

 

Funded Research Projects

The discipline of English Language Studies- a global perspective? HEA Discipline Workshop Seminar Series 2011-12.

English Studies in East European Higher Education: Post-Accession Bulgaria and Romania. Leverhulme Trust funded ‘International Network’ grant  (2008-2009)

Trajectories of knowledge production: English medium academic writing in national, transnational and international contexts (2007-2008)
(Economic and Social Research Council funding)

Supporting undergraduate students’ acquisition of academic argumentation strategies through computer conferencing (2005-2006)
(Higher Education Academy funding)

Academic argument - the role of asynchronous electronic conferencing (2002 to 2003)
(Learning and Teaching Innovation Committee funding, Open University)

Academic argument- using new technologies to move students from collaborative to individual forms of argumentation (2001 - 2002)
(Learning and Teaching Innovation Committee funding, Open University)

IELTS 2000 A linguistic analysis of Chinese and Greek L1 scripts for IELTS Academic Writing Task 2 (2000-2001)
(British Council and International English Language Testing System Funding )

Research Degree Supervision
2003 Sarah North, Emergent disciplinarity in an interdisciplinary course: theme use in undergraduate essays in the history of science, PhD.

2005 Gab’sile Lukhele, Academic Writing in global open distance learning: Case studies of an MBA programme in Ethiopia, Russia and the United Kingdom, MPhil.

2006 Sylvia Jones, Arguing on-line and off: an investigation of students' argumentation in the context of computer-mediated discussions and individually written assignments, PhD.

2010 Doris Scharinger, Thematic structure of PhD thesis abstracts in English, MRes.


2011 Maria Leedham, L1 Mandarin students and L1 English students in UK HE: How and why does their use of lexical chunks differ?

Ongoing David Donnarumma An investigation of how meanings are negotiated using English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) in asynchronous communication. To what extent can this be seen as ELF? EdD.

Ongoing Jane Cobb A comparative investigation of multiple perspectives on dialogic feedback on academic writing. EdD.

Ongoing Amy Aisha Brown Discourses of the English Language in the Japanese Twitter Community. PhD.

Ongoing Theron Muller Experiences and Reflections of Emerging Scholars Pursuing Academic Publication. PhD    

 

 

 


Research Degrees Examined
2002 PhD Title: Investigating textual structure in native and non-native English research articles: Strategy differences between English and Indonesian writers, University of New South Wales, Australia.

2003 EdD Title: Students’ notions of ‘audience’ as revealed by the academic writing of a group of Open University undergraduate students, The Open University, UK.

2004 PhD Title: Person-oriented and process-oriented teachers: An investigation of the links between ESOL Teachers’ Personal Belief Systems and approaches to teaching, Aston University, UK.

2005 PhD Title: A rhetorical analysis of examination essays in three disciplines: The case of Ghanaian undergraduate students, National University of Singapore, Singapore.

2006 MPhil Title: A retrospective analysis of learning through cooperative dialogue: Dialogic acts, plausible inferences and empathy, The Open University, UK.

2006 Masters by Research Title: Comparing text structures in English and Spanish in discussion genre at university level, University of New South Wales, Australia.

2007 PhD Title: Dialogic learning in tutorial talk: a case study of semiotic mediation as a learning resource for second language international students, University of Adelaide, Australia.

2009 Yasmin Shannan Al-Bulushi  PhD Title: Awareness Raising of Language Learner’s Writing Strategies in an Omani EFL context, University of  Leeds.

2013. Nicoletta Vassiliou EdD Title: Teacher classroom practices, beliefs and attitudes towards teachers' target and first language use in public primary EFL classrooms in Cyprus. The Open University, UK.

Current Research

The effectiveness of interventions to support greater participation in, and more purposeful use of online  forums on undergraduate English Language studies modules. Open University Scholarship grant (2011-2012)

The discipline of English Language Studies- a global perspective? HEA funded seminar (June 2012)

Publications

Authored Book
Hewings, Ann and Hewings, Martin (2005). Grammar and Context. London, UK: Routledge.
Coffin, Caroline; Curry, Mary Jane; Goodman, Sharon; Hewings, Ann; Lillis, Theresa and Swann, Joan (2003). Teaching Academic Writing: A Toolkit for Higher Education. London, UK: Routledge.
Book Chapter
Hewings, Ann (2012). Learning English, learning through English. In: Hewings, Ann and Tagg, Caroline eds. The Politics of English: Conflict, Competition, Co-existence. Worlds of English. Abingdon: Routledge in association with the Open University, pp. 93–136.
Allington, Daniel and Hewings, Ann (2012). Reading and writing in English. In: Allington , Daniel and Mayor, Barbara eds. Communicating in English:Talk, Text, Technology. Worlds of English. Abingdon: Routledge in association with the Open University, pp. 47–90.
Hewings, Ann (2012). Stance and voice in academic discourse across channels. In: Hyland , Ken and Sancho Guinda, Carmen eds. Stance and Voice in Written Academic Genres. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 187–201.
Hewings, Ann and North, Sarah (2010). Texts and practices. In: Maybin, Janet and Swann, Joan eds. Routledge Companion to English Language Studies. Routledge Companions. London: Routledge, pp. 42–75.
Hewings, A.; Coffin, C. and North, S.P. (2009). Discipline-based e-conferencing: corpus and discourse insights. In: Charles, M.; Pecorari, D. and Hunston, S. eds. Academic Writing: At the Interface of Corpus and Discourse. London: Continuum.
Hewings, Ann (2009). English - one discipline or many? An introductory discussion. In: Gupta, Suman and Katsarska, Milena eds. English Studies On This Side. Plovdiv, Bulgaria: Plovdiv University Press, pp. 109–122.
Mayor, Barbara; Hewings, Ann; North, Sarah; Swann, Joan and Coffin, Caroline (2007). A Linguistic analysis of Chinese and Greek L1 scripts for IELTS Academic Writing Task 2. In: Taylor, Linda and Falvey, Peter eds. IELTS Collected Papers: Research in speaking and writing assessment. Studies in language testing (19). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, pp. 250–315.
Hewings, Ann; Lillis, Theresa and Mayor, Barbara (2007). Academic writing in English. In: Mercer, Neil; Swann, Joan and Mayor, Barbara eds. Learning English. London, UK: Routledge, pp. 227–252.
Hewings, Ann and North, Sarah (2006). Emergent disciplinary: a comparative study of theme in undergraduate essays in geography and history of science. In: Whittaker, Rachel; McCabe, Anne and O'Donnell, Mick eds. Language and Literacy: Functional Approaches. London, UK: Continuum, pp. 266–281.
Hewings, Ann and Coffin, Caroline (2006). Formative interaction in online writing: making disciplinary expectations explicit. In: Hyland, Ken and Hyland, Fiona eds. Feedback in Second Language Writing: contexts and issues. Cambridge Applied Linguistics. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Hewings, Ann and North, Sarah (2006). The use of theme as a textual organiser in undergraduate essays. In: Whittaker, Rachel; O'Donnell, Mick and McCabe, Anne eds. Language and Literacy: Functional Approaches. London, UK: Continuum International Publishing Group, pp. 257–274.
Coffin, Caroline and Hewings, Ann (2004). Grammar in the construction of on-line discussion messages. In: Coffin, Caroline; Hewings, Ann and O’Halloran, Kieran eds. Applying English grammar: functional and corpus approaches. London, UK: Hodder-Arnold.
Coffin, Caroline and Hewings, Ann (2004). IELTS as preparation for tertiary writing: distinctive interpersonal and textual strategies. In: Ravelli, Louise J. and Ellis, Robert A. eds. Analysing academic writing. Open linguistics series. London, UK: Continuum Publishing Group.
Hewings, Ann (2004). Developing discipline-specific writing: an analysis of undergraduate geography essays. In: Ravelli, Louise and Ellis, Robert eds. Analysing academic writing: contextualised frameworks. Open linguistics. London, UK: Continuum, pp. 131–152.
Hewings, Ann (2004). Impersonalising stance: a study of anticipatory ‘it’ in student and published academic writing. In: Coffin, Caroline; Hewings, Ann and O'Halloran, Kieran eds. Applying English Grammar: Corpus and Functional Approaches. London, UK: Hodder Arnold, pp. 101–116.
Curry, Mary Jane and Hewings, Ann (2003). Approaches to teaching writing. In: Coffin, Caroline; Curry, Mary Jane; Goodman, Sharon; Hewings, Ann; Lillis, Theresa M. and Swann, Joan eds. Teaching Academic Writing: A Toolkit for Higher Education. London, UK: Routledge, pp. 19–44.
Coffin, Caroline and Hewings, Ann (2003). Writing for different disciplines. In: Coffin, Caroline; Curry, Mary Jane; Goodman, Sharon; Hewings, Ann; Lillis, Theresa and Swann, Joan eds. Teaching Academic Writing: A Toolkit for Higher Education. London, UK: Routledge, pp. 45–72.
Hewings, Ann (2002). Shifting Rhetorical Focus in Student and Professional Geography Writing. In: Candlin, C.N. ed. Research and practice in professional discourse. Hong Kong: City University of Hong Kong Press, pp. 441–462.
Hewings, Ann (2002). Investigating writing in the disciplines: a case study of geography. In: Graal, Maria ed. Writing Development in Higher Education : Changing Contexts for Teaching and Learning,. Proceedings of Annual Writing Development in Higher Education Conference, University of Leicester, April 2001 (8th). Leicester: University of Leicester, pp. 137–152.
Hewings, Ann and Hewings, Martin (2001). Anticipator ‘it’ in academic writing: an indicator of disciplinary difference and developing disciplinary knowledge. In: Hewings, Martin ed. Academic writing in context: implications and applications: papers in honour of Tony Dudley-Evans. Birmingham, UK: University of Birmingham Press, pp. 199–214.
Conference Item
Lillis, Theresa; Hewings, Ann and Curry, Mary Jane (2008). The impact of global English on local knowledge production psychology in four national contexts. In: GlobEng: International Conference on Global English, 14-16 Feb 2008, Polo Zanotto, University of Verona, Verona, Italy.
Journal Article
Coffin, Caroline; Hewings, Ann and North, Sarah (2012). Arguing as an academic purpose: The role of asynchronous conferencing in supporting argumentative dialogue in school and university. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 11(1), pp. 38–51.
Hewings, Ann; Lillis, Theresa and Vladimirou, Dimitra (2010). Who's citing whose writings? A corpus based study of citations as interpersonal resource in English medium national and English medium international journals. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 9(2), pp. 102–115.
Lillis, T.; Hewings, A.; Vladimirou, D. and Curry, M. J. (2010). The geolinguistics of English as an academic lingua franca: Citation practices across English-medium national and English-medium international journals. International Journal of Applied Linguistics, 20(1), pp. 111–135.
North, Sarah; Coffin, Caroline and Hewings, Ann (2008). Using exchange structure analysis to explore argument in text-based computer conferences. International Journal of Research and Method in Education, 31(3), 257 -276.
Hewings, A. and Coffin, C. (2007). Writing in multi-party computer conferences and single authored assignments: Exploring the role of writer as thinker. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 6(2), pp. 126–142.
Coffin, C. and Hewings, A. (2005). Engaging electronically: using CMC to develop students' argumentation skills in Higher Education. Language and Education, 19(1), pp. 32–49.
Coffin, Caroline; Painter, Clare and Hewings, Ann (2005). Patterns of debate in tertiary level asynchronous text-based conferencing. International Journal of Educational Research, 43(7-8), pp. 464–480.
Coffin, Caroline; Painter, Clare and Hewings, Ann (2005). Argumentation in a multi party asynchronous computer mediated conference: a generic analysis. Australian Review of Applied Linguistics, S19: Special Edition: Language in Social Life: systemic perspectives pp. 41–63.
Coffin, Caroline and Hewings, Ann (2005). Language, learning and electronic communications media. International Journal of Educational Research, 43(7-8), pp. 427–431.
Painter, Clare; Coffin, Caroline and Hewings, Ann (2003). Impacts of directed tutorial activities in computer conferencing: a case study. Distance Education, 24(2), pp. 159–173.
Hewings, Martin and Hewings, Ann (2002). 'It is interesting to note that …': a comparative study of anticipatory ‘it’ in student and published writing. English for Specific Purposes, 21(4), pp. 367–383.
Other
Lillis, Theresa and Hewings, Ann (2008). Trajectories of knowledge production: English medium academic writing for national, transnational and international journals. ESRC, Swindon, UK.
Hewings, Ann; Coffin, Caroline and North, Sarah (2007). Supporting undergraduate students’ acquisition of academic argumentation strategies through computer conferencing. Higher Education Academy, UK.