Lecturer in Second Language Education, Cambridge Faculty of Education

Karen is a Lecturer in Second Language Education in the Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge. She previously taught modern languages in secondary schools in England before completing an ESRC-funded PhD in Second Language Education at the University of Cambridge.

Karen’s current research interests include the development and transfer of language learning strategies, multilingualism and identity, and the education of students who speak English as an additional language (EAL) in UK schools. She is currently involved in the Education strand of a large AHRC-funded project on multilingualism which explores the influence of multilingual identity on foreign language learning (see the MEITS website for more information) and is an investigator on a project exploring provision of and perspectives on higher education opportunities for EAL students (with Dr Sonia Ilie). Karen has published in a range of journals including the International Journal of Multilingualism, Research Papers in Education and Language and Education. She is also a member of the editorial board for the Cambridge Journal of Education.

Karen teaches and supervises on a range of courses in the Education Faculty: she coordinates the undergraduate paper on Language, Communication and Literacies, contributes to the secondary PGCE course in Modern Languages and teaches on the Masters course in Research in Second Language Education.