Dr Els Van Geyte SFHEA

Dr Els Van Geyte

Principal Educational Developer (Beacon Lead)

Contact details

Email
e.m.vangeyte@bham.ac.uk
Address
Educational Development Team
Libraries and Learning Resources
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

I am a teacher, teacher developer, and author. As a member of the Educational Development team, I am responsible for the Beacon HEA Professional Recognition Scheme, for which I also assess and mentor. I have been a Senior Fellow of the HEA since 2014. My background is in Educational Linguistics, and I started at the University in 1999, teaching English for Academic Purposes and coordinating courses and activities. My publications include foreign language and skills resources such as self-study books, teacher guides, blended classroom courses and apps (see below). I am a cohort lead and facilitator on the PGCHE and have a liaison role with the College of Social Sciences. I have a continued interest in inclusive ways of teaching, in teaching international students, and in the development of postgraduates who teach. 

Qualifications

  • PhD in Applied Linguistics (University of Birmingham, December 2018)
  • Masters in Linguistics & Literature: English & Dutch (KUL, Louvain, Belgium)
  • BA in Germanic Philology [Linguistics & Literature: English & Dutch] (KUL, Louvain, Belgium)
  • Masters in Modern European Studies (London Metropolitan)
  • Postgraduate Teaching Qualification (KUL, Louvain), leading to QTS
  • Cambridge Diploma in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages
  • Certificate in Teaching English for Business (London Chamber of Commerce and Industry)

Biography

My work has centred mostly around pedagogy and languages: teaching, teacher development, continuous professional development, examining, devising exams (Institute of Linguists), writing language courses, editing and translating.

I have taught on the following programmes at the University of Birmingham: Foundation Pathways, Presessional and Insessional English courses (all at the Birmingham International Academy), Introduction to Academic Practice, Introduction to Learning and Teaching for PGTAs (at HEFi), PGCHE.

Other activities

Awards

  • 2022 (Joint) nomination for The Times Higher Awards, for Outstanding Contribution To Equality, Diversion and Inclusion
  • 2022 (Joint) nomination for the Pearson HE Innovate Awards, for the Most innovative approach to bringing inclusivity and sustainability into the classroom
  • 2013 A British Council ELTon for 'Innovation in Learner Resources' for the Collins Academic Skills Series, which I initiated and which includes my book: ‘Learning to write better academic essays'

Conference presentations

  • 2023 Association for Learning Technology conference, Warwick University: Accessible and Inclusive Practice: ways to increase and share good practice in and across our institutions (co-presented with Matt Turner)
  • 2022 UKCGE conference Birmingham: How can we future-proof our centralised teacher development courses for PGTAs?
  • 2019 IATEFL Liverpool: Teaching IELTS and the four skills; from separation to integration
  • 2019 HEFi conference Birmingham: Finding the Expert Within: Teaching in More Inclusive Ways (co-presented)
  • 2017 University Graduate School (Writing Summer School): Avoiding accidental plagiarism
  • 2016 BAAL, Cambridge: Argumentation: timeless, fundamental and … forgotten?
  • 2016 TESOL Arabia, Dubai: Bringing the flipped learning approach to IELTS
  • 2016 IATEFL: Balancing exam and language skills through flipped learning
  • 2014 Keynote Speech at Beijing International English Teaching Book Fair organised by the Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press, China
  • 2014 ISSA (International Society for the Study of Argumentation) [Amsterdam] Argumentation in Higher Education: Guiding students to academic achievement
  • 2014 IATEFL, English UK North: Post-IELTS writing: Helping students to understand and meet academic expectations
  • 2013 University Graduate School (Writing Summer School): Structuring the thesis - what story does your research tell?
  • 2012 EALTA, Innsbruck: Developing a ‘quick and effective’ tool for identifying deficit in academic writing skills for university students. (co-presented)
  • 2011 Centre for Advanced Research in English and Centre for Corpus Research joint symposium: Can we teach students how to argue? Examples from 'The Birmingham Briefs', A Corpus of Semi-Academic Professional Writing
  • 2011 Teaching and Learning Conference: What do our students really want to know about the use of English? Insights from a pilot Q&A e-mail service for international students
  • 2010 BALEAP PIM, Newcastle: Non-compulsory 'open access' classes: motivation and retention
  • 2010 Writing development in Higher Education, London: Research into Practice: A Model for Sustainable Writing Development (co-presented with Suganthi John)

Journal contributions

  • I am a reviewer for the Journal of English for Academic Purposes
  • I am a reviewer for HEFi’s Education in Practice journal
  • I was a reviewer for the Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education
  • I was a reviewer for the peer reviewed English Language Research Journal.
  • I was an editor for the Birmingham Journal for Europe.

Publications

Books

  • 2019 Reading for IELTS, Collins, co-author
  • 2017 Cambridge IGCSE English as a Second Language Revision Guide, Letts
  • 2014 Get Ready for IELTS Speaking, Teacher’s Guide, Collins
  • 2014 International Students’ Survival Guide, e-book, Collins (co-author) http://www.pages01.net/harpercollinspublishersltd/InternationalStudentsSurvivalGuide
  • 2013 Writing: Learning to write better academic essays, Collins EAP
  • 2012 Get Ready for IELTS Reading , Collins
  • 2011 Reading for IELTS, Collins

Classroom courses

  • 2016 Get Ready for IELTS: Teacher's Guide (Collins English for IELTS), co-author
  • 2016 Get Ready for IELTS: Student's Book (Collins English for IELTS), co-author
  • 2016 Get Ready for IELTS: Workbook (Collins English for IELTS), co-author ‘books’ subheading

Audio Language Courses

  • 2015 Perfect Dutch/Total Dutch: Revised version with CD-rom(co-author), Hodder and Stoughton
  • 2009 Advanced (“Perfect”) Dutch course (co-author), Hodder and Stoughton, Michel Thomas Method
  • 2008 Introductory and Foundation (“Start” and “Total”) Dutch courses, as above

Journal articles

  • Van Geyte, E. and Hadjianastasis, M., 2021. Quality and qualifications: the value of centralised teaching courses for postgraduates who teach, International Journal for Academic Development, Link to journal
  • Van Geyte, E. and Büttner, A., 2019. What would the subject specialist say? A comparison of perceptions of L2 writing. In BALEAP Biannual Conference (pp. 147-156). Garnet Education.

 Online Guides

Elsevier Publishing Campus’ Resources for Skills Training: Preparing to Write for an Interdisciplinary Audience

Apps

  • 2012 Michel Thomas: Dutch app (based on above courses), Hachette UK