Dr Annie Hughes
Profile
Biography
I am a Senior Teaching Fellow in the Department and the Programme Leader of the MA in Teaching English to Young Learners. I am also the Department’s Erasmus exchange coordinator. I am a member of the Centre for Language Learning Research, the Distance Learning Forum and a visiting member of the Centre for Research on Education and Social Justice.
After initially teaching in special, primary and secondary schools in London and Liverpool, I then spent nearly ten years in English language education in the Middle East. Here I worked with the British Council, Sheik Hamad bin Khalifa’s Palace, the Qatar Ministry of Education, and the Women’s University of Qatar. I then came to York to take an MA in Linguistics and Language Teaching in the Department of Language and Linguistic Science. My dissertation involved the setting up, running and monitoring of a pilot young learner foreign language classroom for a month here on campus.
I became a Lecturer in Education, in the EFL Unit, in 1991 moving to the Department of Educational Studies in 2009 as a Senior Teaching Fellow. Whilst in the EFL Unit I created, designed and directed courses for both Japanese university student groups and TEYL teacher development courses for delivery both in-country and at York. This latter included responsibilities as the Director of Studies and tutor on The British Council Summer Schools for overseas TEYL teachers for over ten years and The British Council Specialist Seminars in the years of the 21st century.
In 1997, I created and established one of the University’s first distance learning masters programmes - the MA in TEYL. This programme has now been running for fifteen years and is delivered to four cohorts each year two totally online and two, based in Singapore and Switzerland, with face to face introductory courses in-country.
The programme recently came top in an independent international survey of distance learning ELT masters courses being offered by universities in US, Australia, New Zealand and UK. In, 2009 the programme won the Vice Chancellor’s Teaching Award.
Research
Overview
My research interests are in Teaching English to Young Learners (TEYL) in particular:
- patterns, problems and passions emerging from Action Research carried out by TEYL practitioners
- the teaching of reading to young English as a foreign language learners
- the use of story in TEYL
- the use of song, rhythm, rhyme and chant in TEYL.
My recent work and publications are linked to the research interests outlined above
Research group(s)
Publications
Full publications list
Chapters, articles and books on aspects of TEYL for trainers and teachers
Hughes, A, Marjan, H & Taylor, N. (2012) ‘Action Research in TEYL: Reflections on the Global Picture from 1996 to 2010’ in Hasselgreen, A, Drew, I, and Sorheim, B (eds) The Young Language Learner: Research-based Insights in Teaching and Learning Bergen, Norway: Fagbokforlaget
Hughes, A. (2012) ‘The use of Action Research in TEYL for Teacher Development and Professional Reflection: the joys and challenges’ in Emery, H. & Gardiner-Hyland, F. (eds) Contextualizing EFL for Young Learners: International Perspectives on Policy, Practice and Procedure Dubai: TESOL Arabia
Hughes, A. (2012) ‘Quality Assurance and Accreditation in Distance Education and e-Learning: Models, Policies and Research. By I. Jung and C. Latchem’ in The British Journal of Educational Studies Vol 60. Issue 3
Hughes, A. (2012) ‘The teaching of reading in English for Young Learners: some considerations and next steps’ in Tomlinson, B & Masuhara, H. (eds) Applied Linguistics and Materials Development London: Continuum Publishing Corporation
Hughes, A. (2012) ‘Using stories (and books) as scaffolding for our young language learners’ in Mukundan, J & Nimehchisalem, V (eds) in Readings in ELT Materials V Sendag : Faculty of Educational Studies, UPM
Hughes, A (2011) ‘Teaching reading in English as a foreign language to young learners: what the situation is and how the teaching of reading fits into the TEYL picture overall.’ In Farstrup, A, E. & Samuels, J. S. (eds) What Research Has to Say About Reading Instruction. Delaware: International Reading Association
Hughes, A (2011)’ The Literate Classroom: How to support Literacy Classroom’ In Grundschule Englisch 35. Seelze:FriedrichVerlag
Hughes. A (2007) ‘How do we think young learners learn languages?’ in the Proceedings of the 2007 APAC Conference, Barcelona, Plenary paper
Hughes, A (2010) ‘Why should we make activities for young language learners meaningful and purposeful?’ in Mishan, F. And Chambers, A. (eds) Perspectives on Language Learning Materials Development Bern : Peter Lang
Hughes. A (2007) ‘How do we think young learners learn languages?’ in the Proceedings of the 2007 APAC Conference, Barcelona, Plenary paper
Hughes, A. (2006a) ‘The all-round use of real stories and authentic books in Teaching English to Young Learners’ in Reading is for Everyone: Publications of IATEFL Hungary Young Learner Special Interest Group – Spring 2006
Hughes, A (2006) ‘The ‘Why’, ‘What’ and ‘How’ of using authentic picture books and stories in the EYL classroom – some practical considerations’ in Enever, J. & Scmid-Schönbein, G.(eds.) (2006) Picture books and young learners of English. Munich, Germany: Langenscheidt.
Hughes, A (2002) ‘Supporting Independence : Teaching English to Young Learners within a three-stage Journey’ in CATS IATEFL YL SIG newsletter 1:2
Hughes, A. (2002) ‘The linking of Language to Young Learner: Linking Understanding of Principles with Practice’. In M.J.Raya, P Faber, W. Gewehr and A.J.Peck (eds) Effective Foreign Language Teaching at the Primary Level. (pp17-24). Frankfurt : Peter Lang
Hughes, A. & Williams, M (2002) Penguin Young Readers Series – A Practical Teacher’s Guide. London: Penguin ELT
Hughes, A (2002) Songs and Rhymes. London: Mary Glasgow Publications
Hughes, A & Williams, M (2000-2002) Penguin Young Readers Series (39 titles) London: Penguin ELT
Holderness, J, and Hughes, A ( ****) 100 + Ideas for Children : Topic-BasedActivities for Teaching Children Oxford: Heinnemann ELT
Hughes, A (1998) ‘Teacher Training'. University of York: EFL Unit
Hughes, A (1998) ‘Getting Published'. University of York : EFL Unit
Hughes, A. (1993) English Across the Curriculum: Theme-based Learning in the Primary Classroom. In J. Kohn & D. Wolff (eds.) New Tendencies in Curriculum Development (pp 13-21). Sombathely: Berzsenyi Daniel
Online Courses for In-service Training
Hughes, A (2007) An Introduction To Teaching English to Young Learners. Thomson ELT (USA) Complete Online Advantage Training. Boston: Heinle Cengage
Conteh, J, Hayes, D, Hughes, A., (2006) Online In-service Trainer Training Course for Trainers of Teachers in TEYL, Nigeria. London: The British Council
TEYL Courses /TEYL readers / Classroom Teaching Materials
Hughes, A. (2011) Shrek , Mary Glasgow Popcorn Readers Series. London: Mary Glasgow Magazine
Hughes, A. (2011) Shrek Two, Mary Glasgow Popcorn Readers Series. London: Mary Glasgow Magazine
Hughes, A. (2011) Shrek The Third, Mary Glasgow Popcorn Readers Series. London: Mary Glasgow Magazines
Hughes, A. (2011) Shrek Forever After, Mary Glasgow Popcorn Readers Series. London: Mary Glasgow Magazines
Hughes, A (2010- present). Consultant in TEYL for Mary Glasgow Popcorn Readers Series. London: Mary Glasgow Magazines
Hughes, A (2002- present). Guest Editor and Topic Author for Grunschule Englisch a quarterly magazine for teachers of English to Young Learners in Seelze : Kallmeyer
Hughes, A (2002) TEYL Consultant Usborne Publishing – creation off template for Usborne young learner ELT titles and co-editing 20+ trial titles to date sent
Hughes, A (2000) The Sorcerer’s Apprentice. London: Penguin ELT
Hughes, A (2000) The Best Christmas. London : Penguin ELT
Hughes, A (2000) Goldilocks. London: Penguin ELT
Hughes, A, (1998) Carnival of Song. Berlin: Cornelson Verlag
Hughes, A (1998) ‘Songs and Rhymes’ in JET 6 (2 No 3), 2-4.
Hughes, A (1998) ‘It’s written in the Stars.’ In P. Watcyn-Jones (ed) Top Class Activities. London : Penguin ELT
Hughes, A & Brown, K (1993) Treasure Trail 3 & 4 Course: Pupils’ Book, Activity Book, Teacher’s Book & Cassette. London: Penguin ELT
Hughes, A (1992) Carousel 2 Course : Pupil’s Book, Activity Book and Teacher’s Books. London: Thomas Nelson and Sons
Hughes, A (1992) Chicken Licken Story . In P. Watcyn-Jones (ed) Top Class Activities (pp. 46 & 47) London: Penguin ELT
Holderness, J & Hughes, A (1991) Carousel 2 Course: Pupil’s Book, Activity Book and Teacher’s Books. London: Thomas Nelson and Sons
Holderness, J & Hughes, A (1991) Carousel 1 Course: Pupil’s Book, Activity Book and Teacher’s Books London: Thomas Nelson and Sons
External activities
Memberships
I am a member of the Editorial Board of the Edinburgh University Press Series in TESOL, regularly reviewing books, chapters and papers for the series.
I am a board member of MATSDA, the Materials Design Association and was the conference organizer for the MATSDA 2010 Conference ‘Engaging ELT Learners’
I am a member of the Editorial Board of the Nordic Journal of Modern Language Methodolog​y, regularly reviewing papers for the journal
I am a member of the International Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language.
Invited talks and conferences
I regularly contribute to international conferences as an invited plenary speaker and research workshops in many countries. So far, my work has taken me to over 60 countries.
