Kevin W. H. Tai

Assistant Professor of English Language Education, The University of Hong Kong and Honorary Research Fellow, IOE, UCL's Faculty of Education and Society, University College London (UCL)

Currently based in: Hong Kong

MSc in Applied Linguistics and Second Language Acquisition (2017-2018)

Talk to me about: Language Education, Applied Linguistics, Academia, Professorship 

Biography: 

Assistant Professor Kevin W. H. Tai is Assistant Professor of English Language Education at the Faculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong and Honorary Research Fellow at IOE, UCL's Faculty of Education and Society in University College London (UCL). Additionally, Professor Tai is the Editorial Board Members and Editorial Assistants of the International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism (SSCI-listed Journal; Routledge) and The Language Learning Journal (ECIS-listed Journal; Routledge).

Professor Tai has a PhD in Applied Linguistics from UCL and his doctoral research was fully funded by the UK Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). He completed his doctoral coursework in Educational Research at the University of Cambridge, where he was Hughes Hall Hong Kong Alumni Scholar. He holds an MSc degree in Applied Linguistics and Second Language Acquisition with Distinction in Dissertation from the University of Oxford and a BA (Hons) degree in English Language and Literature with First Class Honours (top of the cohort) from Newcastle University, UK.

Professor Tai is CELTA-qualified and his research interests include: language education policy, classroom discourse, translanguaging in multilingual contexts and qualitative research methods (particularly Multimodal Conversation Analysis, Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis and Linguistic Ethnography). His research has appeared in international peer-reviewed journals, including Classroom Discourse, Language and Education, Linguistics and Education, System, Applied Linguistics, International Journal of Science Education, Language Teaching Research, Research in Science Education and International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism.

Professor Tai is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA) and an Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (AFHEA).

Advice to St Cross Students: “As early career academics, we are operating within an increasingly challenging environment. There are expectations for us to develop our teaching repertoire and our research publication records during our doctoral studies. It can be frustrating at times, but it is also a privilege to be able to create new knowledge and immerse ourselves in the theoretical questions that interest us. Enjoy the doctoral journey and make the most out of it while you can.”

If you would like to be put in touch with Kevin, please contact Annabelle at development@stx.ox.ac.uk