Dr Jane Woodin

BA (Bristol), PGCE (Liverpool), MA, (91直播) PhD (91直播)

School of Languages and Cultures

Programme Leader for MA in Intercultural Communication

Senior University Teacher

Jane Woodin
Profile picture of Jane Woodin
j.woodin@sheffield.ac.uk
+44 114 222 0635
Jessop West

Full contact details

Dr Jane Woodin
School of Languages and Cultures
Jessop West
1 Upper Hanover Street
91直播
S3 7RA
Profile

General information 

After my first degree in French and Hispanic Studies and subsequent PGCE (Post-Graduate Certificate in Education), I worked in a range of educational settings including secondary, community, adult and further education. My first higher education post was at the University of Leon, Nicaragua (1988-90). I lived in Nicaragua for four years, working in both higher and popular education, as well as supporting small-scale development projects across the country.  I came to the University of 91直播 in 1993 as Spanish Co-ordinator with the Modern Languages Teaching Centre, which now caters for over 1000 students a year. During this time, I completed an MA in Applied Linguistics and subsequently a PhD, focusing on Interculturality and Tandem Learning. 

I moved on to develop postgraduate programmes. I set up and taught on the RSA Certificate in Teaching Languages to Adults (1995-2000). More recently I designed and developed the MA in Intercultural Communication in (2003) and the MA in Intercultural Communication and International Development (2012) which have been running successfully ever since, attracting students from across the world, who have subsequently gone on to a wide range of fascinating careers. Through extensive periods of living abroad for personal, academic and professional reasons, my experiences of being 鈥榦ther鈥, and living differently have influenced my approach to life and academic study and inspired my commitment to the intercultural programmes. I was promoted to Senior University Tutor in 2010. In 2018 I was awarded a Senate Award for Sustained Excellence in Learning and Teaching in recognition of my contribution to excellent teaching over a number of years. 

My research and teaching interests coincide considerably as my publications show. I have developed an increasing interest in dialogic approaches to intercultural development, and more recently in the area of internationalisation in Higher Education.  I have an interest in the application of this work in community and professions outside the confines of the university, and have been involved in a number of intercultural development initiatives. I have also undertaken interpreting and translation for international delegations in Central America as well as for Australian TV, and advised on subtitling of Latin American documentaries.

Personal

I am a member of the 91直播 鈥揈stel铆 Society Nicaraguan twinning, and through this have supported the training of students on an annual cultural exchange programme. I am also a keen cyclist and aspiring Argentinian tango dancer.

Responsibilities

  • Post-Graduate Development Lead (School of Language and Cultures), (2018-)
  • Director of Learning and Teaching (SLC), (2015-8)
  • Programme Lead for the MA in Intercultural Communication (2003-2024) and MA in Intercultural Communication and International Development
  • Director of Postgraduate Studies (SLC) 2010-2020
  • Member of Faculty Graduate Committee (2010-20) and Faculty Learning and Teaching committee 2015-20
  • Member of School Executive Board (2008-2020)
Research interests

My research and teaching interests overlap considerably, and I am jointly passionate about them. I have a strong interest in the role of language in everyday life and the professions, including the adoption and change of identities and identification processes, interaction between speakers of different languages, roles of equality and inequality in language use. My research includes discourse and conversation analysis with a strong focus on intercultural communication, in particular in relation to self-other positioning and identification in interaction. I have also recently developed an interest in internationalisation processes in higher education, and the role of intercultural dialogue in developing intercultural competence and citizenship. Underlying my work is a desire to understand how we use language and 鈥榗ulture鈥 to create and contest equal relationships of respect, and a strong interest in pedagogical development.

Research group

I am a member of the Centre for Linguistic Research and the Migration Culture and Community research clusters within SLC. 

I am a founding member of the British Association of Applied Linguistics Special Interest Group in Intercultural Communication (). I am also an active member of Member of CULTNET: , and the International Association of Language and Intercultural Communication ()

PhD Supervision

I currently supervise the following PhD students:

  • Primary supervisor:

Andrea Antoniou: An Ethnography of life in the Larissa Refugee Camp in northern Greece ( Scholarship)

Rob Fritz: Intercultural competence and global-mindedness in the Japanese context 

Completed PhDs under my supervision:

  • Primary supervisor: 

Nahed Arafat: The role of language in facilitating trans-cultural mental health work ( Scholarship) 

: Narrative approaches to identity and whiteness in intercultural contexts (ARHC-funding) 

  • Co-supervision: 

: Translation and/as Empathy: Mapping Translation Shifts in 9/11 Fiction (Faculty Funding)

Suzie Holdsworth: Multilingualism and representation of Citizenship in the EU context (Faculty Fee-waiver)

Grants

2011: $20,000 research project for the International Baccalaureate Research Office, on the term 鈥榠nternational-mindedness. The results of the project can be found in Castro, Lungdren and Woodin (2011) and can be found here: 

2009: 拢400 for British Association of Applied Linguistics/Cambridge University Press Seminar 鈥楰ey Themes in Intercultural Communication Pedagogy鈥 Held in 91直播 July 2009. (With Gibson Ferguson, Valerie Hobbs & Lesley Walker).

2003: 拢8000 (sole applicant) Knowledge Transfer bid for joint KE project with Gripple UK ()

1999-2001: 拢250,000 HEFCE funding for the DEVELOP peer observation project with Leeds Metropolitan University

Teaching activities

I developed the content for the core modules in the Intercultural Communication Master鈥檚 programmes and contribute across the School鈥檚 MA programmes

I convene and/or teach on the following modules:

  • Concepts and Approaches in Intercultural Communication
  • Intercultural Communication in Practice
  • Ethnography/Reflective Practice
  • Intercultural Tandem Learning
  • Research Methods in Modern Languages and Cultures 

I contribute to the following modules:

  • International Project Management
  • Critical Reading and Writing
  • Spanish-English Translation
  • Dissertation support

Teaching-related awards:

Name of Award

Awarding Body

Date of Award

Achievement cited

Supervisionary Award 

Graduate School, University of 91直播

Autumn 2019 

Excellent Supervisor (nominated by PGR students) 

Senate Award in Learning and Teaching

University of 91直播

Spring 2019

Sustained Excellence (teaching, engagement and internationalisation) 

Exceptional Contribution Award 

University of 91直播

2011 

Cohesion of MA programmes 

Exceptional contribution Award

University of 91直播

2010

Integration of MA programmes into School of Languages and Cultures 

Exceptional contribution Award

University of 91直播

1995 

Contribution to teaching development 
Professional activities and memberships

Selected Presentations

BAAL/CUP Seminar paper: Tandem learning, Native/ intercultural speaker: Evidence from tandem learner conversations, 91直播 July 2009

2008 Woodin British Association of Applied Linguistics 41st Annual Conference (Swansea), conference proceedings, 鈥楥ultural Categorisation鈥 (paper presented within the colloquium 鈥楧iscourses, Communication and Interculturality鈥)

Invited presentations

Tandem Learning: Opportunities and challenges: Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) and
Universit茅 Libre de Bruxelles (ULB) 20.04.12

Other external activities

  • Founding member of British Association for Applied Linguistics Special Interest Group in Intercultural Communication ()
  • Reviewer /reader of intercultural publications for two major publishing companies, Language Teaching Journal, System, Ling眉铆stica Aplicada
  • External examiner for 2 UK Intercultural Masters鈥 Programmes
  • PhD external examiner
Selected publications

Woodin, J., Hamaidia, L. and Methven, S., (2021). Cultures in translation, complexity and development inequalities: cultivating spaces for shared understanding. Language and Intercultural Communication, 21(1), pp.55-68. 

Woodin, J., U. Lundgren, & P. Castro (2019). . In, U. Lundgren, P. Castro & J. Woodin (Eds.), Educational Approaches to Internationalization through Intercultural Dialogue Routledge. pp. 211-227.

Deardorff, D & Woodin, J., &. (2019). Higher Education Policies in the USA: Successes and lessons learned in relation to intercultural dialogue. In, U. Lundgren, P. Castro & J. Woodin (Eds.), (see above) pp. 126-137.

Woodin, J. (2018). . Routledge Studies in Language and Intercultural Communication.

Hamaidia L, Methven S, Woodin J. (2018)  Parallel shifts in translation and intercultural communication studies and their significance for the international development field Translation Spaces 7(1):119-142 

Woodin, J., 2017. . The International Encyclopedia of Intercultural Communication, pp.1-9.

Woodin, J. (2016) 鈥楬ow to research interculturally and ethically鈥 in Zhu, H. Research Methods in Intercultural Communication: a Practical Guide. Wiley-Blackwell  pp103-119 (invited contribution).

(2015) Castro, P., Lundgren, U. & Woodin, J. 鈥業nternational Mindedness through the looking glass: Reflections on a concept鈥 Journal of Research in International Education December 2015 14: 187-197

Castro, P, Lungdren, U, & Woodin, J. (2013) Conceptualizing and assessing International Mindedness: An exploratory study. Report commissioned by the International Baccalaureate Research Office, available at: , 

(2013) 鈥楴ative or intercultural speakers? An examination of dyadic conversations between Spanish - and English - speaking tandem learners鈥 in Sharifan & Jamarani (eds.) Intercultural Communication in the New Era, Routledge

(2011) Woodin, J Castro, P and. Lungdren, U. 鈥 Towards a framework鈥 in European Journal of Higher Education, Vol 1, Issue 2-3, pp. 119-134.

(2010) 鈥楥ultural categorisation: What can we learn from practice? An example from tandem learning鈥, in Language and Intercultural Communication, Vol 10. No.2, pp. 225-242

(2009) Woodin J. Tandem Learning as an intercultural Activity: Evidence from conversations about word meaning. Unpublished Doctoral Thesis.

2007 Woodin J. 鈥 Intercultural Positioning in Tandem Conversations鈥, in Weinert, R. (ed.) Spoken Language Pragmatics, Continuum

(2006) Cultural Training materials for University Cultural Exchange (Nicaragua) students. Published in-house

(2003) Woodin, J., 鈥楨ncouraging Intercultural Competence in Tandem Learning鈥 in Lewis, T., & Walker, L., (2003) Autonomous Language Learning in Tandem, Academy Electronic Publications, 91直播. 

2002 Woodin, J., 鈥淐omp茅tence Interculturelle鈥, Helmling, Brigitte (Ed.). in L'apprentissage autonome des langues en tandem (Collection Essais C.R.E.D.I.F.). Coord. par Brigitte Helmling. Avec la coop茅ration de Helmut Brammerts, Karin Kleppin, Iva Cintrat, Erik Otto. Paris: Editions Didier. (5 pages).(Trans.from English)

2001 Woodin, J., 鈥淒ie Foerderung interkultureller Kompetenz beim Sprachenlernen im Tandem鈥, in Brammerts, H. & Kleppin, K., (eds.), Selbstgesteuretes Sprachenlernen im Tandem, Stauffenburg Verlag. (8 pages). (Trans.from English)

2001 Woodin, J., 鈥淭andem learning as an Intercultural Activity鈥 in Byram, M., Nichols, A. & Stevens, D., (eds.) Developing Intercultural Competence in Practice, Multilingual Matters, (14 pages).

Links to other sites: 

Research Gate ()

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