Dr Alan Huang
Senior Teaching Fellow
Education
Personal statement
I joined the School of Education in January 2016 following the completion of my PhD in Education from the University of Edinburgh. The project was fully funded by the Principal’s Career Development Studentship and the Edinburgh Global Overseas Research Scholarship.
I have been working in UK Higher Education since 2011. I currently hold a variety of senior management positions at the University of Strathclyde, including University Senator, Senate Representative at University Learning Enhancement Committee, Faculty Chair of the Internationalisation Group (China), Institute Representative of Faculty Academic Committee and Institute Director of Postgraduate Taught programmes.
I am the founding director of MSc TESOL & Intercultural Communication and Postgraduate Certificate in Education (International) or iPGCE at the University of Strathclyde.
I have an in-depth understanding of the HE sector, such as international recruitment and reputation, funding models, fees, and increased living costs, resource allocation and strategic planning, digital transformation, student engagement, retention and completion rate and student and staff wellbeing.
I have worked as an External Examiner at several UK HE institutions including the University of Edinburgh, University of Manchester (Chief External Examiner PGCE Secondary Education), University of Salford, and so on. I am a member of the following professional bodies:
Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education’s (QAA), Institute of Leadership and Management (ILM), Higher Education Academy (HEA), General Teaching Council Scotland (GTCS), British Association for Applied Linguistics (BAAL), Scottish Educational Research Association (SERA), The European Second Language Association (EUROSLA), The European Educational Research Association (EERA).
I am a Trustee for Scotland China Education Network.
Publications
- So You Want to Teach Mandarin?
- Huang Alan
- (2022)
- Exploring the ways in which modern languages student teachers conceptualise practitioner enquiry in Scotland
- Huang Alan
- Professional Development Through Teacher Research Stories From Language Teacher Educators (2022) (2022)
- PODCAST #12 Meet a course leader : Dr Alan Huang
- Banegas Dario, Huang Alan
- (2021)
- How do virtual interactions with French speakers affect the motivation of young learners in a Scottish primary classroom?
- Innes James, Huang Alan
- Language Learning in Anglophone Ccountries Challenges, Practices, Ways Forward (2021) (2021)
- https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-56654-8
- An exploration of teacher learning through reflection from a sociocultural and dialogical perspective : professional dialogue or professional monologue?
- Huang Alan, Klein Markus, Beck Anna
- Professional Development in Education, pp. 1-15 (2020)
- https://doi.org/10.1080/19415257.2020.1787192
- The dialogical nature of language use in interactive listening : revisiting meaning in context
- Huang Alan
- Language Awareness Vol 29, pp. 21-40 (2020)
- https://doi.org/10.1080/09658416.2019.1686509
Teaching
My teaching reflects my research experience and expertise. Since joining Strathclyde, I have held key roles in the innovation, leadership, management and delivery of a number of courses. These include:
- BA (Hons) Primary Education
- PGDE Modern Languages
- BA (Hons) Education & TESOL
- International PG Certificate in Education (iPGCE)
- MSc TESOL and Intercultural Communication
PG modules I taught or currently teach on
- X3841 Contemporary Issues in Language Teaching - module leader
- X9651 Practitioner Enquiry for Professional Learning - module leader
- X3815 MSc Dissertation - module leader
- PGDE (Secondary) Modern Languages Creative Context for Learning
- PGDE (Secondary) Placement Learning
- PGDE Professional Specialisation: Languages for All - module leader.
UG modules I taught or currently teach on
- X7207 Digital Technologies in Language Education - module leader
- X7208 Developing Language and Communication Skills - module leader
- X7348 TESOL 2: Methods, Approaches and Techniques in Language Teaching - module leader
- X7432 BA Dissertation - module leader
- X7314 Science, Technology and ICT
- X7435 Social Research Methods.
MSc/MEd supervision (27 students completed).
BA supervision (11 students completed).
PGR supervision (2 students completed; currently supervising 8 students).
Research Interests
My research focuses on three areas: second/foreign language education, teacher professional learning and digital technologies in education. I have a particular interest in the application of sociocultural theory and an dialogical approach to learning and teaching.
My recent projects include exploring the dialogical nature of interactive listening, plurilingualism in Scottish education, student teachers’ digital knowledge and skills in ITE, and professional dialogue for teacher professional learning. At the theoretical level I am interested in the underlying links of language and thought, especially with regards to the way in which the wider sociocultural contexts contribute to the communication process.
I have published my research in top international peer-reviewed journals and presented my studies in the UK, China, Italy, Greece, Denmark and Finland. I am a peer reviewer for the following journals:
- Language Awareness
- Teachers and Teacher Education
- Professional Development in Education
- International Journal of Applied Linguistics.
Professional Activities
- PhD Viva
- Examiner
- 21/2/2025
- Working with the ‘Unknown’: How Language Leachers Learn in the Age of Generative AI
- Speaker
- 19/2/2025
- PGR Examination
- Examiner
- 22/1/2025
- Language Learning and Teaching in a Digital World
- Speaker
- 23/9/2024
- British Association of Applied Linguistics Annual Conference
- Speaker
- 2024
- British Association of Applied Linguistics (BAAL) (External organisation)
- Advisor
- 2024
Projects
- Introduction to Generative AI for Language Education
- Huang, Alan (Principal Investigator)
- Invited training facilitator by Scotland National Centre for Languages (SCILT)
- 01-Jan-2024 - 01-Jan-2024
- TESOL CPD for Korean high school teachers
- Huang, Alan (Principal Investigator)
- Short CPD course for high school teachers from South Korea, funding by Ulsan Office of Education, South Korea (approx. £30,000).
- 01-Jan-2023 - 28-Jan-2023
- Dalian University of Foreign Languages & HASS
- Huang, Alan (Principal Investigator)
- 16-Jan-2019
- An exploration of the role of visual professional learning tools in teacher professional learning
- Beck, Anna (Principal Investigator) Huang, Alan (Research Co-investigator)
- 10-Jan-2018 - 28-Jan-2019
- Teaching in Higher Education: Training Programme with Beijing Institute of Technology (Zhuhai)
- Huang, Alan (Principal Investigator)
- 30-Jan-2018 - 24-Jan-2018