Dr Michelle Evans

Profile

I joined the University of Leeds in 2018. I am a lecturer in English for Academic Purposes (EAP) and I am interested in all aspects of academic communication and discourse.

I am the Language Centre Programme Lead for the new University of Science and Technology, Beijing – University of Leeds Joint School. I work with colleagues across the University of Leeds and the USTB-UoL Joint School to understand ways in which we can support the development of academic language and literacies for students and postgraduate researchers. I work collaboratively with others to unpack features of curriculum design and teaching practices that make transparent the fundamental role of language within disciplines and subject-specific discourse.

I co-lead two MA modules on Text Analysis and Ethics and Malpractice in Higher Education which are part of an MA programme in Teaching English for Academic Purposes.

As Deputy Director of the Language Centre (LC), I coordinate the growing insessional provision across faculties where I also promote the development of interdisciplinary academic activity. I am a member of the LC executive group and I provide direction and leadership for the academic development of the LC. This also includes staff leadership responsibilities for recruitment, induction, performance, continuing professional development, welfare, and equal opportunities.

I have been teaching bilingual or multiligual students for over fifteen years and have taught EAP in university contexts in the UK and in EMI and TNE contexts in Vietnam. I obtained my PhD in Education from the University of Warwick. My doctoral project explored written academic genres across disciplines and the second langage writing processes of Vietnamese postgraduates studying in EMI and TNE institutions. I have also undertaken impact assessment work within English Language Teaching projects including the Teacher-Research for Difficult Circumstances project and the Warwick in Africa project at the University of Warwick.

Responsibilities

• Deputy Director, Language Centre
• Programme Lead for Insessional provision
• Language Centre Programme Lead for USTB-UoL Joint School

Research interests

My scholarship activities focus on the value of analysing different types of academic and disicplinary discourses and the various approaches we can use to undertake these analyses.

Two current genre-related projects include an investigation into writing for promotion purposes and a Language Centre-wide scholarship project investigating disciplinary discourse across the university. Related to the latter, I am co-convenor of the new Language@Leeds Mulitieracies satellite and strive to work collaboratively to understand academic languages and literacies across the university.

I recently co-edited a Bloombsury volume called, ‘Critical Conversations with EAP students: Issues and Reflections’ which is a volume written mainly by student authors. This was a student-as-partners project with important outcomes and lessons for the project team, the wider EAP community and the academy.

I continue to explore the role of social theory for or within EAP and have been working on a conceptual paper to help frame our understanding of factors that lead to successfull collaborations between EAP practitioners and colleagues in other disciplines.

My PhD supervision interests relate broadly to investigations of academic genres, second language writing processes and sociological studies of English for Academic Purposes.

Research Publications

Evans, M and Haselden, S. 2026. Critical Conversations with students of English for Academic Purposes: issues and reflections. Bloomsbury.

Evans, M. 2026. ‘Digital Transformation Discourse: A critical analysis of the representation of educators and social relations in a case study university.’ In Cerda. Y. and Winchester, J. (eds), Language and Identity in the University: Exploring marginality and liminality in HE. University of Exeter Press.

Evans, M., Cowley-Haseldon, S., Monbec, L., and Liu, Y. forthcoming 2025. ‘Access to literature for EAP practitioners’. BALEAP Research Report.

Evans, M. 2022. ‘Genre: some sociological foundations and implications.’ In Ding, A. and Evans, M (eds), Social Theory for English for Academic Purposes: Foundations and Perspectives. London: Bloomsbury. Part of Bloombsury series, New Perspectives for English for Academic Purposes, Eds. Ding, A., Bruce, I., and Wong, M.

Evans, M., Bond, B., and Ding, A. (Eds), Proceedings of the 2019 BALEAP Conference: Innovation, Exploration and Transformation. London: Garnet.

Evans. M. (2019). ‘A Study of Academic Genre: Exploring writing in English for University Purposes with Vietnamese students.’ VNU Journal of Foreign Studies, 25(1), pp. 68-83.

Saglam, A.L.S., Evans, M., and Smith, R. (2018). Teacher Research 2.0. In Pattison, T. (ed.) IATEFL 2017: Glasgow Conference Selections. Faversham: IATEFL, pp. 236–238.

Qualifications

• PhD Education
• MA Learning and Teaching
• Certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (CELTA)
• Postgraduate Certificate in Social Sciences Research
• Postgraduate Certificate of Education (PGCE)

Professional memberships

• British Association of Lecturers in English for Academic Purposes
• International Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language
• British Association for Applied Linguistics

Research groups and institutes

• Language Centre
• PRIA