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Dr Alex Leung

Associate Professor

Department: Humanities

I grew up in Hong Kong where I obtained my BA (Hons) in Contemporary English studies. During my undergraduate years I've spent some time in the States at Franklin and Marshall College, Pennsylvania and also in the UK at the University of York. Upon the completion of my BA, I came to the UK to pursue my (Integrated) PhD studies at Newcastle University in English Language and Linguistics. I successfully defended my thesis on second language phonology acquisition under the influence of multiple varieties in 2012. I first joined Northumbria as a part time lecturer in TESOL at the beginning of 2012 and have been employed as a full time lecturer since the academic year of 2012-2013. In addition to my Northumbria duties, I work as an external examiner for the MA programmes of UCLAN and was the external examiner for Leeds between 2018-2021. I’m the Secretary of the British Association for Applied Linguistics (BAAL) and have previously served as the Meetings Secretary (2013-2019) and the Publications Secretary (2021-2024). I am a section editor for Open Linguistics (De Gruyter), the Key Concepts co-editor of the ELT Journal (Oxford), and an editorial board member of the International Studies in Sociology of Education (Taylor & Francis). I am also a regular reviewer for various journals. I am currently co-editing the second edition of the Cambridge Handbook of Second Language Acquisition alongside three colleagues.

Alex Leung

Second Language Acquisition
Second Language Speech & Phonology
Applied Linguistics and TESOL
Teacher Identity and Experience
Racialisation of the TESOL Profession
Language Attitudes and Variations
Lived Experience of Ethnic Minoritised Students
English Historical Linguistics 
Research Ethics

  • Caroline McCullock "I think I am better off than I was when I arrived": An exploration of international postgraduate student experiences at a UK university through the lens of their ‘academic self-concept’ Start Date: 15/05/2024 End Date: 25/06/2024
  • Andrea Canavosio Attitudes Towards the Cordobese Accent and Their Implications for the Acquisition of Spanish as a Second Language in Argentina Start Date: 01/01/2020 End Date: 10/05/2023
  • Nancy Dieu-Ngoc Nguyen TRANSNATIONAL VIRTUAL EXCHANGE FOR GLOBAL CITIZENSHIP EDUCATION BEYOND WEIRD CONTEXTS: FROM DESIGNING TO EVALUATION Start Date: 01/10/2022
  • Qianwen Cheng Family of Chinese BA-construction - A Cognitive Approach Start Date: 29/09/2017 End Date: 24/10/2018
  • Fatuma Abdulkader Exploring Saudi EFL Teachers' and Learners' Perceptions regarding the Application of Communicative language Teaching (CLT) in the English Language Classroom Start Date: 09/06/2014 End Date: 06/11/2019

  • Education (other/general) PGCHE July 20 2015
  • Linguistics DPhil November 23 2012
  • English BA (Hons) September 01 2007
  • Fellow (FHEA) Higher Education Academy (HEA) 2015


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