Associate Professor Karen Ashton BA, BCA, MA, PhD

Contact details

• Location: SGP 4.20, Sir Geoffrey Peren Building
  Campus: Turitea

Qualifications

• Bachelor of Arts - Victoria University (1997)
• Bachelor of Commerce and Administration - Victoria University (1998)
• Master of Arts (Distinction) - University of Wales (2004)
• Doctor of Philosophy - University of Cambridge (2009)

Certifications and Registrations

• Licence, Mentor Supervisor, Massey University

Research Interests

• Language learning and teaching
• Diverse learners and contexts
• Language education policy
• Language assessment (particularly classroom-based assessment, large-scale assessment development projects)
• Policy borrowing and learning (particularly Western pedagogical and assessment practices in Asian cultures)
• Teacher agency
• Teacher professional development
• Forensic linguistics

Karen has published and presented widely in this field including on the following areas: teacher agency, effective language teaching pedagogy, multi-level teaching, refugee learner experiences, classroom-based assessment, policy borrowing and learning, comparability of language assessments, alignment of assessments to the CEFR, assessment of non-Latin script and community languages, cross-language comparison of learner reading strategies.

Karen is a member of the Editorial Board for the following journals:

• New Zealand Studies in Applied Linguistics (NZSAL)
• Studies in Language Assessment

Projects

• MURF funded project titled Court interpreting: Lost in translation [2021]
• Massey Strategic Research Excellence Fund project titled Accomodating diversity of New Zealand language learners [2020-2021]
• MURF funded project titled Multi-level languages classrooms: What are the challenges and how do teachers cope? [2016]
• Project titled A case study of the Japanese programme at Massey University: enrolment patterns and concomitant environmental factors. [2015]
• A New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) funded project titled Investing in Educational Success model: Critical Evidence review. [2014-2015]
• A Sasakawa Fellowship Foundation project titled Japanese language education in New Zealand: An evaluative literature review of the decline in students since 2005. [2012-2013]
• Project Manager for the European Survey on Language Competences (UK), (initiated and funded by the European Commission), which tested the language skills of 55,000 secondary school pupils in 14 European countries. [2008-2012]
• Research lead for Asset Languages, a multilingual assessment project (UK) derived from the UK's National Languages Strategy. Her role included test validation and managing a research agenda including cross-language and framework comparability. [2004-2008]

Thematics

21st Century Citizenship

Area of Expertise

Field of research codes
Applied Linguistics and Educational Linguistics (200401):
Comparative and Cross-Cultural Education (130302): Curriculum and Pedagogy (130200): Education (130000): Education Systems (130100):
Languages, Communication And Culture (200000): Linguistics (200400):
LOTE, ESL and TESOL Curriculum and Pedagogy (excl. Maori) (130207): Specialist Studies in Education (130300): Teacher Education and Professional Development of Educators (130313)

Keywords

Applied Linguistics

Teacher Agency

Teacher Professional Development

Language Learning and Teaching

Language Assessment

Critical Applied Linguistics

Language Policy

Forensic Linguistics

Discourse and Policy Analysis

Teaching Statement

I teach and contribute to a range of applied linguistics, language education, TESOL and linguistics courses. I also contribute my expertise to tailored programmes for international groups.

In my teaching, I aim to build a respectful, friendly, inclusive, and supportive learning community which engages all students, and where students feel both supported and challenged to achieve to the best of their ability. Theory and practice are combined in my course design and approach to teaching where I aim to provide a safe space for students to reflect on their learning and practice together. I believe in the importance of providing effective scaffolding to support students in becoming more confident and autonomous with their learning over time.

I enjoy all kinds of teaching whether it is with small groups of students in a face-to-face format or large groups of learners in an online environment. As a reflective practitioner, I am always keen to learn more about teaching and ways to improve my practice.

Graduate Supervision Statement

As an experienced postgraduate supervisor at both Masters and PhD level, my goal is to support students in developing the skills needed to become autonomous and independent researchers. I enjoy the process of working with students to pursue an area they are passionate about and supporting them with refining their research ideas and designing their projects. The most rewarding part of supervising students is seeing them develop their confidence and research skills across the research journey, and becoming experts in their topic.

The concept of ako, reciprocity between the teaching and learning process, and between teacher and student, is an important part of my teaching and supervision philosophy and is evident in the way I work with students.

Current Doctoral Supervision

Main Supervisor of:

• Nailul Pamungkas - Doctor of Philosophy
  EFL Teacher Agency in Navigating Changes in Formative Assessment Practices in the Indonesian Secondary School Context
• ~ Yuliandri - Doctor of Philosophy
  Secondary school English Language teacher agency in the aftermath of COVID 19 Crises: a study from a West Sumatran region, Indonesia
• Jingwen Gu - Doctor of Philosophy
  Exploring Primary School Teacher Perceptions and Practices Integrating Technology in a Chinese EFL Context

Co-supervisor of:

• Phakhawadee Chaisiri - Doctor of Philosophy
  Exploring Learner Beliefs about Language Learning and Multilingualism of Multilingual Indigenous-background Language Students in Thailand
• Fangshu Wang - Doctor of Philosophy
  Family Language Policy in Miao Families in Guizhou Province, China
• Vicky Liu - Doctor of Philosophy
  The Perceptions and Practices of Second Language Teachers Regarding Digital Technologies for Communicative Competence
• Kanokphan Tongpong - Doctor of Philosophy
  Language Teacher Agency in English for Medical Purposes in the Thai Tertiary Context

Completed Doctoral Supervision

Main Supervisor of:

• 2020 - Ong-Art Namwong - Doctor of Philosophy
  Learner-centred Approaches in Teaching English in Thailand

Co-supervisor of:

• 2023 - Hong Nguyen - Doctor of Philosophy
  Positive emotions in English language learning in the Vietnamese tertiary contexts
• 2022 - Timu-O-Te-Rangi Niwa - Doctor of Education
  Problematizing Māori Achievement in Education Policy: An Exploratory Mixed-Methods Study on Teacher Enactment of Ka Hikitia
• 2019 - Thi Dang - Doctor of Philosophy
  Changes in beliefs of pre-service teachers in an ESP teacher education program in Vietnam
• 2017 - Fareeha Javed - Doctor of Philosophy
  Pakistani Learners' Transition into University

Media

• 30 Jun 2012 - Newspaper
  Call to make learning languages compulsory
  Article for the Manwatu Standard
• 20 Jul 2012 - Other
  Study encourages early language lessons for kiwis
  Massey University news story
• 20 Aug 2016 - Magazine
  Language learning: Speak to me
  The Listener
• 17 May 2016 - Radio
  Maths, science and global competence?
  Radio New Zealand
• 07 May 2015 - Online
  NZ policy silent on language learning
  Massey University news story
• view more...
• 02 Jul 2012 - Newspaper
  Broaden kids horizons by learning languages
  Newspaper column for The Tribune
• 01 May 2014 - Newspaper
  Going places with languages
  Newspaper column for The Tribune
• view less...

Other Links

• Research Gate
• Google Scholar