Dr Katy Jones

(she/her)

SFHEA, PhD, MA

Publication

• Date
• Type
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Research

My main research interests lie in the field of writing studies, i.e. the study of writing, especially writing pedagogy, composing, and writing processes. I am particularly keen to find ways to support and help students navigate the transition to university literacies. I run an Undergraduate peer-writing mentor programme in the ENCAP Writing Development Centre, called 'Talking about Writing with Peers'. 

Here’s a blog I wrote recently for the Cardiff Learning and Teaching Academy, called The transition to university: the challenges of knowledge (re)packaging

https://blogs.cardiff.ac.uk/LTAcademy/the-transition-to-university-the-challenges-of-knowledge-repackaging/ 

I am keen to explore ways to improve assessment experiences and outcomes for students and help them develop assessment and feedback literacy. Here is a case study of practice I carried out as part of the EAT-Erasmus project, to support the development of assessment engagement and literacy: https://www.eat-erasmus.org/case-studies-al

I am also interested in the research related to second/additional language learning and teaching (with a primary focus on writing) and learning development

Teaching

In the academic year 2024-25, I am teaching the following undergraduate modules:

• How Language Works 2 (Year 1)
• Communicating in Relationships (year 3)
• Language Learning: Theory and Practice (MA)

I am the Director of the Writing Development Centre in the School of English,Communication and Philosophy and manage a portfolio of academic writing development services for undergraduate and postgraduate students. 

Until January 2025, I was also the Academic Lead for the Education Fellowships Programmes (Senior).

Biography

I am a Senior Lecturer in Language and Communication in the Centre for Language and Communication Research, in the School of English, Communication and Philosophy (ENCAP). I have been involved in teaching in HE in different capacities for over 20 years; first as an English for Academic Purposes and Study Skills tutor, and then as lecturer/senior lecturer in language and communication. 

I hold a PhD in Language and Communication and a Diploma in English Language Teaching to Adults (DELTA). I am a Senior Fellow of Advance HE (SFHEA).

I am the founder and Director of the Writing Development Centre in the School of English, Comunication and Philosophy. The Writing Development Centre supports the writing development of over 1000 students in Literature, Language and Philosophy. We offer a portfolio of bespoke development services which include 121 writing sessions with experienced writing mentors, an expansive series of workshops and tutorial videos, and online resources. From the academic year 2025-26, we will support the launch and running of ENCAP's core Year 1 Writing at University and Beyond module. 

In 2023 I developed an undergraduate peer-writing mentor programme and research project in the ENCAP Writing Development Centre, called 'Talking about Writing with Peers'. We trained year 2 and year 3 students in non-directive tutoring strategies The programme was a big success: peer mentors reported an increase in awareness of and confidence in their own writing skills, in mentoring skills as well as other tranferrable graduate skills. The peer mentees fed back that talking with a near-peer about their writing allowed them to share concerns and questions openly. The programme is now in its second year.

In 2025, I secured funding from the South Wales Civic Engagement Partnership (SWCEP) to pilot a peer writing mentor programme at Fitzalan High School, Cardiff. The project, Writing Talk, aims to help ease the transition to university writing and learning. Our undergraduate peer mentors are working with Year 12 students to help raise awareness of and confidence in their own writing skills and university academic literacies.

Until January 2025, I was on a part-time secondment as the Academic Lead for the Cardiff University Senior Fellowship Programme, with the Cardiff Learning and Teaching Academy.

I am a peer reviewer for the Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education (JLDHE) and Lingua.

I have worked on a range of research projects at the Centre for Language and Communication Research, including working with Dr Lise Fontaine and Dr Michelle Aldridge-Waddon on project which examines students' awareness of writing processes and practices. I have previously worked with Professor Alison Wray on dementia communication, and with Professor Karin Wahl-Jorgensen in the School of Journalism, Media and Culture on a transnational project The NSA Files: Surveillance, Leaks and the New Landscape of Legitimacy. Prior to doing a PhD, I was a tutor of English for Academic Purposes at Cardiff University and the University of Sussex, and an EFL teacher in the UK and Japan for over 15 years.

Professional memberships

• Senior Fellow of Advance HE (SFHEA)
• Member of HE Teaching Focussed Network
• Member of European Writing Centres Association (EWCA)
• Member of Association of Writing Across the Curriculum (AWAC) (International Collaborations Committee member)
• Member of European Association for the Teaching Academic Writing (EATAW)
• Member of British Association of Applied Linguists (BAAL)

Speaking engagements

Talking about writing: Supporting the development of student writing.  Cardiff University's Learning and Teaching Conference. Cardiff, September 2023

The online academic poster as a step towards essay writing.  Writing, technology, thinking and learning. European Association for the Teaching of Academic Writing conference. Winterthur, June 2023.

Talking about writing: Supporting the development of student literacies in higher education. Developing explicit literacy and oracy skills. Linguistics and Knowledge about Language in Education (LKALE) conference. Cardiff, May 2023

Podcasts, blogs, and ballet: co-designing meaningful and authentic portfolio assessment. Student Success: what does the future of Higher Education look like for our students? Cardiff University's Learning and Teaching Conference. June 2022​

Online collaboration and learning communities during a pandemic. Stop/Start & Continue. Enhancing Student Learning Through Innovative Scholarship Online Conference. Online, September 2021

'We had a good laugh together!’: ​Using Teams to create an online learning community. A flipped conference: building on the lessons from a year of blended and online teaching. Cardiff University’s Learning and Teaching Conference. Cardiff July 2021

Alone together - Encouraging student collaboration online​ (workshop co-lead). A flipped conference: building on the lessons from a year of blended and online teaching. Cardiff University’s Learning and Teaching Conference. Online, 1-2 July 2021

Identifiable indefinites and co-extension. 25th European Systemic Functional Linguistics Conference. Université Paris Diderot, France. July 2014

The interpretation of identifiable indefinites: evidence from readers. 5^th UK Cognitive Linguistics Conference. Lancaster University. July 2014

Identifiable indefinites and the Givenness Hierarchy: a case of underspecification and overspecification? Pre-Cog Sci 2013: The production of referring expressions: bridging the gap between cognitive and computation approaches to reference, Berlin. July 2013.

The Givenness Hierarchy and indefinite referring expressions. Scandinavian Association for Language and Cognition IV. Joensuu University, Finland. June 2013

‘a’: to refer or not to refer. Voice of Humanities. Cardiff University. March 2012. Poster Presentation.

Committees and reviewing

Journal Reviewer. Journal for Learning Development in Higher Education

Journal Reviewer. Lingua

Committee Member of Association of Writing Across the Curriculum (International Collaborations Committee Member)

Member of Advisory Board. LED 2021 Conference: Reference: (co-)construction and use

Supervisions

I welcome PhD applications in areas relating to:

• Writing studies (including writing pedagogy, (digital) writing processes, writing (and reading) in second/additional language learning and teaching)
• Exploring the transition to university literacies
• Referring, cohesion and coherence
• Learning development in the HE context (with a focus on writing)

Current supervision

Wael Alqahtani

Holly Quinlan

Mihaila Lukic

Past projects

Nasser Alqhatani: A Cross-linguistic Study of Meta-Discourse Markers in English Academic Writing of Saudi EFL Students and UK English Native-speakers.

Aeshah Alnemari: Analysing Affective Factors in Relation to students’ achievement and behaviour in EFL in Saudi Arabia