Dr Thomas Hammond

Profile

After graduating in English Language and Italian from the University of Manchester I began teaching English as a Foreign Language (EFL) at highschools and private language schools in Italy. I then returned to the UK where I taught English for Academic Purposes (EAP) for a number of years across various universities (including Durham, Sheffield, Birmingham). I obtained an MA in Applied Linguistics with TESOL at the University of Sheffield, where I stayed to complete my PhD study. I joined the University of Leeds as Teaching Fellow in October 2023 and have continued as Lecturer since January 2025.

Responsibilities

• Academic Lead for Student Opportunities and Futures

Research interests

My research is grounded in the application of theoretical linguistics to real-world language use and learning. I am particularly interested in how insights into language structure and representation can inform our understanding of both first and second language development. Building on this, I explore how theoretically informed accounts of acquisition can be translated into pedagogical practice, contributing to the field of pedagogical linguistics and the development of more effective language teaching approaches. Extending this applied perspective, I am also interested in how language is used, processed, and accessed in educational contexts, and how individual differences and environmental factors might influence this.

Qualifications

• PhD English Language and Linguistics
• MA Applied Linguistics with TESOL
• BA English Language and Italian
• CELTA

Professional memberships

• Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA)
• European Second Language Association
• British Association for Applied Linguistics
• Centre for Language Education Research (Leeds)
• Centre for Linguistic Research (Sheffield)

Student education

I teach modules at Leeds on the MA TESOL and MA TESOL Studies programmes covering the following areas:

• second language learning and development
• language analysis and description
• corpus linguistics
• research methods
• learning and teaching of grammar

I also support the MA TESOL China programme and teach modules in China at Guangdong University of Foreign Studies.