Staff profile

Personal Profile

Steve is Professor (Education) and Head of the Academic Skills Centre (ASC) at Durham Centre for Academic Development (DCAD). His primary role currently involves overseeing the strategic direction of the ASC and the provision of its three streams: ASC Central (classes; one-to-one consultations; on-demand resources); ASC Embedded (academic literacy collaborations with departments) and ASC Doctoral (workshops and consultations for international researchers). More recently, Steve has been working on staff-facing provision around the integration of academic language, literacies and skills development into subject teaching. Steve previously served for two years as Director of the University's English Language Centre (now part of DCAD). 

In terms of scholarship and research, Steve's interests include curriculum, pedagogy and teacher development in English for Academic Purposes (EAP) and the value of EAP practitioner expertise for wider institutional understandings and practices around (academic) language and literacy. He has spoken widely across the UK and internationally on these areas, including as an invited speaker in Russia, Norway, South Africa and Australia. His doctoral thesis was a case study of EAP curriculum enactment, drawing on Legitimation Code Theory (LCT), a social realist framework in the sociology of education, to examine what happens as an educational programme moves from conceptualisation to course design to classroom pedagogy. Steve is coordinator of LCT-UK, a regional network with international reach, created to develop and support educational researchers and practitioners enacting LCT in their work. LCT-UK is affiliated with the LCT Centre for Knowledge Building at the University of Sydney.

Steve is a BALEAP Accreditation Scheme Assessor of EAP programmes across the UK and also sits on the Accreditation Scheme Committee (BASC). He has been an external examiner for EAP-related programmes across the country since 2009, including MA and PgCert programmes in teaching English for academic purposes (TEAP). He was a core member of the BALEAP TEAP Working Party, seeking to develop applications of the original BALEAP Teacher Competency Framework (CFTEAP) (BALEAP 2008), and worked on the development of the 2014 revision of the CFTEAP. The framework is now embedded within the TEAP Accreditation Scheme, a CPD pathway scheme for individual EAP practitioners. Steve was involved in the early conception and development of this Scheme. Portfolio criteria are mapped both to the CFTEAP and to the UK Professional Standards Framework. Steve's observation framework for EAP teacher development, co-developed with Dr Julie King (Imperial College London), was incorporated into the BALEAP Accreditation Handbook in 2011 and is still being used by institutions across the UK.

Steve taught for many years on an MA Applied Linguistics for TESOL, leading modules in Cognitive Linguistics perspectives on second language development and Teaching English for Academic Purposes (TEAP). He now teaches staff workshops on the University's Route to Fellowship programme, the ASC Doctoral programme and student and staff-facing sessions for ASC Embedded. He examines doctoral theses internationally, particularly those using LCT as an analytic framework and is currently supervising two PhD candidates in the School of Education. He runs academic reflective writing workshops across the university, using an educational enactment of LCT (Kirk 2017; 2024) to work with students from physics to sociology on, what remains for most, an unfamiliar genre.

 

Research & Publications

Kirk, S. (2024) Enacting reflective practice in sport and exercise sciences: Pedagogic and integrative perspectives. In N. Tilakaratna & E. Szenes (Eds), Demystifying critical reflection: Improving pedagogy and practice with Legitimation Code Theory. London: Routledge.

Kirk, S. (2022). Legitimation Code Theory: Addressing fragmentation in EAP. In A. Ding and M. Evans (Eds), Socialtheory for English for academic purposes: Foundations and prospects. London: Bloomsbury.

Kirk, S., & King, J. (2022). EAP teacher observation: Developing criteria and identifying the forms of pedagogic practice they afford. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 59, 101139.

Kirk, S. (2019) Knowledge-oriented perspectives on EAP: Some tools for thinking and practice. Practitioner-facing write-up of opening plenary. Knowledge in EAP. BALEAP Professional Issues meeting, University of Northampton, 22 June 2019.

Kirk, S. (2018). Enacting the curriculum in English for academic purposes: A legitimation code theory analysis. Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/12942/

Kirk, S. (2017). Waves of Reflection: seeing knowledges in academic writing. In Kemp, J. (Ed.) EAP in a rapidly changing landscape: issues, challenges and solutions. Proceedings of the 2015 BALEAP Conference. Reading: Garnet Publishing.

Kirk, S. (2015) 'Teaching English for Academic Studies' [online teacher education course for EAP practitioners]. In English for Academic Studies. Epigeum.

Kirk, S. and L. Greener (2013) ‘From TEFL to TEAP, starting with A (for Academic)’. In Pattison, T. (Ed.) IATEFL 2012: Glasgow Conference Selections. Kent: IATEFL.

Kirk, S. and J. King (2011) Framework for EAP Teacher Observation and Development. BALEAP Accreditation Scheme Handbook. Revised Edition, 2011. pp. 49-50.

Kirk, S. (2010) 'Exploiting and Embedding the EAP Teacher Competency Framework'. BALEAP Activity. Journal of English for Academic Purposes 9: 250-251.

Kirk, S. (2008) Academic Reading Module. Macmillan English Campus. 

 

Plenary Speaker

‘Thinking globally, practising and theorising locally: Knowledge and knower-building in EAP’. CEAPA-BALEAP international conference. Xi’an Jiaotong Liverpool University, Suzhou, China. 30 May 2021

‘Exploring ‘transitions’ in the design of EAP teaching’. Transitions and tribulations: EAP at the crossroads. 10^th St Andrews EAP conference. 27 February 2021.

'What Do We Actually Mean By 'Knowledge'? Some possible thinking tools'. Opening plenary. BALEAP Professional Issues Meeting (PIM). University of Northampton. 22 June 2019.

'South of the Border, West of the Sun: Explorations & Articulations in EAP'.  Nowegian Forum for EAP annual conference. 7 June 2019.

'We don't need to CLIL it; we need to KILL it: Knowledge-Integrated Language Learning for EAP'. Finding the Balance - Language and Content in EAP. St Andrews University. 27 February 2016.

'Teaching EAP: Enabling Academic Participation'. E-merging Forum, Moscow. British Council Russia. 12 March 2015.

'Lost and Found in Translation: innovating and the EAP practitioner'. Innovation in EAP: the key to the future. St Andrews University. 1 March 2014.

 

Invited Speaker

‘Why do you do what you do? Teasing out your EAP course principles’. BALEAP Accreditation Scheme (BAS) CPD day. University of Reading. 17 May 2025.

‘Using Legitimation Code Theory (LCT) to inform doctoral EAP’. BALEAP Doctoral EAP SIG. 29 Nov 2024.

‘Talking about teaching’. Plenary + 3x staff development workshops. Hong Kong University of Science & Technology. 9-13 Jan 2023.

‘Legitimation Code Theory in EAP scholarship’. Invited workshop for the BALEAP ‘ResTES’ research and scholarship network. 15 June 2022.

'Using LCT in Planning and Pedagogy'. Third International Legitimation Code Theory Conference. University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa. 1 July 2019.

'Seeing and Interpreting Knowledge Practices in Curriculum Design'. Knowledge in Education Symposium. Sheffield Hallam University. 27 June 2019.

'What Do We Actually Mean By 'Knowledge'?: Some possible thinking tools'. BALEAP Professional Issues Meeting (PIM). University of Northmampton. 22 June 2019.

'Moving beyond language and text in disciplinary writing: A teaching tool from LCT'. English Language Teaching Unit (ELTU), Leicester University. 7 December 2018.

'What can LCT tell us about EAP teaching and teacher education?'. TESOL Centre, Sheffield Hallum University. 21 November 2018.

'Principles, plausibility & practice: Three stories of scholarship from and for EAP'. Centre for English Language Education (CELE), School of Education, Nottingham University. 22 October 2018.

'Discerning design: Developing academic courses and materials with Semantics'. Invited Workshop Leader. Second International Legitimation Code Theory Conference. University of Sydney, Australia. 3 July 2017.

'Observation of EAP teaching: Principles and practice'. Opening talk + afternoon of workshops and discussion for UK institutions looking to enhance their practice. With Dr Julie King (Imperial). BALEAP Accreditation Scheme Development Day. Heriot Watt University. 14 May 2016.

'Using LCT in teaching practice: Curriculum | pedagogy | assessment'. Stellenbosch University, South Africa. 23 June 2015.

'From context to classroom in EAP pedagogy'. Centre for Languages & International Education, University College London. 6 November 2014.

'Can EAP be good for your ELF? Towards a 'European resolution''. EULEAP Conference. Humboldt University, Berlin. 4 May 2013.

‘EAP opportunities in academic reading: Some thoughts for teachers’. Staff development workshop. University of Bath. 21 February 2013.

[...]

 

Conference Papers

Kirk, S. (2025). ‘EAP as academic development: Scaffolding lecturer embedding of academic literacy’. Biennial BALEAP conference. University of Plymouth. 17 April.

Kirk, S. (2025). ‘Creating an academic skills centre: The story so far’. Biennial BALEAP conference. University of Plymouth. 16 April.

Kirk, S. (2024). ‘Shifting from student to staff development: Reflections on recontextualisation’. Fifth International Legitimation Code Theory Conference. University of the Witwatersrand, SA. 16 Jan.

Kirk, S. (2023) ‘Exploring signature pedagogies for EAP: Problems, principles & practices’. Biennial BALEAP conference. Warwick University. 20 Apr.

Kirk, S. and Morton, T. (2022). ‘Classroom assessment and assessment of classrooms’. Fourth International Legitimation Code Theory Conference. Online (Covid). 18 Jan.

Kirk, S. (2019) 'Diving for Pearls: Exploring EAP curriculum enactment with Semantics'. Third International Legitimation Code Theory Conference. University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa. 4 July 2019.

Kirk, S. (2019) 'A Context, a Curriculum & a Call to Arms: Theorising the local in EAP'. Biennial BALEAP Conference. University of Leeds. 12-14 April.

Kirk, S. (2017) 'Talking with teachers: Semantic gravity and explicit praxis in EAP'. Second International Legitimation Code Theory Conference. University of Sydney, Australia. 5 July 2017.

Kirk, S. (2017) 'From page to pedagogy: Towards 'signature profiles' for EAP'. Biennial BALEAP Conference. Bristol University, 9 April 2017.

Kirk, S. (2015) 'Waving across fields of practice: Three tales of Semantics'. Legitimation Code Theory Colloquium, University of Cape Town, South Africa. 18-19 June 2015

Kirk, S. (2015) 'Teaching reflective writing: Learning to weave and wave'. Biennial BALEAP Conference. Leicester University, 19 April 2015.

Cowley-Haselden, S., Ding, A, King, J. & Kirk, S. (2015) 'On the purposes in EAP'. Symposium, Biennial BALEAP Conference. Leicester University, 18 April 2015.

Kirk, S. (2014) 'Consulting the OrAcLe: A tool for EAP teaching planning and practice'. BALEAP PIM, Sheffield Hallam University. 29 November 2014.

[...]

 

Grants

2016. Enhancing the Student Learning Experience Award. Grant of £33,905 for PG Transitions project to develop pre-arrival online materials for Durham postgraduates. With M. Murray, S. Nolan & N. Reissland-Burghart

2007. Enhancing the Student Learning Experience Award. Grant of £7.5k to develop bespoke pedagogical materials for EAP students in Law and Business. With L. Greener.

 

Awards

2017. Winner of a People's Choice Award for 'Talking with Teachers: semantic gravity and explicit praxis in EAP'. Second International Legitimation Code Theory Conference. University of Sydney, Australia. 5 July.

2014. Winner of the Guiding Hand award. Durham Student Union Staff Awards

2013. Nominated for Lecturer of the Year. Durham Student Union Staff Awards

Journal Article

• EAP teacher observation: Developing criteria and identifying the forms of pedagogic practice they afford
  
  Kirk, S., & King, J. (2022). EAP teacher observation: Developing criteria and identifying the forms of pedagogic practice they afford. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 59. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeap.2022.101139