Dr Jenny Kemp

I joined the School of Education in September 2023. My main research interests and publications are in the areas of corpus linguistics, lexis, EAP, reading skills and discipline-specific vocabulary, particularly legal English / English for Law. 

I have over 30 years’ experience teaching EFL / ESL / ESP / EAP / ESAP / EALP in a wide variety of contexts in the UK and Greece. During my career, I have taught children and adults; monolingual and multilingual classes; large groups and 1:1; general English, ESP and exam prep classes; face-to-face and online. I was also a Cambridge Assessment oral examiner for many years. Now I enjoy sharing my knowledge and experience with aspiring and practising teachers!

I first joined the University in 2007 as an English for Academic Purposes (EAP) tutor, and have both taught on, and managed, pre-sessional and in-sessional programmes, as well as short courses for university students and for academics. I have extensive experience of curriculum development, materials design and test development. I am also interested in CPD / teacher development: I ran the TEAP individual accreditation scheme for the professional association BALEAP for three years, and I am a TEAP mentor and Assessor. I am, furthermore, a Leicester graduate – having done both my first (BA) degree and my PhD at Leicester.

My main research interests lie in the areas of English for Academic Purposes (EAP), English for Specific Academic Purposes (ESAP), reading skills, Legal English/English for Law, discipline-specific lexis, vocabulary learning and teaching, corpus linguistic methodologies and data-driven learning. 

In particular, my current research concerns the vocabulary that postgraduate International Law students require for reading. This is interdisciplinary research, so I work closely with colleagues in Law and Legal Education. Having completed my doctoral thesis in 2022 my main activities are centered on publishing my innovations and findings, which include an innovative method for evaluating and reporting representativeness, a word list for International Law, and insights into the language of intra- and intertextuality. I am under contract to produce a monograph for a Routledge Legal Education series.

ORCiD

Edited volume:

Kemp, J. (2017). EAP in a Rapidly Changing Landscape: issues, challenges and solutions. Proceedings of the 2015 BALEAP Conference. Reading: Garnet. ISBN: 9781782603450  ‘Introduction’ available.

Peer-reviewed journal articles and chapters:

Kemp, J. (2024) How do I know this Law corpus is reliable and valid? Using a representativeness argument for corpus evaluation. Applied Corpus Linguistics, 4(3), 1-10. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.acorp.2024.100099 [Includes a PG International Law word list]

Kemp, J. (2024)  Discipline-specific vocabulary for the E(S)AP classroom: the case for International Law. In K. Katsampoxaki-Hodgetts (Ed.) Options and practices of EAP, ESP and EMI multiliteracies and their pedagogical implications. Proceedings of the 4th International EAPCRETE Conference. Heraklion: University of Crete.

Charleton, L., Kemp, J., & Bleasdale, L. (2024) Interview with the 2024 ALT Best Paper in Legal Technology Prize Winners. The Law Teacher, 58(4), 626–631. https://doi.org/10.1080/03069400.2024.2424678

Kemp, J. (2018) ‘A rosy-fingered dawn for legal education? Insights from a corpus linguistic perspective on text’. Nottingham Law Journal, 27(2), 82-94.

Preshous, A. and Kemp, J. (2017) ‘Exploiting corpora to address the discipline-specific vocabulary needs of students’. In J. Kemp (Ed.) EAP in a Rapidly Changing Landscape: issues, challenges and solutions. Proceedings of the 2015 BALEAP Conference. Reading: Garnet, 205-216. ISBN: 9781782603450

Kemp, J. and Fulcher, G. (2013). ‘Performance Decision Trees: Developing domain-specific criteria for teaching and assessment’. In J. Wrigglesworth (Ed.) EAP within the higher education garden: Crosspollination between disciplines, departments and research. Proceedings of the 2011 BALEAP Conference. ISBN: 9781908614711. Reading: Garnet, 159-170.

Fulcher, G., Davidson, F. & Kemp, J. (2011). ‘Effective rating scale development for speaking tests: Performance Decision Trees’. Language Testing, 28(1), 5-29.

Kemp, J. (2010). ‘The Listening Log: motivating autonomous learning’. ELT Journal, 64(4), 385-395. 

Chapters in peer-reviewed teacher resource books:

Kemp, J. & Timms, L. (2022) ‘Exploring semantic prosody with trainee teachers’. In V. Viana (Ed.) Teaching English with corpora: A resource book. Abingdon: Routledge (Chapter 34).

Kemp, J. & Anthony, L. (2022) ‘Which words should I look up? Identifying unknown high-frequency words in English for academic purposes’. In V. Viana (Ed.) Teaching English with corpora: A resource book. Abingdon: Routledge (Chapter 51).

Kemp, J. & Anthony, L. (2022) ‘How can I be more specific in my writing? Exploring relative pronouns in English for academic purposes’. In V. Viana (Ed.) Teaching English with corpora: A resource book. Abingdon: Routledge (Chapter 56).

Other publications:

Clark, R., Fordham, R., Gurr, H., Kemp, J., Marks, R., & Ward Goodbody, M. (2016). ‘The BALEAP TEAP Scheme: Promoting CPD among TEAP professionals’. Event Report: Durham & Bristol TEAP workshops, Spring 2016. Professional and Academic English (IATEFL ESP SIG journal), 48, 43-4.

Kemp, J. (2014). ‘Review: Oxford, (2014). Oxford Learner’s Dictionary of Academic English. Oxford: Oxford University Press. (ISBN: 978-0-19-433350-4).’ International Student Experience Journal, 2 (1), 39-42.

Kemp, J. (2008). ‘The Listening Log: Exploiting listening opportunities beyond the classroom’. In the online proceedings of the LLAS/CILT Languages in Higher Education conference: Transitions and connections, York, July 8th–9th, 2008.

Kemp, J. (2007). ‘Foundations in Language Testing & Assessment: Event report' for the workshop organized by the Higher Education Academy (HEA) Subject Centre for Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies (LLAS), held at the University of London, 16th November, 2007.  

Current students who I first or co-supervise:

• Suphanut Sukkasem:  Gain and Loss Framing in Racial Hate Crime Communication: A Corpus-based Approach   (interdisciplinary, Applied Linguistics/Criminology)
• Zachary Spiering: Are We Still Speaking the Same Language? A Sociolinguistic Corpus Analysis of Political Discourse in American English
• Johnson Chan: Theorizing the Administration of Disciplinary Literacy Enhancement Initiatives: Using a Hong Kong University English Language Center as a Case Study

I am happy to consider projects in one or more of the following areas:

• projects using corpus linguistics methodologies (in conjunction with another topic area listed);
• vocabulary: particularly academic and discipline-specific vocabulary; lexico-grammatical patterns; multiword units;
• data-driven learning (DDL); using corpora and concordances to plan lessons, for L2 teacher CPD and/or in the classroom; the possibilities for DDL in mainstream primary and secondary teacher education;

• English for academic purposes (EAP), English for specific academic purposes (ESAP), English for Specific or Professional Purposes (ESP, EPP) – (in conjunction with another topic area listed);
• legal English / English for Law / English for academic legal purposes (EALP); legal discourse; legal registers; intratextuality and intertextuality in Law texts;
• reading skills development and listening skills development, particularly developing these skills through knowledge of vocabulary and register; lower-level and higher-level processing skills for reading;

• interdisciplinary research into the language of a discipline (I am open to co-supervision with faculty in other schools / departments)
  
  

I mainly teach on the campus-based MA TESOL and MA Applied Linguistics and TESOL, and the distance learning MA Applied Linguistics and TESOL.  I am module convenor for ED7512 English for Specific Purposes.

I also contribute to other School of Education programmes and courses.

Peer Reviewer: Journal of English for Academic Purposes, ELT Journal, Applied Corpus Linguistics, BALEAP Conference Proceedings. I also periodically review book proposals for publishers (within my research or teaching areas).

Member of BALEAP (formerly the British Association of Lecturers in English for Academic Purposes):  Mentor and Assessor for the BALEAP TEAP Fellowship Scheme (2014- ); founding committee member and Scholarship & Research Officer, BALEAP Law Special Interest Group (2021- )

Member of BAAL, the BAAL Corpus SIG, IATEFL, IATEFL ESP SIG and the Association of Law Teachers (ALT).

Previous activities include:

• External Examiner, Leeds University (2019- 2023)
• PEERS Assessor (Leicester University’s HEA Fellowship pathway) (2014-2021)
• BALEAP TEAP Officer (Executive Committee, Trustee of the Charity) (2015-2018)
• Member of the TEAP working party and BALEAP TEAP pilot scheme (2012-2015)

This page is organised thematically.

Legal Education and Law vocabulary:

Invited:
2024 With Laura Charleton (University of Kent) ‘Building Bridges in Academia: Collaboration Across Borders and Disciplines’. Connecting Legal Education Network, online seminar, 27th February.
2024 ‘Teaching discipline-specific vocabulary for law’. BALEAP LAW SIG, online talk, 13th February.
2023 ‘The Law-specific words that make up a quarter of LLM reading’. Seminar for the Legal Education Research Cluster at Leicester Law School, 14th December.
2018 ‘Linguistic insights into the needs of International Law (LLM) students'. (Seminar) Centre for Excellence in Language Teaching (CELT) and Centre for Innovation and Research in Legal Education (CIRLE), University of Leeds, June 13th.
 
Other:
2024 ‘Addressing learner needs: how to help LLM students acquire discipline-specific vocabulary.’ Paper presented at the Centre for Legal Education (CLE 2017) biennial conference. Nottingham Trent University, 28th June.
2024 ‘The law-specific words that make up a quarter of LLM reading.’ Association of Law Teachers’ annual conference: Opportunities and Challenges in Legal Education (ALT 2024), University of Swansea, 11th-12th April. [Jointly awarded the ALT prize for best paper in legal technology]
Apr. 2024 ‘Identifying discipline-specific vocabulary for the E(S)AP classroom: the case for International Law.’ Paper, EAP Crete, University of Crete, 26-28th April.
Apr. 2024 ‘Exploring discipline-specific vocabulary for the ESAP International Law classroom.’ Workshop, EAP Crete, University of Crete, 26-28th April.
2022 ‘The vocabulary LLM International Law students really need’. (paper) Centre for Legal Education Conference: Community, Creativity and Culture in Legal Education, Nottingham Law School, 13-17 June 2022.
2022 ‘Research Update: What vocabulary can and should we teach International Law postgraduates?’ (mini-presentation) BALEAP Law SIG inaugural event. Online, 10th June.
2019 ‘The broader lexical needs of International Law LLM students: beyond terminology.’ (paper) Association of Law Teachers (ALT 2019), De Montfort University, Leicester, 8th-9th April.
2018 'Corpus linguistic technologies & the DSVC international law corpus: insights into the lexis of LLM texts'. (paper) British & Irish Law Educ. & Tech. Assoc. (BILETA) Conference Digital Futures: places and people, technology and data Aberdeen, 10-11th April.
2017 'Supporting international LLM students with the aid of corpus linguistic technologies.' (paper) Centre for Legal Education (CLE 2017) Conference: Technology, legal education and legal practice. Nottingham Trent University, 17th June.
 

Corpora, concordances, corpus linguistics, data-driven learning:

Invited:
2021 ‘Looking at concordance lines: patterns in Latin, Greek & the language of Archaeology’. (Talk) School of Archaeology & Ancient History, University of Leicester, 4th June.
2017 'Corpora in the classroom: helping students build up EAP and ESAP Vocabulary.' (Workshop) English Language Teaching Centre, University of Sheffield, 25th January.
 
Other:
2024 ‘Identifying discipline-specific (law) vocabulary that an ESAP teacher can cover.’ Paper, Teaching and Language Corpora Conference (TALC 2024), Manchester Metropolitan University, 7th -10th July.
2024 ‘A Representativeness Argument for Corpus Evaluation.’ Poster, Teaching and Language Corpora Conference (TALC 2024), Manchester Metropolitan University, 7th -10th July.
2023 ‘Using a Representativeness Argument for Corpus Evaluation.’ (paper) Corpus Linguistics 2023, Lancaster, UK, 3rd-7th July.
2022 With Luke Timms, ‘Interpreting concordance lines’. (workshop) Leicester Univ., 8th April.
2019 Building a validity argument for representativeness. (paper) Corpus Linguistics 2019, University of Cardiff, 23rd-27th July.
2019 ‘Building a corpus to explore students’ lexical needs: the case of postgraduate Law reading’ (paper) BALEAP 2019, University of Leeds, UK , 12th-14th April.
2019 ‘Develop your corpus competence and your understanding of discipline-specific student needs.’ (workshop) BALEAP 2019, University of Leeds, UK, 12th-14th April.
2018 'Working towards a Discipline-Specific Vocabulary Core (DSVC) for postgraduate International Law'. (paper) Teaching and Language Corpora Conference (TALC 2018), Cambridge, 18th-21st July.
2017 'The building blocks of a Discipline-Specific Vocabulary Core (DSVC)'. (poster) Corpus Linguistics 2017, University of Birmingham, 24-28th July.
2016 'Corpora in the Classroom: helping students build up discipline-specific vocabulary.' (workshop) IATEFL ESP SIG International conference: English for Specific Purposes in Focus: Content Language Acquisition vs General Language Acquisition. IST College, Athens, Greece, 1st -2nd October.
2016 'Towards a Discipline-Specific Vocabulary Core for postgraduate Law students: reporting on a pilot study.' (poster) Teaching and Language Corpora Conference (TALC 2016), Giessen, Germany, 20th-23rd July.
2015 ‘Using concordances to raise awareness of grammatical patterns.’ (workshop) BALEAP PIM: Approaches to Grammar in EAP. University of St Andrews, June 20th.
Apr. 2015 ‘Using corpora to teach discipline-specific vocabulary.’ (paper) BALEAP Biennial Conference, EAP in a Rapidly Changing Landscape: issues, challenges & solutions, Leicester, April 17th -19th.
2014 ‘Using Concordances in the Classroom: an introduction.’ Presentation at the BALEAP Professional Issues Meeting (PIM): EAP and Corpora. University of Coventry, June 21st.
2014 ‘Using Concordances in the Classroom: a hands-on workshop.’ (workshop) BALEAP Professional Issues Meeting (PIM): EAP and Corpora. University of Coventry, June 21st.

 

EAP, TEAP, teaching ‘international’ students, teacher development:

Invited:
2019 BALEAP 2019 Conference invited practitioner panel, University of Leeds, 12-14th April. 
2016 'Working towards professional recognition: the BALEAP TEAP Scheme.' (Workshop) English Language Teaching Centre, University of Sheffield, 20th December.
2016 'Teaching International Students.' (Library Teachmeet workshop) University of Leicester, June 15th.
2014 'Teaching overseas'. (co-delivered talk) Collaboration with the Academic Practice Service, University of Leicester.
Other:
2021 ‘Interpreting the TEAP Competency Framework (2008) through corpus spectacles’ (presentation), BAAL Corpus SIG, Coventry, UK (online event).
2018 BALEAP TEAP Workshop, University of Reading, 24th March.
2017 'BALEAP TEAP Fellowship Scheme – building a portfolio' BALEAP Webinar Series. 10th May.
2017 With Olwyn Alexander. 'Observations in the EAP Classroom.' (workshop) BALEAP Pre-conference event. University of Bristol, 7th April.
2016 'Introduction to the BALEAP TEAP Fellowship Scheme.' (workshop) IATEFL ESPSIG International conference. IST College, Athens, Greece, 1st -2nd October.
2016 BALEAP Bristol TEAP Workshop, (organiser and co-presenter) Centre for English Language & Foundation Studies, Bristol University, 21st May.
2016 BALEAP Durham TEAP Workshop, (organiser and co-presenter)  English Language Centre, Durham University, 22nd April.
2014 ‘Getting Started with the TEAP Portfolio’. (seminar co-presenter) EAP in the East Midlands Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, 20th May.
2011 ‘Our approach to reading on the summer presessional’, (mini-presentation) EAP in the East Midlands seminar on Reading in EAP. Nottingham Trent University, 8th March.

Listening Skills:

Other:
2013 ‘The Listening Log: Evidence & Dialogue.’ (presentation) EAP in the East Midlands seminar on Listening in EAP. Leicester University, Leicester, 5th June.
2011 ‘The Listening Log: a window into experiences’ (paper) BALEAP PIM: How good is the international student experience in British universities and how can we help to improve it? University of Leicester, June 25th.
2010 ‘The Listening Log: Facilitating learner competency beyond the classroom’. (paper) IATEFL ESP SIG conference EAP in university settings: teacher & learner competencies. Bilkent University, Ankara, Turkey, 18th-19th June. 
2008 ‘The Listening Log: Exploiting listening opportunities beyond the classroom’. (paper) LLAS/CILT Languages in Higher Education conference: Transitions and connections. University of York, 8th -9th July.

Speaking assessment:

Invited:
2012 'Performance Decision Trees: What are they and why are they useful?' (talk) Universitat Jaume I, Castellon de la Plana, Spain, 30th March.
2012 'Developing a PDT for Speaking Assessment at Universitat Jaume I.' (workshop) Universitat Jaume I, Castellon de la Plana, Spain, 30th March.
Other:
2011 With Glenn Fulcher, ‘Performance Decision Trees: Operationalising domain specific criteria for teaching & assessment’. (paper) BALEAP Biennial Conference, EAP within the HE Garden: Cross Pollination between Disciplines, Departments, Research and Teaching. Portsmouth, 10th-12th April.
2010 With Glenn Fulcher & Fred Davidson. ‘Performance Decision Trees: a new empirically based approach to scoring performance tests.’ (paper) 32nd Language Testing Research Colloquium (LTRC). University of Cambridge, 14th – 16th April.

I am happy to be contacted for journalistic purposes on topics such as: English for academic purposes (EAP), academic English, the discipline-specific needs of students, the linguistic challenges facing university students, supporting university students’ academic needs, teaching English for academic purposes (TEAP), the role of EAP within the University.

Academic qualifications:
PhD Applied Linguistics (Leicester)
MA Applied Linguistics (Nottingham)
BA Hons. Classical Studies (Leicester)

Professional qualifications:
Cambridge ESOL DELTA (Ofqual RQF level 7)
RSA/UCLES Cert. TEFLA

Professional recognition and memberships:
Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (SFHEA) (now Advance HE)
Senior Fellow of BALEAP, TEAP individual accreditation scheme Mentor and Assessor 
Listed in the Advance HE External Examiners Directory