Dr Julie Norton

I began my career teaching English as a foreign language at private language schools, companies and universities in France, Japan and the UK. I was a Senior English Instructor and Consultant in Intercultural Communication in Japan's second largest steel company NKK. I also taught at the British Council Tokyo. In France, I taught at International House, Paris, the University of Paris V and the University Institute of Technology, Paris.

I joined the School of Education at the University of Leicester in 1997. I teach on the MA Applied Linguistics/TESOL programmes, supervise doctoral research related to materials development, ELT methodology and Lesson Study, and am a member of the Senior Leadership Group. I chair the Lesson Study Research Group.

I am known for my work in the field of materials development and lesson study. I have extensive experience of leading international research projects related to teacher education. I was Co-Principal Investigator (Co-PI) on the UK-China EMaDA Research and Materials Development Award project, funded by the British Council China (2023-24). I have also led research projects with teams in Turkey, Norway, Spain and the UK.

I am very interested in the development of research-informed language learning materials (e.g. the impact of corpus research on materials writing; the evaluation of language teaching materials and the relationship between theory and practice in materials design). I am Co-Editor of The Routledge Handbook of Materials Development in Language Teaching (2022) and contributed several chapters to this volume. I am co-author of level B1 of the coursebook series, Navigate (Oxford University Press), which was nominated for two prestigious awards (an ELTon and an English Speaking Union Award).

The second strand of my research focuses upon teacher professional development through Lesson Study. I am particularly interested in how teachers co-construct pedagogical knowledge through collaboration and how we observe learning. 

Books

Norton, J. and Buchanan, H. (2022) The Routledge Handbook of Materials Development in Language Teaching. London and New York: Routledge.

Krantz, C. and Norton, J. (2015) Navigate Student Book B1 Pre-Intermediate. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Journal articles and book chapters

Norton, J. (forthcoming 2025) 'Language teaching requires no planning – it is just a matter of following the textbook instructions' in Viana, V. (Ed.) Language Education Myths, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Norton, J. (2024). Developing Materials for an MA Applied Linguistics/TESOL Option Module. In: Cirocki, A., Farrelly, R., Sapp, T. (Eds.) Developing Materials for Innovative Teaching and Sustainable Learning. Springer Texts in Education. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-69206-2_15 (pp387-408).

Rogerson-Revell, P., Norton, J., Xu, H., Baldry, F., Stanford, J. and Cajkler, W. (2024) Enhancing pre-service English language teachers' professional knowledge, skills and confidence through peer microteaching lesson study (PMLS). British Council. Available online: https://doi.org/10.57884/2EXB AG89

Norton, J., Bjuland, R., Helgevold, N. (2020) 'The role of collaborative planning - how to use joint planning as a learning process', (Chapter 5) in Cajkler, W. , Helgevold, N., and Larssen, D. (Eds.) Lesson Study in Initial Teacher Education. A Critical Perspective. Emerald Publishing.

Norton J. (2018) ‘Lesson study: a collaborative vehicle for professional learning and practice development of ESP teachers in high education’ (Chapter 5) in Kırkgöz Y. and Dikilitaş K. (Eds.) Key Issues in English for Specific Purposes Springer Verlag.

Sorton Larssen, D.L., Cajkler, W., Mosvold, R., Bjuland, R., Helgevold, N., Fauskanger, J. Wood, P., Baldry, F., Jakobsen, A., Bugge, H.R., Næsheim-Bjørkvik, G., Norton, J. (2018) "A literature review of lesson study in initial teacher education: Perspectives about learning and observation", International Journal for Lesson and Learning Studies, Vol. 7 Issue: 1, pp.8-22, https://doi.org/10.1108/IJLLS-06-2017-0030

Wood, P., Fox, A., Norton, J. and Tas, M. (2017) 'The Experience of Lesson Study in the UK', Palgrave International Handbook of Action Research: Palgrave.

Norton, J. (2015) 'Developing Speaking Skills: How are Current Theoretical and Methodological Approaches Represented in Course Books?' The European Journal of Applied Linguistics and TEFL. Special Issue: Materials in the ELT Classroom: Development, Use and Evaluation.Volume 4/2: 53-72.

Cajkler, W.; Wood, P.; Norton, J.; Pedder, D. & Xu, H. (2014) 'Teacher perspectives about lesson study in secondary school departments: a collaborative vehicle for professional learning and practice development.' Research Papers in Education (http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02671522.2014.887139).

Cajkler, W. Wood, P. Norton, J. and Pedder, D. (2014) Lesson study as a vehicle for collaborative teacher learning in a secondary school. Professional Development in Education (http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/19415257.2013.866975).

Cajkler, W., Wood, P., Norton, J and Pedder, D. (2013) Lesson Study: towards a collaborative approach to learning in Initial Teacher Education? Cambridge Journal of Education 43/4: 537-554.

I am interested in supervising doctoral research in the following areas:

• materials development and evaluation for language teaching
• lesson study and teacher professional development
• ELT methodology

ED7703 Materials Design and Development in Language Teaching

ED7731 Teaching and Learning a Second Language

ED7735 Research Methods and Dissertation

ED7736 Research Methods and Professional Enquiry Dissertation 

ED7509 Course and Syllabus Design

ED7801 Teaching and Learning a Second Language

ED7510 Materials Design and Development in Language Teaching

ED7805 Research Methods and Dissertation

• Materials Development in Language Teaching
• Lesson Study
• ELT methodology

Norton J. and Buchanan H. (2024) ‘Women in ELT: global challenges, future aspirations’, 58th IATEFL Conference, Brighton, UK.

Norton, J. (2023) ‘Enhancing pre-service language teachers' professional knowledge, skills and confidence through peer micro-teaching lesson study: a China-UK collaboration, WALS 2023 Conference, Zwolle, The Netherlands.

Norton J. and Buchanan H. (2023) ‘Women in ELT: where are we now?’, 57th IATEFL Conference, Harrogate, UK.

Norton J. and Buchanan H. (2022) 'What I talk about when I talk about coursebooks'. 56th IATEFL Conference, Belfast, UK.

Norton J. and Buchanan H. (2019) 'Mind the Gap: Materials Theory and Practice'. 54th IATEFL Conference, Liverpool, UK.

Norton J. and Buchanan H. (2018) 'Versioning course books for different contexts: what how and why?' 53rd IATEFL Conference, Brighton UK.

Norton J., Cajkler, W and Wood, P. (2017) ‘Embedding Lesson Study into Organisational Cultures:  A View from Normalisation Process Theory’, WALS Conference, University of Nagoya, Japan.

Invited Talks

Norton, J. (2024) ‘’Research into Materials Development for Language Teaching’, Keynote speech at the National Conference of The Japan Association for Language Education and Technology (LET63), Nagoya Gakuin University, Nagoya, Japan.

Norton, J. (2021) ‘Research into Materials Development for Language Teaching’ webinar, Thai TESOL.

Norton J. (2018) 'Why Do We Need Research-Informed Materials?' Opening Plenary: Ist International Symposium on Research in Foreign Language Teaching, University of Surcolombiana, Neiva, Columbia.

Norton J. and Cajkler W. (2016) 'Lesson study for pedagogic literacy in Higher Education:  a holistic view of teacher development in collaboration' Plenary talk Gediz University Izmir Turkey. 

I was interviewed about my research on Women in ELT for the IATEFL Livestream event (2024) 

My research on Lesson Study was showcased on Gediz TV Izmir and an article appeared in the local newspaper in June 2015.

My course book Navigate was shortlisted for two awards: the English Speaking Union award (2016) and an ELTon for innovation in language teaching (2017).

• Senior Fellow of Higher Education Academy (SFHEA)
• PhD in English and Applied Linguistics University of Cambridge
• MPhil in English and Applied Linguistics University of Cambridge
• BA (Hons) in French and German University of Sheffield
• RSA Diploma in Teaching English as a Foreign Language