Michael Thomas (linguist)

Michael Thomas, PhD (born 10 April 1969 in North Shields in the North East of England) is an academic with research interests in applied linguistics, online and distance education, and digitally mediated communication. He attended Norham High School and Tynemouth Sixth Form College and holds degrees from Newcastle University, the University of Manchester and the University of Leicester in the UK. He has published over 12 books in these fields and is founding and lead editor of two international book series, Digital Education and Learning (Palgrave) and Advances in Digital Language Learning and Teaching (Bloomsbury), as well as the International Journal of Virtual and Personal Learning Environments.

He is currently a senior lecturer in Language Learning Technologies at the University of Central Lancashire and is active as a researcher within the areas of modern languages and cultures. He is director of the Language, Literacy and Digital Education Research Group. He is also a member of the Research Unit for Speech and Language.^[1] He is project coordinator and principal investigator of the EU-funded CAMELOT Project on language learning with machinima, a two-year project consisting of nine EU partners (ca EUR 500,000).

He was previously associate professor/professor in English Communication at Nagoya University of Commerce and Business, Japan,^[2] and Lecturer at the University of Heidelberg in Germany.

Selected works

• The Reception of Derrida: Translation and Transformation (Palgrave Macmillan, 2006)^[2]
• Handbook of Research on Web 2.0 and Second Language Learning (IGI Global, 2009)
• Deconstructing Digital Natives. Young People, Technology, and the New Literacies (Routledge, 2011)^[3]
• Digital Education: Opportunities for Social Collaboration (Palgrave Macmillan, 2011).
• Online Learning. Four Volumes (Sage Publications, 2010).
• Task-Based Language Learning and Teaching With Technology (Continuum, 2010).
• Contemporary Computer-Assisted Language Learning (Bloomsbury, 2012).
• Interactive Whiteboards: Theory, Research and Practice (IGI Global, 2010).
• Technology Enhanced Learning: Quality of Teaching and Educational Reform. Series: Communications in Computer and Information Science (Springer, 2010).
• Pedagogical Considerations and Opportunities for Teaching and Learning on the Web (IGI Global, 2014).
• Technologies, Innovation, and Change in Personal and Virtual Learning Environments (IGI Global, 2012).
• Contemporary Task-Based Language Teaching in Asia (Bloomsbury, 2014).

References