goto UNSW  home page The Learning Centre UNSW
>> SITEMAP

Learning Centre Staff

Sue Starfield

Director

Contact: Level 2, Library
Telephone: +61 (2) 9385 - 3369
email: s.starfield@unsw.edu.au

Photograph of Sue Starfield

Sue Starfield is the Director of The Learning Centre at The University of New South Wales and a Visiting Fellow in the Department of Linguistics.  She is co-author with Brian Paltridge of Thesis and Dissertation Writing in a Second Language: A Handbook for Supervisors published by Routledge in 2007.  She is a member of the Editorial Board of English for Specific Purposes.

Sue is a recipient (with Brian Paltridge and Louise Ravelli) of an Australian Research Council Discovery Grant 2008-2010 on the topic Writing in the academy: The practice-based thesis as an evolving genre. This project aims to identify the range and extent to which alternative thesis types are being submitted for examination in Australia; to examine the particular nature and character of practice-based doctoral theses and, via this examination, to make both practical and theoretical contributions to the field of research higher degree supervision and training and advanced academic literacies research.

Sue's current research interests include advanced academic writing, postgraduate pedagogy and issues of identity in academic writing and language learning.  With colleagues from the University of Sydney, Sue and Pam Mort of The Learning Centre were awarded a 2006 Carrick Institute Competitive Grant – Creating a student-centred online learning environment for report writing in the sciences and engineering.

Sue currently teaches Research Writing and Presentation, a course she has developed for the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences.  She has also taught Developing a Research Proposal, a course for commencing postgraduate research students. In addition, she is involved in program development to enhance students' successful access to academic skills across the university.

Sue also works with the Learning and Teaching Unit on programs for new university teachers including Foundations in University Learning and Teaching and the Graduate Certificate in University Learning and Teaching - a  2007 Carrick Citation recipient.

Prior to moving to Australia, Sue worked for over fifteen years in South Africa, mainly at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, where she taught in academic programs to promote access and success in higher education for students who had been disadvantaged by apartheid education. She also worked with academic staff who wanted to make their teaching more responsive to the learning needs of the very diverse student body. Several papers published in the South African Journal of Higher Education discuss her work on integrating language and content in higher education. Three of these articles can be viewed here.

Sue's doctorate in Applied English Language Studies from the University of the Witwatersrand is a study of the development of students' academic writing within a disciplinary context and she has a Masters in Applied Linguistics from the University of Paris III.  She also has a Masters in French Literature from the University of the Witwatersrand and a Diploma in Teaching French as a Foreign Language from the University of Paris III.

Publications & Conference Papers

Recent publications include:

Starfield, S. Ethnographies.  In Paltridge, B and A. Phakiti. (eds) 2009. Companion to Research Methods in Applied Linguistics. London: Continuum.

2008

Ravelli, L. J. & Starfield, S.  Typography and disciplinary identity in academic writing. Information Design Journal, 16 (2), 133-147.

2007

Arkoudis, S. & Starfield, S.  In-course Language Development and Support.  A discussion paper for a National Symposium: English Language Competence of International Students, August 2007. 
This paper was commissioned by Australian Education International (AEI) in the Department of Education,Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR) as background for and to aid discussion at a National Symposium: English Language Competence of International Students, held on 14 August 2007 in Sydney. http://aei.dest.gov.au/aei/shop/products/publications/publication624

with Brian Paltridge (2007). Thesis and Dissertation Writing in a Second Language. London: Routledge Falmer.

New directions in student academic writing. In J. Cummins and C. Davison (Eds). The International Handbook of English Language Teaching. Volume 2. Norwell, Mass: Springer Publications. pp. 875-890.

2006

with L. J. Ravelli (2006). 'The writing of this thesis was a process that I could not explore with the positivistic detachment of the classical sociologist': Self and structure in New Humanities research theses. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 5 (3), 222-243.

2004

'Wordpower: Negotiating success in a first-year sociology essay' in L. J. Ravelli & R. A. Ellis (eds) Analysing Academic Writing (pp. 66-83), London: Continuum.

Why does this feel empowering?: Thesis writing, concordancing, and the 'corporatising' university. In B. Norton & K. Toohey (Eds). Critical Pedagogies and language learning (pp. 138-157). Cambridge University Press.

2003

(with D. Coleman & A. Hagan) Stakeholder Perceptions of the IELTS Test in three countries. IELTS Research Reports, vol. 5, pp. 159-235.

The evolution of a thesis-writing course for Arts and Social Sciences students: What can Applied Linguistics offer? in Hong Kong Journal of Applied Linguistics, 8, (2), pp. 137-154.

2002

"I'm a second-language English speaker": Negotiating writer identity and authority in Sociology One. Journal of Language, Identity and Education, 1(2), pp. 121-140.

2001

"I'll go with the group": Rethinking discourse community in EAP. In J. Flowerdew & M. Peacock (Eds.), Handbook of Research on English for Academic Purposes (pp. 132-147). Cambridge University Press .

2000

Assessing students' writing. In B. Liebowitz & Y. Mahomed (Eds.), Handbook on the teaching of writing for university teachers (pp.102-117). Cape Town: Silk Road International Publishers.

Publications from the South African Journal of Higher Education

The following articles are available here in pdf form. They are for personal use only. Please do not post, distribute or forward copyrighted articles. When citing these articles, please cite the original source of publication (year, journal or book, as well as page numbers) as listed below. The publication details may not be found in all the articles themselves.

Starfield, S. 1996, The challenge of diversity: Staff, student and curriculum development.  South African Journal of Higher Education, 10 (1), 155-163.
Awarded South African Journal of Higher Education prize for research in higher education for best article published in 1995-96.

Starfield, S. 1990, Contextualising language and study skills. South African Journal of Higher Education, Special Edition, 142‑148. 

Starfield, S. 1990, Language and science: a new look at some old issues. South African Journal of Higher Education, 4(2), 84‑89. 
Awarded 1990 Southern Book Publishers’ Prize for Perspectives on Higher Education by South African Association for Research and Development in Higher Education.

Top of page

The Learning Centre, The University of New South Wales, Sydney NSW 2052, Australia • Telephone: +61 2 9385 2060
Email: learningcentre@unsw.edu.au • Opening hours: Monday to Thursday: 9am - 5pm, Friday: 9am - 2.30pm
Authorised by The Director, The Learning Centre, UNSW • Last updated 12 August, 2008
PRIVACY POLICYCOPYRIGHT & DISCLAIMERACCESSIBILITYSITE FEEDBACK & ENQUIRIES
© Copyright 2005-2007 UNSW. CRICOS Provider Code: 00098G.