Personal Details:

Name: Douglas Andrew Town

Nationality: British

Date of Birth: 2 October 1954

Address: Paraguay 914, 4º B, Buenos Aires (1057), C.F., Argentina

Tel/Fax: (11) 4 328-5285

E-mail: [email protected]

Website: www.geocities.com/ielts_test

Occupation: Educational Consultant, Language Teacher; Translator; Interpreter.

Education and Qualifications:

1965 -1973: St Mary's R.C. Grammar School for Boys, Sidcup. Kent.

1970 - 1972: GCE O Level: English Language, English Literature, Greek Literature, Latin, French, Spanish, Italian, History, Religion, Art, Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry.

1973: GCE A Level: French (A); Spanish (S1); English Literature (D).

1974: University of Oxford, St Catherine's College.

Preliminary Examinations: Spanish (Pass).

1992 - 1993: Thames Valley University.

1993: M.A. in English Language Teaching (distinction in the dissertation).

1997 - 2000: The Open University.

2000: BSc (Hons) Psychology.

Other Qualifications:

1987: Institute of Linguists: Final Diploma in Spanish (distinction; Silver-Gilt Medal).

1989: Institute of Linguists: Diploma in Translation (distinction).

1989: RSA/University of CambridgeTEFLA Certificate (International House, London).

1991: University of Vienna: German Diploma, Level 5 (second prize)

1995: University of Vienna. German Diploma, Level 6 = Final (Austrian Literature)

Prüfungsnoten: “sehr gut” (= 17/20 bis 19/20) in allen Bereichen.

Professional Memberships:

1988 - 2002: Member of the Institute of Linguists, Nº 13609.

Work Experience:

1976 - 1983: English Teacher - at Ferroaleaciones S.A., Medina del Campo, Spain.

1976 - 1983: English Teacher - at M.A.D.E. (Medina), Medina del Campo, Spain.

1983 - 2002: Academia "Douglas Town", C/ Carreras,12, Medina del Campo, Spain.

1990 - 2002: Translator and Interpreter - Semana de Cine de Medina del Campo, Spain.

1993 - 2001: Oral Examiner (FCE, CAE, CPE) and Invigilator (KET, PET)

Univ. of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate (ES390) Valladolid, Spain.

From Jan 2001: Translator for Pro Animale für Tiere in Not e.V. Uetzing-Staffelstein, Germany.

July-Sept 2001: Tutor in English for Academic Purposes, University of Manchester, England.

From Sept 2001: English Teacher – at Universidad Austral, HSBC, Repsol YPF, Metrogas, Marval O’Farrell & Mairal (Abogados), Media Planning, Covance, Flutec and others, Buenos Aires, Argentina.

From Sept 2001: IELTS tutor registered with the British Council, Buenos Aires, Argentina.

From Nov 2001: Director de Tesina, Universidad Tecnolögica Nacional, Avellaneda, Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Aug-Sept. 2002: Tutor in English for Academic Purposes, University of Essex, England.

Nov- Dec. 2002: Spanish Language Test developer, Universidad Austral, Buenos Aires.

Recent Seminars

October 2001: “Academic Writing” at Univerity of Belgrano, Buenos Aires, Argentina.

November 2001: “Contrastive Rhetoric” at University of Belgrano, Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Recent Talks

October 2001: “Recent changes in British institutions” at Clara Muñiz y Asociados (CASOC), Buenos Aires, Argentina.

November 2001: “Problem children in the classroom: how to cope with them” - at 2001 ELT Convention “Tapestry of Dreams”, I. S. Modelo Lomas, Lomas de Zamora, Province of Buenos Aires, Argentina.

IT skills:

Word 2000, Microsoft Powerpoint, Microsoft Frontpage, Outlook Express.

References:

Mr. Dermot Murphy

School of Education King’s College, London

Franklin Williams Building

Waterloo Road , London SE1 9NN

Tel: +44 0207 848 3716

Ms. June O’Brien

Director of English Langage Programmes

Arts Building

University of Manchester

Oxford Rd. Manchester MI3 9PL

Tel: +44 0161 275 3556

Dissertation

Town, D.A, (1993) The Learning Stategies of British and Indonesian MA Students at Thames Valley University London. The Department of English Language Teaching, Thames Valley University.

Abstract

This paper examines the use and development of learning strategies by native and non-native speakers in writing assignments on an MA course at Thames Valley University, London.

Chapter One presents a theory of learning drawn from cognitive psychology and states explicitly principles that are rarely explained in the literature on learning strategies. Chapter Two discusses learning strategies as such. Chapter Three examines some of the more important individual differences that may affect strategy choice and development. The final three chapters are devoted to the design of the research, the results and their interpretation.

Data was elicited using two research instruments: (1) a preliminary questionnaire designed to identify homogeneous groups for comparison followed by (2) a semi-structured interview with 4 Indonesian students and 4 British students. The questionnaire explored details of course participants' academic writing experience, proficiency in English, needs and motivation and general cognitive and affective variables.

The semi-structured interview attempted to tease out those strategies used by Indonesian and British students in writing the exploratory assignment and assignment three of the MA course. Informants were asked how they planned, monitored and evaluated each task as a whole and different stages of the task (i.e. the reading and writing stages of each assignment).

Given that this is a retrospective study, the data revealed a large proportion of higher order strategies. However, interesting data was also obtained on task-specific strategies. Part of the data from the semi-structured interview was coded and analysed numerically.

The main finding was an clear correlation between extrinsic motivation and learning strategies. Paradoxically, this study shows that the most instrumental, extrinsically motivated students in fact reported the highest number of learning strategies. This seems to contradict the commonly held view that students who take a "deep" approach use more strategies. The pedagogical implications of these findings are also discussed

Selected publications

Town, D.A. (1990). “Los manuscritos de Mozart”. Tierras de Medina, 5. Fundación Simón Ruiz y Módulo de Promoción y Desarrollo, Medina del Campo, 31-32.

Town, D.A. (1990). “Consumir y consumirse”. Tierras de Medina, 6. Fundación Simón Ruiz y Módulo de Promoción y Desarrollo, Medina del Campo, 41-42.

Town, D.A. (1994). “Aprueba inglés en Selectividad” (ten articles on composition, reading comprehension and grammar for the Spanish university entrance examination). La Voz de Medina, Medina del Campo.

Town, D.A. (1994). “El Niño de Macôn”. De Cine, 7ª Semana de Cine Villa de Medina, 28-29.

Town, D.A. (1995). “La Reina Margot”. De Cine, 8ª Semana de Cine Villa de Medina, 28-31.

Town, D.A. (1996) “Nelly y el señor Arnauld: una soledad sin palabras”. De Cine, 9ª Semana de Cine Villa de Medina, 22 –23.

Town, D.A. (1996) “Sentido y Sensibilidad: un dificil equilibrio”. De Cine, 9ª Semana de Cine Villa de Medina, 30-31.

Town, D.A. (2002). “Multiple Intelligences and ESP”. SHARE 69, Buenos Aires. http://www.shareeducation.com.ar/past%20issues/SHARE%2069.htm

Town, D.A. (2002). "Learning Strategies". SHARE 89, Buenos Aires. http://www.shareeducation.com.ar/past%20issues/SHARE%2089.htm

Town, D.A. (2002). "Metacognition and its development". SHARE 94, Buenos Aires. http://www.shareeducation.com.ar/past%20issues/SHARE%2094.htm