Sophia Butt

 

BME Presessional Director & EAP Tutor

Sophia Butt

Contact details

Telephone +44 (0)121 41 45701

Email s.butt@birmingham.ac.uk

EISU, Priorsfield
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

About

I am Director of the Business Management English (BME) Presessional run by the English for International Students Unit. This discipline-specific programme is divided into four preparatory courses (20-, 15-, 10- and 6-weeks) for pre-MBA/pre-MSc students about to embark on postgraduate studies at the Birmingham Business School.

Qualifications

  • Institute of Leadership & Management: Certificate in First Line Management
  • Institute of Leadership & Management: Certificate in Team Leading (pending)
  • Cambridge CELTA
  • MA Special Applications of Linguistics (Dissertation – Translation Studies)
  • BA English & Sociology (Double-Joint Degree)

Biography

I joined the University of Birmingham (UoB) in 1997 as a tutor and examiner on the Distance MA in Translation Studies at the Centre for English Language Studies (CELS now ELAL - English Language & Applied Linguistics). Since 2000, my work has been heavily focused on EAP/ESP at EISU. I have taught on a range of EISU courses, including the multidisciplinary EAP Presessional (2000-2005), and the BME Presessional (2006- ). I was appointed BME Director in 2008. In June 2012, I led a one-week conference in on English Language Teaching in Kazakhstan. I have also co-represented the UoB on three examining trips to Amirkabir University, Iran.

My in-house publications include materials for the BME Programme, CELS’ distance MA in Translation Studies, Aston University’s MBA course and the BScBA Program at the Helsinki School of Economics (now Aalto University), Finland. I also design and deliver online seminars for taught PhD students in the Czech Republic.

Teaching

Classes regularly taught include ESP courses for the following Birmingham Business School programmes:

  • MBA Programmes
  • MSc Marketing Suite
  • MSc Investments
  • MSc Economics 

Additionally, I teach lunchtime Open Access EAP classes in a range of areas including:

  • Academic Writing (including referencing & citations, reflective writing, literature reviews)
  • Vocabulary
  • Speaking & Pronunciation
  • Writing Workshops for PhD students

I also offer one-to-one tutorials run by EISU.

Other activities

Academic Interests

My main academic interests include syllabus design, translation studies and forensic linguistics.

Publications

  • BME Citation & Referencing Guide: The Harvard System (2nd edition) (2013) EISU, University of Birmingham, UK
  • BME Handbook for Teaching Associates (2013) EISU, University of Birmingham, UK (with C. Overall)
  • Referencing & Citation Guide (2011) Aalto University, Finland
  • Working with Cases (4th edition) (2011) EISU, University of Birmingham, UK (with C. Overall & J. Metcalfe)
  • ‘Socio-Translation’ in MA in Translation Studies (2003) Carmen Rosa Caldas-Coulthard (ed.) Published by the Centre for English Language Studies, University of Birmingham. ISBN: 1 901523 152
  • ‘Fixed Lexical Sets in Translation’ in MA in Translation Studies (2000) Carmen Rosa Caldas-Coulthard (ed.) Published by the Centre for English Language Studies, University of Birmingham. ISBN: 1 901523 152
  • ‘Argumentation & Persuasion’ in MA in Translation & Discourse. Publication: Forthcoming
  • ‘Cohesion’ in MA in Translation & Discourse. Publication: Forthcoming
  • ‘Interpreting’ in MA in Translation & Discourse. Publication: Forthcoming

Conferences

  • 'Pedagogies for Autonomy - Booster Week', BALEAP Biennial Conference, University of Nottingham; Nottingham UK (co-presentation with Hasan Shikoh):  20 April 2013
  • 'Avoiding the Pitfalls of Reflective Writing’, BALEAP Biennial Conference, University of Nottingham; Nottingham UK:  20 April 2013
  • European Impact Project – An Introduction to Academic English & ESP, Masaryk University; Brno and Liberec, Czech Republic (Sole Presenter): 26-27 September & 2 October 2012
  • English Language Teaching in Higher Education Conference, Suleyman Demirel University; Almaty, Kazakhstan (Lead Presenter): 11-15 June 2012

  • ‘Evaluating the Effectiveness of EAP/ESP Presessionals.’BALEAP PIM: Tracking Foundation, Pre-Sessional & EAP Students. University of Kent; Canterbury, UK (co-presentation with Jonathan Rees): 25 February 2012
  • ‘Understanding Presessional Students’ Provenance & Managing their Expectations.’ BALEAP PIM: Tracking Foundation, Presessional & EAP Students. University of Kent; Canterbury, UK (co-presentation with Jonathan Rees & Hasan Shikoh): 25 February 2012
  • ‘A TurningPoint in EAP?’  BALEAP PIM: Engaging & Motivating Students in the EAP Classroom. Newcastle University; Newcastle, UK (co-presentation with Paul Foxall): 27 February 2010

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