Ms Helen Phillips

Professional biography

I am a Senior Lecturer and Staff Tutor Languages (Wales) at the School of Languages and Applied Linguistics and the Academic Lead for the Open Centre for Languages and Culture (OCLC). My professional background has been in the development and management of applied foreign language pathways at University Language Centres in London and Bristol. I was responsible for developing one of the first UK Institution Wide Language Programmes for Higher Education and have considerable experience in managing and mentoring large teams of language teaching staff. 

In my role as Staff Tutor I am Cluster Lead for beginners’ French modules UK wide. I am responsible for the development of curriculum and tuition strategies for the delivery of the online language modules and manage all aspects of module timetabling and Associate Lecturer workload allocation.  As Academic Lead for the OCLC I oversee the online portfolio of non-accredited courses, managing the team of Learning Advisors and the Distinguished Speaker Series. 

My research activity now centres on the scholarship of distance learning and teaching and the creative delivery of online language learning.

Recent publications 

Fayram, Jo; Austen, Samantha and Phillips, Helen (2024). Introduction. In: Fayram, Jo; Austen, Samantha and Phillips, Helen eds. Online Teaching and Learning in a Changing Pedagogic and Linguistic Landscape. Developing Online Language Pedagogies Series. Melbourne, Aus.: Castledown, pp. 1–6.

Bissar D; Phillips H; Tschirhart C; (2016) Foundations French 1, 3rd ed, 2017 edition (14 April 2016) 208pp ISBN-10 : 1137579196 ISBN-13: 978-1137579195 Bloomsbury Foundation Languages: Bloomsbury Publishing;

Bissar D; Phillips H; Tschirhart C; (2008) Foundations French 1, 2nd ed, (28 Mar. 2008) 208 pages ISBN-10 : 0230553044 ISBN-13: 978-0230553040 Bloomsbury Foundation Languages: Bloomsbury Publishing;

Bissar D; Phillips H; Tschirhart C; (2001) Foundations French 1,1st ed, 2001 (29 Jun. 2001) 208 pages ISBN-10 : 0333919920 ISBN-13 : 978-0333919927 Bloomsbury Foundation Languages: Bloomsbury Publishing;

Online articles

Phillips, Helen; Warnecke Sylvia; (2020) in Language Trends Wales: The Conversation | British Council https://wales.britishcouncil.org/en/language-trends-wales-2020-conversation

Teaching interests

I have spent my career working in Higher Education where I initially started teaching French for commercial language training purposes for Eurostar UK in preparation for the opening of the Channel Tunnel. I have since worked primarily in the development, management and operational delivery of applied foreign language provision for undergraduates, postgraduates and students of Lifelong Learning. I am particulary interested in the creative process of delivering online and distance learning tuition, including desinging and testing new and evolving approaches to teaching language skills in an online environement. 

External collaborations

Global Futures Wales 

I am a member of Global Futures; a National Steering Group for Wales which aims to support multilingulism in schools and increase the number of young learners studying languages. In collaboration with the OU in Scotland I manage the Teachers Learning to Teach languages in primary schools programme (TELT) for Wales and through Global Futures, engage directly with the Welsh Government and Welsh Education Consortia to recruit teachers to this Continual Professional Development programme.

I have held external examiner posts at the Royal Holloway Langauge Centre and the Sussex Centre for Language Studies, University of Sussex