CV | greer

Dr. Tim Greer

Address: School of Languages and Communication, Kobe University

1-2-1 Tsurukabuto, Nada-ku, Kobe, Japan 657-8501

E-mail: tim(at)kobe-u.ac.jp

Professional info

I am a professor at Kobe University, Japan. I teach English to first and second year students from a range of faculties through the School of Languages and Communication, and supervise students in the Masters and Doctoral courses in the Graduate School of Intercultural Studies.

Education

Doctor of Education

1999- 2007

I completed my dissertation through the University of Southern Queensland, Australia. I combine ethnography and Conversation Analysis to investigate how codeswitching was used as both a communicative resourse and an expression of identity among a group of multiethnic ('haafu') Japanese teenagers at an international school.

Master of Education (Applied Linguistics)

1996 - 1998

Languages

English (L1)

Japanese (JLPT Level 1)

Research Interests

Conversation Analysis

Bilingual interaction

Second language interaction

Identity

Pragmatics

EFL/ESL/JSL

Awards

Best of JALT (2012)

Best Teacher (Kobe University 2014, 2016)

I studied for my course-based Masters via distance education from Australia while I was working in Japan. Among a variety of Applied Linguistics topics, the course introduced me to bilingualism and pragmatics, both of which would become important themes in my later work.

Graduate Diploma of Teaching (Japanese Language)

1990 - 1991

2010 - present

During the Japanese boom of the late 80's I was seconded from the classroom to a special government-sponsored course in order to become a Japanese-language teacher. We learned Japanese and applied linguistics at Griffith University as well as took part in a three-month study tour at Bunka Institute of Foreign Languages in Tokyo, which was my first trip to Japan.

Diploma of Teaching (Primary)

1986 - 1988

I originally trained as a primary school teacher. Even in my undergrad years I was interested in language, and received a commendation for high grades in the language teaching units I studied.

Work

Kobe University

2006 - present

I teach English to first and second year students from a range of faculties through the School of Languages and Communication, as well as supervise students in the Masters and Doctoral courses in the Graduate School of Intercultural Studies.

Hokkaido University

2001- 2004

As a foreign instructor （外国人教師）I taught Oral English in the undergrad program via the School of Intercultural Communication.

Otaru Junior College

1999- 2001

My first university teaching post was as a full-time lecturer in the English program at Otaru Tandai.

English language teaching

1997-2000

I have worked as an English teacher and ALT in a variety of schools, including ELS Language center in Sapporo, Inagakuen High School in Saitama and for the Moseushi Board of Education in Hokkaido. These early experiences provided me with valuable insight into teaching in Japan at the secondary level, and I now make use of them in training pre-service English teachers.

Queensland Department of Education

1989- 1995

My first job was as a primary classroom teacher at Gympie State School in my home state of Queensland in Australia. Later I became a specialist LOTE teacher and taught Japanese at both the primary and secondary levels in Rockhampton. Many of the skills I acquired in teaching Japanese were transferable to the English teaching context here in Japan.

Scholarship and exchange

Mombusho scholarship

1995- 1997

I was awarded a scholarship from the Japanese government to study education at Hokkaido University. There I developed an interactive software program for teaching Japanese to Australian students. These experiences made me want to study further and eventually led me to gain my Masters in Applied Linguistics.

Queensland - Saitama Teacher Exchange

1993

Saitama and my home state of Queensland have a sister state relationship, and as part of that agreement I was selected to represent Queensland on a teacher exchange program. During this time I taught at one of Saitama's flagship schools. I also lived with a wonderful Japanese family and this was where I really started to feel like I had developed some control of the language.