Dr Alex Leung

Associate Professor

School: Humanities and Social Sciences

I grew up in Hong Kong where I obtained my BA (Hons) in Contemporary English studies. During my undergraduate years I've spent some time in the States at Franklin and Marshall College, Pennsylvania and also in the UK at the University of York. Upon the completion of my BA, I came to the UK to pursue my (Integrated) PhD studies at Newcastle University in English Language and Linguistics. I successfully defended my thesis on second language phonology acquisition under the influence of multiple varieties in 2012. I first joined Northumbria as a part time lecturer in TESOL at the beginning of 2012 and have been employed as a full time lecturer since the academic year of 2012-2013. In addition to my Northumbria duties, I worked as an external examiner for the MA programmes of UCLAN between 2019-2024 and Leeds between 2018-2021. I’m the Secretary of the British Association for Applied Linguistics (BAAL) and have previously served as the Meetings Secretary (2013-2019) and the Publications Secretary (2021-2024). I am a section editor for Open Linguistics (De Gruyter), the Key Concepts co-editor of the ELT Journal (Oxford), and an editorial board member of the International Studies in Sociology of Education (Taylor & Francis). I am also a regular reviewer for various journals. I am currently co-editing the second edition of the Cambridge Handbook of Second Language Acquisition alongside three colleagues.

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Research Themes and Scholarly Interests

Second Language Acquisition
Second Language Speech & Phonology
Applied Linguistics and TESOL
Teacher Identity and Experience
Racialisation of the TESOL Profession
Language Attitudes and Variations
Lived Experience of Ethnic Minoritised Students
English Historical Linguistics
Research Ethics

Key Publications

Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
The fine balancing act: Tension between macro and micro ethics -A response to “Why should I care? Research ethics in the field of adult L2 literacy”, Leung, A. 23 Mar 2026, In: Dutch Journal of Applied Linguistics
Context and Second Language Speech and Phonology, Leung, A. 18 Nov 2025, Context Matters in SLA, Multilingual Matters
Investigating L2 Phonological Acquisition from Different Perspectives: An Introduction to the Special Issue, Leung, A., Pavlovskaya, N., Young-Scholten, M. 1 Jan 2025, In: Languages
Reflections on Transdisciplinarity in SLA studies, Leung, A. 7 Feb 2025, The Cambridge Handbook of Second Language Acquisition, Cambridge, United Kingdom, Cambridge University Press
The Cambridge Handbook of Second Language Acquisition, Herschensohn, J., Young-Scholten, M., Fernandez-Dobao, A., Leung, A. 7 Feb 2025
The impact of Filipina domestic workers on Hong Kong primary school children’s L2 English spoken CAF and reading accuracy and fluency, Wolfaardt, F., Leung, A. 1 Feb 2025, In: Applied Linguistics
ESL classroom interactions in a translanguaging space, Lin, S., Leung, A. 26 Nov 2024, In: Applied Linguistics Review
Ethnic group affiliation and second/foreign language accentedness in English and Mandarin among Hong Kong speakers, Leung, A., Lee, P. 2 Apr 2024, In: Language, Culture and Curriculum
Situating Moral and Cultural Values in Elt Materials: The Southeast Asian Context, Leung, A. 1 Aug 2024, In: Applied Linguistics
The Impact of Virtual Exchanges Using English as a Lingua Franca on Students’ Linguistic and Intercultural Competence, Nguyen, N., Leung, A., Hien, H., Thiet, N. 1 Nov 2024, In: TESL-EJ

Current and Recent Projects

Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
(Re-)Exploring Ethics in Applied Linguistics Research, Leung, A. (Principal Investigator), British Association for Applied Linguistics (BAAL), 01/06/25 - 31/05/26, £1,495.00
Perceptions of vulnerability of clinical populations involved in biomedical research, Barkus, E. (Principal Investigator), Leung, A. (Co Investigator), Institute of Medical Ethics, 01/01/25 - 31/12/25, £8,031.00

Professional Activity

Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
Organising a conference, workshop, ...: BAAL-Cambridge University Press Seminars 2024-25: (Re-)exploring ethics in Applied Linguistics research 2025
Organising a conference, workshop, ...: British Association for Applied Linguistics 2021

PGR Supervision

Nancy Dieu-Ngoc Nguyen TRANSNATIONAL VIRTUAL EXCHANGE FOR GLOBAL CITIZENSHIP EDUCATION BEYOND WEIRD CONTEXTS: FROM DESIGNING TO EVALUATION Start Date: 01/10/2022 End Date: 17/10/2025
Nancy Dieu-Ngoc Nguyen TRANSNATIONAL VIRTUAL EXCHANGE FOR GLOBAL CITIZENSHIP EDUCATION BEYOND WEIRD CONTEXTS: FROM DESIGNING TO EVALUATION Start Date: 01/10/2022
Thi Thao Nguyen Agency among Vietnamese EFL students of different ethnic groups: A sociological approach Start Date: 01/10/2025