Dr Daniel White

Head Of School

Dr Daniel White is Head of Northumbria Language Centre. He is responsible for the strategic and operational leadership of the Centre and wider initiatives in the Student, Library and Academic Services (SLAS) as a member of the SLAS Executive team, bridging academic and professional services.

Daniel also leads the Pre-sessional English and Study Skills suite of programmes, teaches within Northumbria Language Centre and has extensive experience with both Pre-sessional and in-sessional English for Academic Purposes, as well as delivery of TESOL/Applied Linguistics provision.

Daniel’s research has focused on language attitudes towards L2 (or other) varieties of English in Japan, China and South Korea, in addition to market research in student recruitment (FE), the effectiveness of apprenticeship programmes at FE level and quality assurance in EAP within UK tertiary education. Daniel's main interests are in strategic leadership, operations, systems thinking and data analytics, and he completed an MBA in 2021, alongside a Level 7 Diploma in Strategic Leadership and Management.

Prior to his academic career, Daniel worked in marketing and international trade, as well as English Language Teaching at a range of levels in Japan and South Korea.

Daniel is a Chartered Fellow (CMgr FCMI) with the Chartered Management Institute and is involved in strategic operations across the institution. Daniel is also recognised as a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

Email Daniel

Research Themes and Scholarly Interests

Sociolinguistics; Applied Linguistics; TESOL/ELT; Social Psychology; Digital transformation; Technology Enhanced Learning; Marketing; Management; Strategic Leadership; Quality Assurance; Data Analytics

Further Information

Key Publications/Outputs

White, D. O. (in progress) 'Enhancing Quality in EAP: An Exploratory Study into Quality Management Practices within English for Academic Purposes' TBC.

White, D. O. (2013). English and International Cross-cultural Attitudes in China, Japan and South Korea. Unpublished PhD thesis. Northumbria University. Available at: http://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/18036/

White, D. (2009). ‘What are the attitudes of employers towards apprenticeship schemes in the economic downturn?’ RCU Research and Consultancy, www.rcu.co.uk. Available on request.

Current/Recent Projects

White, D. O. (in progress). Investigating potential for 360° video to raise international student awareness of academic culture in a UK HEI, and its possibilities for learning and teaching and as a marketing and recruitment tool, Northumbria University Teaching Quality and Excellence Fund, 17 September 2019, Project Manager/Lead Researcher

White, D. O. (2021). An Exploratory Study into Quality Management Practice within English for Academic Purposes. Unpublished MBA thesis: Northumbria University.

Successful Research Bids

March 2009 - RCU research grant - £10000

May 2010 - Northumbria University Research studentship - £21000

Sept 2019 - Teaching Quality and Excellence Fund - £1000

Presentations/Conferences

'Are we reaching a TEAPing point: A qualitiative study on managing quality in EAP'. BALEAP Biennial Conference. University of Warwick, April 2023.

‘National differences, global similarities: A cross-cultural comparative study of attitudes towards non-native speakers of English in China, Japan and South Korea’, Sociolinguistics Symposium 21, University of Murcia, Spain, June 2016

‘A Study of Cross-Cultural Attitudes in China, Japan and South Korea’, invited speaker (linguistics seminar series), Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK, February 2014

‘Wŏ hé, Anata to, Keudeureul hago: English and Cross-Cultural Attitudes in China, Japan and Korea’, Joint East Asian Studies Conference 2013 – ‘East Asian Societies in Transition: Challenges and Connections’, University of Nottingham, September 2013

‘Japanese attitudes towards Asian Englishes’ Japan in Our Futures, A Conference of Undergraduate and Postgraduate Research on Japan, Interdisciplinary Centre of The Social Sciences (ICOSS), University of Sheffield, April 2013

‘Identification and misidentification of non-native English speaker varieties of English in China, Korea and Japan’, invited speaker, Aoyama Gakuin University, Tokyo, Japan, November 2012

‘Stereotyping and language in China, Korea and Japan’, invited speaker, Kansai University, Osaka, Japan, November 2012

‘A Comparative Study of East Asian Attitudes towards Asian speakers of English and their accents’, invited speaker, University of Nottingham Ningbo in China, Ningbo, China, September 2012

‘A study of Chinese, Japanese and Korean direct and indirect attitudes towards Asian varieties of English’, invited speaker, Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, Suzhou Industrial Park, China, September 2012

‘A Speech Evaluation Experiment into the Attitudes of Asian Englishes’, Northumbria University Annual Conference in Linguistics, Northumbria University, UK, September 2012

‘ELT in the Mainstream: A Study of Teacher’s Attitudes towards ELT training in regular UK Primary schools’, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne Post-Graduate Conference in Linguistics, Newcastle University, UK, April 2011

‘The benefits of second language learning for ELT teachers in UK Primary schools’, invited speaker (for students and staff), Northumbria University, UK, March 2011

PGR Supervision

Blakeney, Geoff (2018). Flipping a university English class in Korea: Its effect on learning motivation and satisfaction. MA TESOL, University of Birmingham.

Pearson, William (2016). Written feedback on IELTS writing task 2 practice composition. A classroom study of teachers’ practices and perception. MA TESOL, University of Birmingham.

Pena, Daniel (2016). Language identity in an EFL context: A self-identity study of university students in South Korea. MA Applied Linguistics, University of Birmingham.

South, Christopher, J. (2017). Foreign language anxiety: A study of Korean mothers’ general English and English speaking anxiety in the classroom. MA Applied Linguistics, University of Birmingham.

Wood, Duncan R. (2017). Adult Chinese Students and Native Speaking Teachers [NESTs] plus Non-Native English Speaking Teachers [NNESTs] perceptions of the Varieties of English. MA TESOL, University of Birmingham.