LASIG Advisory Board

Leni Dam, former LASIG coordinator and co-coordinator for 6 years together with Lienhard Legenhausen, was for forty years a teacher in a Danish comprehensive school developing language learner autonomy in her English classes. At the same time, she was an in-service teacher trainer and school developer at University College for Copenhagen and North Zealand. She has published widely, two examples of which are Learner Autonomy: From Theory to Practice, 1995, and Language learner Autonomy: Theory, Practice, and Research, 2017, together with David Little and Lienhard Legenhausen. She is now freelance, running courses and workshops, and giving talks on issues connected to language learner autonomy.

Christian Ludwig is a speaker and researcher in the field of ELT. He received his PhD in 2015 and worked as substitute professor at the University of Education Karlsruhe (2015-2018) and the University of Bielefeld (2019). His teaching and research interests include enhancing learner autonomy in the EFL classroom, technology in language learning, and literature in foreign language learning. Since 2015 he has been the coordinator of the IATEFL Learner Autonomy Special Interest Group and external consultant for Cornelsen Publishing. He has been visiting scholar at, among others, universities in South Africa, Japan, China, and Belgium.

Jo Mynard is a Professor, Director of the Self-Access Learning Center, and Director of the Research Institute for Learner Autonomy Education at Kanda University of International studies in Japan. She has an M.Phil. in Applied Linguistics from Trinity College, University of Dublin, Ireland and an Ed.D. in TEFL from the University of Exeter, UK. Her research interests include learner autonomy, advising, self-access and affect in language learning.

Lienhard Legenhausen is Professor Emeritus of Language Pedagogy and Applied Linguistics at the University of Münster, Germany. His research interests include the study of learner language, technology-enhanced language learning as well as learner-centred approaches to classroom learning/teaching. Together with Leni Dam, Denmark, he started the LAALE project (Language Acquisition in an Autonomous Learning Environment) in which they systematically observed the linguistic development of a class of Danish mixed ability learners over a period of four years. For the last 12 years he has taught methodology courses and linguistics in the English and German departments of the National University of Cherkasy, Ukraine. He became a member of the LASIG committee in 2008, and was a joint coordinator together with Leni Dam for six years.

Anja Burkert is a teacher of English (and French) at the University of Graz, Austria. She holds a Ph.D. in language teaching methodology and is especially interested in the teaching of English as an academic language and the promotion of learner autonomy among her students. She obtained a teaching award from her university in 2010. Anja has been on the LASIG committee since 2008.

Diane Malcolm, from Canada, was formerly Head of the English Unit at Arabian Gulf University, Bahrain, where she taught English to first year medical students for many years and established a self-access centre. She has a Doctor of Applied Linguistics degree from Macquarie University, Sydney, and has also taught ESL/EFL in Canada, Portugal and Saudi Arabia. Her publications concern learner autonomy, learner motivation, identity, self-access learning and academic reading strategies and beliefs.