Graham Davies

Graham Davies

Graham Davies: CV
Updated 16 April 2008

I am a retired (Emeritus) Professor of Computer Assisted Language Learning, but I continue to maintain and update the ICT for Language Teachers website at http://www.ict4lt.org, which was initiated by my former university, Thames Valley University, London. I do occasional consultancy work in the area of ICT and language teaching and learning and I sit on a number of national and international committees (see below). I am a partner in Camsoft, a business that develops and retails software for Computer Assisted Language Learning.

A less boring summary of my life, with hyperlinks to my activities and information on the other members of my family (who are also my business partners) is on the Web at: http://www.camsoftpartners.co.uk/whoare.htm

Alternatively, have a look at my personal wiki, which also includes an audio recording about myself: http://grahamdavies.wikispaces.com

If you are looking for my personal email address, I am afraid you won't find it anywhere at this site. I have had to remove it to prevent it being harvested by spammers - hundreds appear to have got hold of it already. Please click here if you wish to email me: Camsoft's Contact Form

Age

Senior citizen: I receive my old age pension, I have a free bus pass and I get excellent discounts on a round of golf at my local course and on my lift pass when I go skiing in Austria.

Nationality

British

Current activities

Biographical landmarks

Recent publications

1996: (with Bruzzone M.) GapKit 2.0 (authoring software), Camsoft, Maidenhead: http://www.camsoftpartners.co.uk/gapkit.htm

1997: "Lessons from the past, lessons for the future: 20 years of CALL". In Korsvold A-K. & Rüschoff B. (eds.) New technologies in language learning and teaching, Council of Europe, Strasbourg, France. The full text (regularly updated) is also on the Web at: http://www.camsoftpartners.co.uk/coegdd1.htm. An abridged version of this article is also published in Kranz D., Legenhausen L. & Lüking B. (eds.) Multimedia, Internet, Lernsoftware: Fremdsprachenunterricht vor neuen Herausforderungen?, Edition Volkshochschule Band 4, Agenda Verlag, Münster.

1997: (with Yu Hong Wei) "Do grammar checkers work?". In Kohn J., Rüschoff B. & Wolff D. (eds.) New horizons in CALL: proceedings of EUROCALL 96, Dániel Berzsenyi College, Szombathely, Hungary. The full text is on the Web at: http://www.camsoftpartners.co.uk/euro96b.htm

1997: (with Bangs P., Burgess G., Harland M., James S., Sandford N. & Sousa C.) German Encounters CD-ROM, London, Hodder & Stoughton / University of Hull, The TELL Consortium: http://www.camsoftpartners.co.uk/encounters.htm. See also: http://www.hull.ac.uk/cti/tell/

1998: Introduction to Chapter 5, "Commercialisation". In Blin F., Chénik N. & Thompson T. (eds.) EUROCALL Directory of Courseware Development Projects, University of Hull: Lingua Project 96-01-CLI-0379-00: http://www.ict4lt.org/en/Courseware_Directory.pdf

1998: Exploiting Internet resources offline: Conference paper, University of Ghent, Belgium: http://www.camsoftpartners.co.uk/gdghent.htm

1998: "True creativity often starts where language ends". Abstract published in Debski R. & Levy M. (eds.) Proceedings of the 1998 WorldCALL Conference on CD-ROM, University of Melbourne, Australia. Keynote paper presented at WorldCALL 98, July 1998. The full text is on the Web at:
http://www.camsoftpartners.co.uk/worldgd1.htm

2000: Editor/Contributor, ICT4LT: Information and Communications Technology for Language Teachers (website - continually updated), Slough: Thames Valley University: http://www.ict4lt.org. Printed version of Basic Level modules published 1999. Printed version of Intermediate Level and Advanced Level modules published 2000.

2000: Article on Computer Assisted Language Learning, Routledge Encyclopaedia of Language Teaching and Learning (ed. Byram M.), London: Routledge: 90-93. Not available online.

2001: "The history of EUROCALL", TELL&CALL 1/2001: 6-10: http://www.camsoftpartners.co.uk/EuroHist.htm
Also at the EUROCALL website: http://www.eurocall-languages.org/about/history.html

2001: (with Chambers A.) Co-Editor, New technologies and language learning: a European perspective, Lisse: Swets & Zeitlinger (now taken over by Taylor & Francis).The first volume in a new series entitled Language Learning and Language Technology, Series Editors, Graham Davies & Carol Chapelle. Not available online.

2001: "New technologies and language learning: a suitable subject for research?" In Chambers A. & Davies G. (eds.) New technologies and language learning: a European perspective, Lisse: Swets & Zeitlinger (now taken over by Taylor & Francis). Not available online.

2001: "Doing it on the Web", Language Learning Journal (ALL) 24: 34-35: http://www.camsoftpartners.co.uk/DoingIt.htm

2002: "ICT and Modern Foreign Languages: learning opportunities and training needs", published in International Journal of English Studies 2, 1: Monograph Issue, New Trends in Computer Assisted Language Learning and Teaching, edited by Pascual Pérez Paredes & Pascual Cantos Gómez, Servicio de Publicaciones, Universidad de Murcia, Spain: http://www.camsoftpartners.co.uk/needs.htm
An updated and abridged version of this article appears in Scottish Languages Review 8, June 2003, Scottish CILT: http://www.scilt.stir.ac.uk/SLR/index.htm

2002: Article on CALL in the Good Practice Guide at the website of the Subject Centre for Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies, University of Southampton. You can browse the guide by author name or subject or go straight to: http://www.llas.ac.uk/resources/goodpractice.aspx?resourceid=61. This article is also available, with updated links, at: http://www.camsoftpartners.co.uk/docs/LLAS_Web_Guide.htm

2003: "Perspectives on online training initiatives". In Felix U. (ed.) Language learning online: towards best practice, Lisse: Swets & Zeitlinger. Not available online.

Fitzpatrick A. & Davies G. (eds.) (2003)The Impact of Information and Communications Technologies on the teaching of foreign languages and on the role of teachers of foreign languages, EC Directorate General of Education and Culture. The contribution by Graham Davies, relating specifically to the UK, is available in HTML format at http://www.camsoftpartners.co.uk/docs/ICC_Grahams_Report_Final.htm

2003: "Computer Assisted Language Learning: Where are we now and where are we going?". Web article at the Futurelab site: http://www.futurelab.org.uk/resources/publications_reports_articles/web_articles/Web_Article590. This is completely different from my UCALL Keynote (2007). My Futurelab article is also available, with updated links, at: http://www.camsoftpartners.co.uk/docs/Futurelab_CALL_Article.htm

2004: "Aspects of technology enhanced language learning: a UK perspective". In Fitzpatrick A. (ed.) Analytical Survey: Information and Communications Technologies in the Teaching and Learning of Foreign Languages: State-of-the-Art, Needs and Perspectives, Moscow: UNESCO Institute for Information Technologies in Education. My contribution, relating specifically to the UK, is here: http://www.camsoftpartners.co.uk/docs/UNESCO_Grahams_Report.htm

2004: (with Bruzzone M.) Fun with Texts 4.0 (authoring software), Camsoft, Maidenhead: http://www.camsoftpartners.co.uk/fwt.htm

2005: (with Bangs P., Frisby R. & Walton E.) Setting up effective digital language laboratories and multimedia ICT suites for Modern Foreign Languages, London: CILT: http://www.languages-ict.org.uk/managing/digital_language_labs.pdf

2005: "Computer Assisted Language Learning: Where are we now and where are we going?" Keynote paper first presented at the UCALL Conference, University of Ulster, Coleraine, June 2005. Revised 2007: http://www.camsoftpartners.co.uk/docs/UCALL_Keynote.htm

2006: "Computer Assisted Language Education". In Brown K. (Editor-in-Chief.) Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics (2nd Edition), Elsevier: Oxford: Vol. 6, 460-470.

Social activities

I enjoy an active life, playing golf (20 handicap) once a week, going downhill skiing once or twice a year, swimming three or four times a week and taking my greyhound for a one-mile walk once a day. I enjoy travelling and I can order a beer in fifteen different languages, but I would describe myself as fluent only in English and German. My French is tolerable and I can survive in Italian, Russian and Hungarian. I used to scuba-dive regularly, but I have little time these days. I did, however, manage to fit in a dive on the Great Barrier Reef in July 1998.

Interesting ancestors and relatives

I have a few interesting ancestors and relatives:

1. My paternal grandfather, Samuel Davies (Sam "Pont"), a coal miner in Maerdy, Rhondda Valley, was the right-hand man of the militant South Wales miners' leader Arthur Horner around the time of the General Strike of 1926. Arthur Horner was so left of centre that he was under constant surveillance by the security services. This probably explains why I failed to get into the diplomatic corps in 1968.

2. My maternal great-grandfather, David Davies, gained an entry in the 1976 edition of the Guinness Book of Records as being the "most durable coal miner", working underground for 73 years from 1849 to 1922 (aged 7 to 80). His portrait hangs in an art gallery in Moscow. It was painted by a visiting artist from the former Soviet Union.

3. I can just about claim to be a distant relation of Richard Burton. Richard Burton's first wife was Sybil Burton (née Williams), with whom I share an aunt, Gwyneth Davies (née Lewis). Gwyneth was the wife of my father Gomer Davies's brother, John ("Jack") Davies. Gwyneth's sister, Mabel Lewis, was Sybil's mother. The brother of Gwyneth and Mabel, Arthur Lewis (whom I always called "uncle"), was leader of the Black and White Minstrel Show at the Victoria Palace theatre in the 1960s. We often used to meet for a pint in the pub opposite the stage door. It is said that Sybil named her New York discotheque "Arthur" after Arthur Lewis, her favourite uncle. Sybil's elder daughter, Kate Burton (who is an actress), went to visit my aunt Lizzie ("Betty") Davies in Maerdy, Rhondda Valley, in 2004. Kate had been invited to attend the opening of the Millennium Centre in Cardiff and decided pay her a visit while she was in the area.