Jessica Sequera

Biography	I am an Assistant Professor within the Durham Centre for Academic Development (DCAD). I currently lead the 20-week pre-sessional, and I support the coordination of the 10-week and 6-week pre-sessional programmes. In addition, I am the Faculty Lead for the Business School academic literacy taught provision, particularly in the MBA, Economics and Accounting departments, and I teach and write materials for the Academic Skills Centre. For DCAD’s MA in Teaching English as a Second Language and Applied Linguistics, I convene the Global Englishes Policy and Power module, and I run dissertation support. I also sit on DCAD’s Ethics committee, and I share the secretary role for BALEAP’s In-sessional SIG which supports our professional community in enhancing and building in-sessional provision. My previous roles include: •External Examiner for the University of Manchester’s Erasmus and Exchange modules through the University Language Centre. As part of my role, I was their Critical Friend for their Academic Success Programme. •Academic Development for Students (ADS) In-sessional Programme Lead for both central and in department academic skills •Curriculum support teacher for the summer pre-sessional programmes where I contributed to marking standardization, mentoring teachers and teacher observations •Dissertation supervisor and academic advisor for the MA in TESOL/Applied Linguistics •Online materials developer for the FOCUS project with fellow DCAD colleagues Professors Megan Bruce and Simon Rees. Megan and Simon developed a bespoke Durham University student academic writing corpus (FOCUS), and my role was to design online materials using the corpus for 3 departments: Chemistry, Sport and the PGCE programme in Education. For the PGCE project, we published an article as can be seen below. Prior to coming to Durham, I had a diverse teaching career beginning as a high school Spanish language teacher (Pilot Point, Texas) where I pioneered the Total Physical Response Storytelling method in my school for 2 years. After moving to the UK in 2005 to pursue a Masters in Teaching English as a Foreign Language, I continued training teachers in this method on the Japanese English Language Teacher Programme at the University of Birmingham. I began my English for Academic Purposes (EAP) career through teaching on the Pre-sessional at the University of Birmingham, where I worked for 3 years with mostly postgraduate International students from a range of disciplines, including Economics, Engineering, Social Sciences and Computer Sciences. In addition to this role, I taught various undergraduate linguistics modules as a Visiting Lecturer in the School of English at Birmingham City University. My other roles have included being an English teacher both in secondary schools and in further education and a dissertation supervisor for MA Linguistics students at the University of Birmingham. Conference presentations •What’s your reading process? Exploring reading and note-taking with masters level Teaching English as a Second or Other Language/Applied Linguistics Students with a focus on student agency, voice and participation in Higher Education. BALEAP conference, April 2025. •Reimagining Curriculum & Assessment through Collaborative Redesign: Co-constructing EAP in the Age of GenAI. Co-presented with colleagues Drew Shaw and Laura Pitson, BALEAP conference, April 2025. •What’s your reading process? Exploring reading and note-taking with masters level Teaching English as a Second or Other Language/Applied Linguistics Students with a focus on global connectivity. Lightning talk. Three Rivers Conference, November 2024. •What’s your reading process? Exploring reading and note-taking with masters level Teaching English as a Second or Other Language/Applied Linguistics Students with a focus on Assessment for Learning. Durham Teaching and Learning conference, September 2024 •Enhancing dissertation writing for master’s level students through structured writing retreats. Durham University Teaching and Learning conference, September 2022. •Dialogic Reflection Sessions in a Critical Friend Relationship. EAP in the North Conference, University of Manchester, November 2021. (Presented with colleague Rob Marks, Head of the Academic Success Programme, University of Manchester) •A Tale of Two Insessionals: Challenges and Opportunities as Explored through a Critical Friend Relationship. Durham University Professional Issues Meeting National Conference, June 2021. (Presented with colleague Rob Marks, Head of the Academic Success Programme, University of Manchester) •Increasing student engagement with asynchronous within- department in-sessional materials for ‘Home’ and ‘International’ Postgraduate and Undergraduate students. Part of the Symposium entitled 'EAP in the time of Covid-19: Opportunities and Challenges in Supporting Access, Engagement and Transitions'. BALEAP Biennial conference, April 2021. (Presented with colleague Clare Carr) •Use of Kaltura media capture in providing formative feedback on process essays. Durham University Teaching and Learning conference, September 2019. •FOCUS project: Using a corpus to develop online student activities. BAAL conference, September 2018 (Presented with colleague Megan Bruce) •Development of online activities to support PGCE students’ academic writing. Durham University Teaching and Learning conference, September 2018. (Presented with colleagues Megan Bruce and Rachel Simpson) •Write on the Edge: Using Xerte Online Toolkit corpus-based teaching activities to support Sport and Education students in writing assessments in unfamiliar genres. Durham University Teaching and Learning conference, September 2017 (Presented with colleague Megan Bruce) •FOCUS project, Using a corpus to develop online student activities, Three Rivers Conference, Teeside University, March 2017 •FOCUS project, Using a corpus to develop online student activities, BAAL Corpus SIG Symposium, March 2017 Durham University (Presented with colleague Megan Bruce) •FOCUS project, Using Xerte and Blackboard to develop online student activities, Blackboard Users Conference, Durham University, January 2017 (Presented with colleague Megan Bruce) •Developing materials for developing listening: helping International students make the most of lectures. Durham University Inaugural Teaching and Learning Conference, September 2016 (Presented with colleagues Michelle Joubert, Gillian Powell and Lesley Kendall) •FOCUS project: Using a corpus to develop online student activities. Durham Teaching Technologies Workshop, Durham University, June 2016 (Presented with colleague Simon Rees) •Developing Materials for Listening and Speaking in English for Academic Purposes: Process and Product.Three Rivers Conference, Northumbria University, March 2016 (Presented with colleague Michelle Joubert) •Process, planning and routine in a shifting EAP context: challenges, strategies and solutions. BALEAP PIM, Sheffield University, November 2015 (Presented with colleagues Michelle Joubert and Helen Costello) Publications: •Sequera, J. and Marks, R. ‘Dialogic Reflection Sessions in a Critical Friend Relationship’. EAP in the North Conference Proceedings, November 2021. •Sequera, J., Bruce, M., Gill, A., Simpson, R. ‘Development of online activities to support PGCE students’ academic writing’, Practice and Evidence of Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education. Vol. 14, No. 1, January 2020, pp. 18-36.
Research Interests	I am interested in researching the reading process, particularly in the area of note-taking and writing for thinking.

Biography

I am an Assistant Professor within the Durham Centre for Academic Development (DCAD). I currently lead the 20-week pre-sessional, and I support the coordination of the 10-week and 6-week pre-sessional programmes. In addition, I am the Faculty Lead for the Business School academic literacy taught provision, particularly in the MBA, Economics and Accounting departments, and I teach and write materials for the Academic Skills Centre. For DCAD’s MA in Teaching English as a Second Language and Applied Linguistics, I convene the Global Englishes Policy and Power module, and I run dissertation support. I also sit on DCAD’s Ethics committee, and I share the secretary role for BALEAP’s In-sessional SIG which supports our professional community in enhancing and building in-sessional provision.

My previous roles include:

•External Examiner for the University of Manchester’s Erasmus and Exchange modules through the University Language Centre. As part of my role, I was their Critical Friend for their Academic Success Programme.

•Academic Development for Students (ADS) In-sessional Programme Lead for both central and in department academic skills

•Curriculum support teacher for the summer pre-sessional programmes where I contributed to marking standardization, mentoring teachers and teacher observations

•Dissertation supervisor and academic advisor for the MA in TESOL/Applied Linguistics

•Online materials developer for the FOCUS project with fellow DCAD colleagues Professors Megan Bruce and Simon Rees. Megan and Simon developed a bespoke Durham University student academic writing corpus (FOCUS), and my role was to design online materials using the corpus for 3 departments: Chemistry, Sport and the PGCE programme in Education. For the PGCE project, we published an article as can be seen below.

Prior to coming to Durham, I had a diverse teaching career beginning as a high school Spanish language teacher (Pilot Point, Texas) where I pioneered the Total Physical Response Storytelling method in my school for 2 years. After moving to the UK in 2005 to pursue a Masters in Teaching English as a Foreign Language, I continued training teachers in this method on the Japanese English Language Teacher Programme at the University of Birmingham.

I began my English for Academic Purposes (EAP) career through teaching on the Pre-sessional at the University of Birmingham, where I worked for 3 years with mostly postgraduate International students from a range of disciplines, including Economics, Engineering, Social Sciences and Computer Sciences. In addition to this role, I taught various undergraduate linguistics modules as a Visiting Lecturer in the School of English at Birmingham City University. My other roles have included being an English teacher both in secondary schools and in further education and a dissertation supervisor for MA Linguistics students at the University of Birmingham.

Conference presentations

•What’s your reading process? Exploring reading and note-taking with masters level Teaching English as a Second or Other Language/Applied Linguistics Students with a focus on student agency, voice and participation in Higher Education. BALEAP conference, April 2025.

•Reimagining Curriculum & Assessment through Collaborative Redesign:
Co-constructing EAP in the Age of GenAI. Co-presented with colleagues Drew Shaw and Laura Pitson, BALEAP conference, April 2025.

•What’s your reading process? Exploring reading and note-taking with masters level Teaching English as a Second or Other Language/Applied Linguistics Students with a focus on global connectivity. Lightning talk. Three Rivers Conference, November 2024.

•What’s your reading process? Exploring reading and note-taking with masters level Teaching English as a Second or Other Language/Applied Linguistics Students with a focus on Assessment for Learning. Durham Teaching and Learning conference, September 2024

•Enhancing dissertation writing for master’s level students through structured writing retreats. Durham University Teaching and Learning conference, September 2022.

•Dialogic Reflection Sessions in a Critical Friend Relationship. EAP in the North Conference, University of Manchester, November 2021. (Presented with colleague Rob Marks, Head of the Academic Success Programme, University of Manchester)

•A Tale of Two Insessionals: Challenges and Opportunities as Explored through a Critical Friend Relationship. Durham University Professional Issues Meeting National Conference, June 2021. (Presented with colleague Rob Marks, Head of the Academic Success Programme, University of Manchester)

•Increasing student engagement with asynchronous within- department in-sessional materials for ‘Home’ and ‘International’ Postgraduate and Undergraduate students. Part of the Symposium entitled 'EAP in the time of Covid-19: Opportunities and Challenges in Supporting Access, Engagement and Transitions'. BALEAP Biennial conference, April 2021. (Presented with colleague Clare Carr)

•Use of Kaltura media capture in providing formative feedback on process essays. Durham University Teaching and Learning conference, September 2019.

•FOCUS project: Using a corpus to develop online student activities. BAAL conference, September 2018 (Presented with colleague Megan Bruce)

•Development of online activities to support PGCE students’ academic writing. Durham University Teaching and Learning conference, September 2018. (Presented with colleagues Megan Bruce and Rachel Simpson)

•Write on the Edge: Using Xerte Online Toolkit corpus-based teaching activities to support Sport and Education students in writing assessments in unfamiliar genres. Durham University Teaching and Learning conference, September 2017 (Presented with colleague Megan Bruce)

•FOCUS project, Using a corpus to develop online student activities, Three Rivers Conference, Teeside University, March 2017

•FOCUS project, Using a corpus to develop online student activities, BAAL Corpus SIG Symposium, March 2017 Durham University (Presented with colleague Megan Bruce)

•FOCUS project, Using Xerte and Blackboard to develop online student activities, Blackboard Users Conference, Durham University, January 2017 (Presented with colleague Megan Bruce)

•Developing materials for developing listening: helping International students make the most of lectures. Durham University Inaugural Teaching and Learning Conference, September 2016 (Presented with colleagues Michelle Joubert, Gillian Powell and Lesley Kendall)

•FOCUS project: Using a corpus to develop online student activities. Durham Teaching Technologies Workshop, Durham University, June 2016 (Presented with colleague Simon Rees)

•Developing Materials for Listening and Speaking in English for Academic Purposes: Process and Product.Three Rivers Conference, Northumbria University, March 2016 (Presented with colleague Michelle Joubert)

•Process, planning and routine in a shifting EAP context: challenges, strategies and solutions. BALEAP PIM, Sheffield University, November 2015 (Presented with colleagues Michelle Joubert and Helen Costello)

Publications:
•Sequera, J. and Marks, R. ‘Dialogic Reflection Sessions in a Critical Friend Relationship’. EAP in the North Conference Proceedings, November 2021.

•Sequera, J., Bruce, M., Gill, A., Simpson, R. ‘Development of online activities to support PGCE students’ academic writing’, Practice and Evidence of Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education. Vol. 14, No. 1, January 2020, pp. 18-36.

Research Interests

I am interested in researching the reading process, particularly in the area of note-taking and writing for thinking.