Dr Cynthia Nelson
Senior Lecturerph: (02) 9351 4657
fax: (02) 9351 4331
email: c.nelson@usyd.edu.au
Cynthia Nelson is a Senior Lecturer at the Institute for Teaching and Learning (ITL). Having joined the team in July 2008, her main projects will be the Development Program for Research Supervision and the Promoting Excellence Initiative.
Cynthia has extensive experience teaching academic literacies and designing research-development programs for students and staff. She was a Senior Lecturer and Research Coordinator in a centralised development unit at the University of Technology, Sydney, where she worked for over a decade. Previously she taught at Macquarie University and the University of Washington, and has also given invited guest lectures at institutions such as Temple University Japan and the University of New Hampshire.
She has initiated and taught in a wide variety of developmental programs for academic colleagues, postgraduate researchers, Honours students and other undergraduates within (and across) numerous disciplinary areas, including business, education, engineering, humanities, information technology, international studies, law, nursing, and social sciences.
Her research publications and presentations have focused on two main areas: research writing practices and research development strategies, with a particular interest in innovative ways of crafting knowledge at the academy/industry interface; and teaching practices that engage productively with the complexities of social and linguistic diversity within increasingly globalised education contexts.
These research interests have emerged from Cynthia’s 20-year trajectory as an educator: from teaching English to migrants, refugees and international students in workplaces and in further- and higher-education contexts in the US; to teaching academic literacies to both local and international students in Australian universities; to developing the research writing expertise of primarily doctoral candidates; to advising academic colleagues on their own research development and on research supervision; and to her current role as an academic developer at ITL.
Cynthia has a PhD in Applied Linguistics from Macquarie University (2001), as well as a MATESL degree (a Master of Arts in Teaching) and a BA in English (cum laude), both from the University of Washington.
Publications
Authored book
Nelson, C.D. (2009). Sexual identities in English language education: Classroom conversations. New York: Routledge.
[For an online preview of the this book, please see the Google Books page at http://books.google.com/books?id=ljg7X-ESoCUC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Sexual+identities+in+English+language+education:+Classroom+conversations]
Edited work
Nelson, C.D. (2006). Guest editor of the international refereed Journal of Language, Identity, and Education. Vol 5, Issue 1.
Book chapters
Nelson, C.D. (in press). Vanishing acts. In D. Nunan & J. Choi (Eds.) Language and culture: Reflective narratives and the emergence of identity. London: Routledge.
Nelson, C.D. (2007). Queer thinking about language teaching: An overview of published work. In H. Decke-Cornill & L. Volkmann (Eds.) Gender studies and foreign language education (pp. 63-76).Tübingen, Germany: Narr/Uni-Taschenbücher.
Nelson, C.D. (2006). A teoria queer em lingüística aplicada: Enigmas sobre ‘sair do armário’ em salas de aula globalizadas. In Moita-Lopes, L.P. (Ed. & trans.), Por uma lingüística aplicada indisciplinar [Towards a transdisciplinary applied linguistics] (pp. 215-232).São Paulo: Parábola.
Nelson, C.D. (2004). Beyond straight grammar: Using lesbian/gay themes to explore cultural meanings. In B. Norton & A. Pavlenko (Eds.) Gender and English language learners (pp. 15-28).Waldorf, Maryland: TESOL. [This article is posted with the permission of TESOL and may not be reproduced. Please visit www.tesol.org/bookstore for permanent access to this book chapter.]
Ó’Móchain, R., Mitchell, M., and Nelson, C.D. (2003). Dialogues around: “Heterosexism in ESL: Examining our attitudes” and “Sexual identities in ESL: Queer theory and classroom inquiry” by Cynthia Nelson (1993, 1999). In J. Sharkey & K.E. Johnson (Eds.), The TESOL Quarterly dialogues: Rethinking issues of language, culture and power (pp.123-140) . Waldorf, Maryland: TESOL.
[This article is posted with the permission of TESOL and may not be reproduced. Please visit www.tesol.org/bookstore for permanent access to this book chapter.]
Nelson, C.D. (2002). What might queer theory mean educationally? A perspective from ESL. In K. Robinson, T. Ferfolja & J. Irwin (Eds.) From here to diversity: The social impact of lesbian and gay issues in education in Australia (pp. 43-53). New York: Harrington Park Press. [published simultaneously in Journal of Gay and Lesbian Social Services, 14(2):43-53]
[For an online preview of the this book, please see the Google Books page at http://books.google.com/books?id=3yeUOM24OBoC&printsec=frontcover&dq=From+here+to+diversity:+The+social+impact+of+lesbian+and+gay+issues+in+education+in+Australia]
Refereed journal papers
San Miguel, C. & Nelson, C.D. (2007). Key writing challenges of practice-based doctorates. Journal of English for Academic Purposes. 6(1):71-86.
Nelson, C.D. (2006). Queer inquiry in language education. Journal of Language, Identity, and Education. 5(1):1-9.
Nelson, C.D. (2005). Crafting researcher subjectivity in ways that enact theory. Journal of Language, Identity, and Education, 4(4):315-320.
[This article forms part of a discussion in The Forum on the topic, 'Situating The Researcher In Research Texts: Dilemmeas, Questions, Ethics, New Directions'.]
Nelson, C.D. (2005). Transnational/Queer: Narratives from the contact zone. Journal of Curriculum Theorizing, 21(2):109-117.
Nelson, C.D. (2004). A queer chaos of meanings: Coming out conundrums in globalised classrooms. Journal of Gay and Lesbian Issues in Education, 2(1): 27-46.
Nelson, C.D. and San Miguel, C. (2003). Designing doctoral writing workshops that problematise textual practices. Hong Kong Journal of Applied Linguistics, 8(2):116-136.
Nelson, C. (1999). Sexual identities in ESL: Queer theory and classroom inquiry. TESOL Quarterly, 33(3):371-391.
[This article is posted with the permission of TESOL and may not be reproduced. Please visit http://www.tesol.org/s_tesol/sec_document.asp?CID=209&DID=3875 for permanent access to this article.]
Nelson, C. (1993). Heterosexism in ESL: Examining our attitudes. TESOL Quarterly, 27(1):143-150.
[This article is posted with the permission of TESOL and may not be reproduced. Please visit http://www.tesol.org/s_tesol/sec_document.asp?CID=209&DID=3875 for permanent access to this article.]
Encyclopedia entry
Nelson, C.D. (2005). ESL, teaching of. In J. Sears (Ed.) Youth, education, and sexualities: An international encyclopedia [two volumes](pp. 299-303).Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood.
Electronic reproductions
Nelson, C. (1999/2003). Sexual identities in ESL: Queer theory and classroom inquiry. Reproduced on a CD-ROM accompanying Sharkey, J. & Johnson, K.E. (Eds.) The TESOL Quarterly dialogues: Rethinking issues of language, culture and power. Waldorf, Maryland: TESOL.
[This article is posted with the permission of TESOL and may not be reproduced. Please visit www.tesol.org/bookstore for permanent access to this book chapter.]
Nelson, C. (1993/2003). Heterosexism in ESL: Examining our attitudes. Reproduced on a CD-ROM accompanying Sharkey, J. & Johnson, K.E. (Eds.) The TESOL Quarterly dialogues: Rethinking issues of language, culture and power. Waldorf, Maryland: TESOL.
Selected presentations and seminars since 2000 (* indicates featured or invited)
*Nelson, C. (2005). Distinguished Lecturer Series (invited to run two 11-hr seminars for postgraduates and two 3-hr presentations for the general public). Temple University Japan, Tokyo and Osaka, Japan.
*Nelson, C. (2005). Transdisciplinary perspectives on teaching language in queer times (invited to organise featured symposium). World Congress of Applied Linguistics, Madison, USA.
*Nelson, C. (2005). Discussant, Institute for International Studies Annual Workshop, University of Technology, Sydney.
Belcher, D., Casanave, C., Hirvela, A., Nelson, C., Paltridge, B. & Starfield, S. (2004). Teaching and researching thesis and dissertation writing. Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) convention, Long Beach, USA.
Alvarez, L., Johnson, K., Kachi, R., Kubota, R., Mahon, R., Nelson, C., Reeves, J., Sharkey, J., Shi, L. & Wong, M. (2004). Rethinking issues of language, culture, and power. TESOL Convention, Long Beach, USA.
*Nelson, C. (2003). Supporting the writing development of research students. Quality in research education retreat, University Graduate School, University of Technology, Sydney.
*Nelson, C. (2003). Writing research for performance (invited workshop for academic staff and postgraduates), University of New Hampshire, USA.
*Nelson, C. (2003). Queer as a Second Language: A playreading (featured presentation). James O. Sidore Lecture Series. University of New Hampshire, USA.
Harklau, L, Kachi, R., Kubota, R., Mitchell, M., Nelson, C., Ó’Móchain, R. and Sharkey, J. (2003). Teacher-researcher dialogues on identity/representation politics. TESOL convention, Baltimore, USA.
Cummings, M.C., Hofmann, P., Nelson, C., Robles, C., & Schwarz, D. (2003). LGBT educators and students from an international perspective, TESOL, Baltimore, USA.
Nelson, C. and San Miguel, C. (2003). Supplementing supervision with writing workshops. Research Education Conference, University of Technology, Sydney.
*Nelson, C. (2002). Queer as a Second Language: A playreading (featured theatre presentation). Education and Social Action Conference, Centre for Popular Education, University of Technology, Sydney.
Nelson, C. (2002). When ESL discussions turn to lesbian and gay topics. Language in Education Seminar Series, Centre for Language and Literacy, University of Technology, Sydney.
*Nelson, C. (2002). Queer as a Second Language: Classroom theatre for everyone (Spotlight Session, a featured presentation), TESOL Convention, Salt Lake City, USA.
Kappra, R., Litvin, K., Nelson, C., Ridder, W. & Riedmiller, T. (2002). Queer culture and multiculturalism. TESOL Convention, Salt Lake City, USA.
Nelson, C. (2002). Queer talk in ESL classes: Implications for educators. American Educational Research Association convention, New Orleans, USA.
Nelson, C. & San Miguel, C. (2001). A text-based approach to teaching doctoral writing workshops. Changing Identities: Language and Academic Skills Conference, Wollongong.
*Nelson, C. (2001). ‘Queering’ our classrooms (keynote address), Gender Awareness in Language Education and East Asian Studies Interdisciplinary Conference, International School, Sapporo, Japan.
Joritz-Nakagawa, J., Kamada, L., Lokon, E., Lunny, D., Nelson, C., Mahon, R., Machill, C., Summerhawk, B. & Wilson Nelson, M. (2001). Gender, alternative identities, and engaged pedagogies. Gender Awareness in Language Education and East Asian Studies Interdisciplinary Conference, International School, Sapporo, Japan.
*Nelson, C. (2001). Addressing lesbian/gay themes in research (invited by Applied Linguistics Interest Section to chair discussion group), TESOL Convention, St Louis, USA.
Nelson, C. & San Miguel, C. (2000). Writing a professional doctorate. Professional Doctorates 3rd Biennial International Conference, Armidale.
Nelson, C. (2000). Gay/Lesbian identity as thematic content in ESL classroom interactions. Applied Linguistics Association of Australia, Melbourne.
Selected professional consultancies and awards
‘Expert of international standing’ assessor for Discovery grants, Australian Research Council
Reviewer for TESOL Quarterly; Curriculum Inquiry; Canadian Modern Language Journal; Melbourne Papers in Language & Linguistics; and Communication Skills in University Education Conference ProceedingsConsultant for Adult Migrant English Service; Charles Sturt University, Professional Doctorate Program in Police Studies; and Khon Kaen University (Thailand), PhD Program in Information Studies.
Co-recipient with ELSSA Centre colleagues, 1997 UTS Excellence in Teaching Award
