Dr CONSOLI, Sal

My academic journey is rooted in my experience as a language teacher and teacher educator across the UK, Italy, Spain, France, and China. Working in these different contexts has shaped my long-standing interest in learner motivation, engagement, and the wider human dimensions of language education. Prior to my time at EdUHK, I held academic positions at Newcastle University, the University of Warwick, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, and the University of Edinburgh.

My research focuses broadly on the psychology of language learning and teaching and the ways in which educational experiences are shaped by people’s wider personal and social lives. A key contribution of my work is the concept of Life Capital, which I developed as a theoretical and methodological lens to understand how learners and teachers (and researchers!) draw on their life histories as resources for learning, teaching, and inquiry.

My work is also strongly influenced by the epistemological and methodological traditions of narrative inquiry and practitioner research, including Action Research and Exploratory Practice. I see practitioner research as an important bridge between research and professional practice, and as a meaningful part of teacher preparation and continuing professional development.

A further strand of my research focuses on researcher reflexivity, positionality, vulnerability. I am particularly interested in approaches to inquiry that recognise researchers and participants as whole persons, and that take seriously the relational and emotional dimensions of knowledge production. More recently, I have also been exploring the implications of generative AI for English language education, learner engagement, academic writing.