Dr Jo Shoba
As well as teaching on at undergraduate level, my role includes Programme Leader for the MA in English Language Studies. My main teaching and research interest concerns language in education, both at the level of policy and classroom practice. This grew out of my work in the 1980s as a teacher trainer in Botswana, Africa, and is the topic of my PhD thesis. My most recent work focuses on educational issues surrounding minority languages in the UK, including community language teaching of Somali in Liverpool and the role of Scots in the primary school curriculum in Scotland, my home country.
Research
- Educational language policy
- Classroom ethnographies
- Minority language communities
- Literacy studies
Publications
Please note: Jo Shoba continues to publish under a former surname, Arthur.
- ‘Codeswitching and Collusion: Classroom Interaction in Botswana Primary Schools’. In Heller, M. and Martin-Jones, M. (eds.) Voices of Authority: Education and Linguistic Difference. Norwood, New Jersey: Ablex, pp.57-76.
- 2001 ‘Perspectives on Educational Language policy and its Implemention in African Classrooms: A Comparative Study of Botswana and Tanzania.’ Compare, 31, 3, pp. 347-362.
- 2003 Baro Afkaaga Hooyo! A Case Study of Somali Literacy Teaching in Liverpool.’ In Creese, A. and Martin, P. (eds.) Multilingual Classroom Ecologies. Clevedon, Avon: Multilingual Matters, pp.93-106.
- 2005 ‘Language at the Margins: The case of Somali in Liverpool'. Language Problems and Language Planning, 28, 3, pp.217-240.
- 2006 With Martin, P.M.W. ‘Accomplishing Lessons in Post-Colonial Classrooms: Comparative Perspectives from Africa and Asia’. Comparative Education, 42, 2: 177-202.
- 2006 With McPake, J.M. 'Scots in Contemporary Social and Educational Context'. Language, Culture and Curriculum, 19, 2: 155-170.