Profile
I have been teaching since 2004. Initially specialising in exams before moving into EAP. I completed my DELTA in 2023 and this led me to be interested in materials writing as a career.
Teaching
At Queen Mary, University of London I teach on Foundations courses, the Presessional Course and Insessional Courses. I have rewritten the syllabus for PSP1, which is a course aimed at foundation level medical students which aims to equip them to succeed in the future studies. As well as writing Professional Writing for the Global Workplace, an insessional course which is aimed at students who wish to examine differences in cultures through the lens of business writing.
Research
Publications
I cowrite a popular teaching blog: Textploitation which provides lessons based on the teaching method I created with my writing partner David. We seek to exploit a text fully, using it as the basis for both skills and systems work. I have written workbooks for publishers, reviewed them and added to online material for National Geographic / Cengage, and Pearson. As well as writing, I speak at conferences regularly and do teacher training internationally for ELT organisations and publishing groups.
Selected publications list
Book
- D. Byrne, D. Heffernan, M. (2020) Textploitation: Mining texts for all they are worth. Stuttgart: Delta Publishing https://www.deltapublishing.co.uk/book/textploitation-9783125015791/?page_id=1
Articles
2016
- Byrne, D. Heffernan, M. (2016) ‘Textploitation’ English Teaching Professional 103(March 2016) pp9-10
2017
- Byrne, D. Heffernan, M. (2017) ‘Authentic Recordings’ English Teaching Professional 113(November2017) pp57-58
2018
- Heffernan, M. (2018) ‘Bridging the Gap’ English Teaching Professional 117(July 2018) pp13-15
2019
- Byrne, D. Heffernan, M. (2019) ‘Overt Teaching’ English Teaching Professional 125(November2019) pp17-18
2020
- Byrne, D. Heffernan, M. (2020) ‘Success with online activities’ English Teaching Professional 129(August2020) pp6-7
- Byrne, D. Heffernan, M. (2020) ‘The Socially Distant Classroom’ English Teaching Professional 131 (November2020)
- Byrne, D. Heffernan, M. (2020) 'Speaking Skills and Success Criteria' English Teachers Association Switzerland 37/3 (Winter 2020-21) pp23-24
Conference Presentations
2015
- Byrne, D. Heffernan, M. (2015) ‘Textploitation: Getting more from a text’ 49th International IATEFL Conference and Exhibition Manchester
2016
- Byrne, D. Heffernan, M. (2016) ‘The Holistic Listening Agency’ 50th International IATEFL Conference and Exhibition Birmingham
2017
- Byrne, D. Heffernan, M. (2017) ‘Overt Teaching’ 51st International IATEFL Conference and Exhibition: TDSIG Glasgow
2018
- Byrne, D. Heffernan, M. (2018a) ‘Textploitation: Getting more from a text’ ELT Ireland: 4th Annual Conference Dublin
- Byrne, D. Heffernan, M. (2018b) ‘Textploitation Using a text to develop skills’ English UK North Sheffield
2019
- Byrne, D. Heffernan, M. (2019a) ‘Textploitation: Using a text to develop skills ’ English UK Conference London
- Byrne, D. Heffernan, M. (2019b) ‘Textploitation: Exploiting tiny texts in the classroom’ 53rd International IATEFL Conference and Exhibition Liverpool
2020
- Byrne, D. Heffernan, M. (2020a) ‘Bridging the Gap between IELTS & EAP’ English UK Conference London
- Byrne, D. Heffernan, M. (2020b) ‘Textploitation: Exploiting tiny texts in the classroom’ English UK Scotland Conference Edinburgh
2021
- Byrne, D. Heffernan, M. (2020a) ‘Going further with Dialogues’ IATEFL 54th International IATEFL Conference and Exhibition Online
- Byrne, D. Heffernan, M. (2020b) ‘Managing differentiation’ ELT Ireland: 7th Annual Conference Online