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Staff Profile

Dr Müge Satar

Reader in Applied Linguistics / Interim HaSS Dean for Global

  • Email: muge.satar@ncl.ac.uk
  • Telephone: +44 (0) 191 208 5070
  • Address: Room 2.03
    School of Education, Communication and Language Sciences
    King George VI Building
    Newcastle University
    Newcastle upon Tyne
    NE1 7RU
Background

Dr Müge Satar pronunciation

Director of Global (School of ECLS)

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I am Reader in Applied Linguistics at Newcastle University, UK and Senior Fellow of Higher Education Academy. I have expertise on technology enhanced language learning and teaching, particularly on the communicative and pedagogical aspects of multimodal and intercultural interaction in online settings, focusing on social presence, meaning-making, instruction-giving, and task design. Through the lens of the theory of social presence and using mixed methods as well as social semiotics and multimodal (inter)action analysis, my work aims to understand how people from different linguistic and cultural backgrounds and from different communities establish interpersonal relationships and improve their digital, linguistic, and intercultural communication skills. I am particularly interested in contributing to social and intercultural connectedness through fostering interpersonal relationships and participation in physical and online communities.

I was Principal Investigator of the Communities, Languages, and Activities App (ENACT) project https://enacteuropa.com (2019-2022) co-funded by the European Union. The main aim of the project was to foster intercultural and intergenerational social cohesion and understanding between migrant and host community members through two-way knowledge exchange facilitated by digital tools. We worked with several organisations supporting migrant communities including the Newcastle City of Sanctuary, Action Foundation, and the North East Solidarity Teaching (NEST). We are currently organising impact events for schools and communities at the University and at the Great North Museum (Newcastle Upon Tyne) in collaboration with Tyne and Wear museums.

I am a General Council member of UNICollaboration https://www.unicollaboration.org/index.php/general-council/ and the co-editor of the Journal of Virtual Exchange https://journal.unicollaboration.org I have publications in leading journals in the field such as Language Learning and Technology, ReCALL, and System. My most recent books are an edited volume Virtual Exchange: Towards Digital Equity in Internationalisation (2021), a co-authored manuscript Instruction Giving in Online Language Lessons: A Multimodal (Inter)action Analysis (2023), and a co-edited volume Cultural Tasks For Digital Language Learning (forthcoming).

I joined the Applied Linguistics and Communication team at Newcastle University as Lecturer in December 2016. Prior to that I worked as a Lecturer at Boğaziçi University, Turkey teaching academic English and TESOL courses. I have also taught English as a foreign language and Turkish as a foreign language at both secondary school level and in adult education in Turkey and in the UK at King's College, London. 

I currently supervise 8 doctoral candidates. PhD candidates, please read the information under the Research tab.


LIST OF PUBLICATIONS can be found under the PUBLICATIONS tab.


QUALIFICATIONS

SFHEA - Senior Fellow of Higher Education Academy

Doçent (associate professor) in Educational Sciences, Foreign Language Teaching, awarded by Inter-university Council (UAK) of Turkey

PhD in Applied Linguistics

MA in Computer and Instructional Technologies

BA in English Language Teaching

 

ESTEEM INDICATORS

Keynote presentations:

  • May 2023: Virtual Mobility for All - Teaching and Learning in a Connected World, Sant Augustin, Germany
  • June 2023: 40th CALICO Annual Conference, Minneapolis, USA
  • May 2024: PPTELL Conference, Taiwan https://conference.pptell.org/index.php
  • March 2025, International Meeting on Foreign Language Learning in Tandem (IMFLIT) conference, Mexico

Chair of the International Virtual Exchange Conference - IVEC 2020 host, 14-16 September 2020

HaSS Faculty Acting Dean for Global (August 2023 - January 2024 and February 2025 - August 2025)

Director for Global at the School of Education, Communication and Language Sciences. (2018-2020 co-director, 2020-ongoing director)

Chair of Board of Studies for our degree programmes at our section, Applied Linguistics and Communication (2018-2019).

Co-editor of Journal of Virtual Exchange and ARECLS (Annual Review of Education, Communication, and Language Sciences)

Co-editor of a special issue of Writing & Pedagogy, titled Multimodality in Electronic Feedback in Writing

Executive Board member (2018-2022), Second publications officer (2018-2022), and General Council member (2022-ongoing) of UNICollaboration

Secretary for the Computer Mediated Communication Special Interest Group (CMC SIG) for EuroCALL(2014-2018)

Member of EuroCALL, BAAL and ELTER


EXPERTISE

Computer-Assisted Language Learning; Online Language Learning and Teaching; Computer-Mediated Communication; Social Presence; Multimodality 

 

Google scholar: Click here.

ORCID: Click here.

 



Research

My research to date has focused on technology enhanced foreign language learning and teacher education, particularly on the concept of social presence in multimodal online communication among language learners, interaction and participation in blended learning contexts, instruction-giving sequences in online language teaching, development of speaking and writing skills, task-based language teaching, and affective factors in language learning.


In my research, I employ both qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis methods, including experimental research design, case studies, questionnaires, interviews, multimodal social semiotic analysis, multimodal interaction analysis, thematic analysis, content analysis and social network analysis.


To get free electronic access to a number of my publications, please go to:

https://eprint.ncl.ac.uk/author_pubs.aspx?author_id=224989


Current research projects


British Academy Award, Pump Priming Collaboration between UK and EU Partners 2025 Programme. (PI) April, 2025, 12 months. £9,751 


ESRC IAA Strategic Fund. Project title: Taking the ‘Around the World Club (ATWC) to the World. (PI) with Paul Seedhouse and Ahmed Kharrufa. March 2025-August 2026, £14,945.


British Council Going Global Partnerships TNE Exploratory Grant. Project title: Joint postgraduate programme development between Turkey and the UK: removing barriers and sharing good practice. (PI) with Zeynep Bilki (Co-I), TED University. 2025-2026, £25,000.


British Council Going Global Partnerships TNE Exploratory Grant. Project title: TNE Conference: Opportunities and Challenges in Brazil. (PI) with Alexandre Anselmo Guilherme. PUCRS. 2025-2026, £ 25,000.


Connect4Innovation: UK-Turkey Higher Education Institutional Partnerships Fund: Global Graduates through Virtual Exchange: A Model for Language Teachers and Internationalization in UK-Türkiye Higher Education (GlobVELT UK-TR), (Co-I), with Asuman Asik, PI (Gazi University, Turkey). October 2023-2025, £23.5K https://globvelt.com/


Completed research projects


Communities, Languages, and Activities App (ENACT), a €270,000 Erasmus Key Action 2 Strategic Partnerships for Higher Education, (PI). https://enacteuropa.com/ (with Paul Seedhouse, Ahmed Kharrufa (CoIs). Consortium partners: Boğaziçi University, Cultura Foundation, Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, and University of Helsinki. (2019-2022)


Stevens Initiative: The ABCs of young people and virtual exchange: access, benefits and contents, March-December 2022, Co-I, USD 29,606 https://www.stevensinitiative.org/strengthening-the-field-catalyzing-research-in-virtual-exchange-2022/


Stevens Initiative: The Causes and Remedies for Marginalization and Underrepresentation in Global Virtual Exchange Initiatives: A Comprehensive Survey of Stakeholders in Four Geopolitical Sectors, January-October 2021, Co-I, USD 19,619 (2021) https://www.stevensinitiative.org/catalyzing-research-in-virtual-exchange-project-updates/


An examination of experienced online language teachers' multimodal instruction-giving practices, funded by Newcastle University, HaSS Faculty Research Fund (PI) (2018-2019)


Providing Technology Enhanced Training for EFL Teacher Trainees, funded by Bogazici University Scientific Research Projects (PI) (2013-2015)


Embedding translation AI in the L2 secondary school classroom: creative applications and potential barriers, funded by Creative Multilingualism (with Nick Riches, PI, and Elaine Lopez) (2019-2020)


British Council IELTS Research Programme on ‘Which specific features of candidate talk do examiners orient to when taking scoring decisions?’ (with Paul Seedhouse, PI) (2019)


Virtual Exchange for Teacher Education: A focus on Critical Digital Literacy, funded by TED University, Scientific Research Projects (with Zeynep Bilki, PI, and Mirjam Hauck) (2019-2020)


Newcastle University, ECLS School Research Committee: Follow-up work on E Critical Skills for Life and Work (2019)


Critical Skills for Life and Work: Developing the Professional Intercultural Communicative Competence of Highly-Skilled Refugees, funded by Erasmus, www.cslw.eu (Tony Young, PI) (2017-2019)


A comparison of synchronous computer-mediated communication technologies for the development of oral skills in a foreign language, funded by Marmara University, Scientific Research Projects Commission. (with Prof. Dr. Nesrin Ozdener, PI and Prof Dr. Servet Bayram). (2006-2007)


Postgraduate supervision


PhD students who have completed are:

Homoud Hadad S Alanazi (2020). An Examination of the Impact of Using Hybrid MOOCs on Students' Experiences and Achievements within Higher Education in Saudi Arabia

Afnan Alaloula (2023). Digital Literacies for English Language Learners: a Multimodal Social Semiotic Approach to Investigate Saudi Students’ Reading of English Tweets

Noelia Concheria (2023). Understanding Student Discontinuation in Online Language Courses in Corporate Training

Saziye Tasdemir (2023). Using a video tagging application to support professional development and reflection: a case study of pre-service and in-service teachers.

Ali Alghamdi (2023). A conversation analytic study of online video-mediated L2 classrooms: the affordances of audio activation/deactivation features in interaction management

Dhaifallah Alzahrani (2023). Pen-and-paper versus in-person computer-supported L2 collaborative writing: a multimodal (inter)action analysis

Badryah Almesfer (2023). Saudi PhD Sojourners’ Construction of Identities on Twitter: An Exploratory Study in the United Kingdom

Szu-Han (Mike) Ke (2025). Multimodal Composition of Teacher-provided Corrective Feedback in Taiwanese Adult EFL Lessons via Videoconferencing.


I am currently supervising: 

Gemma Lockey: Assessing sense of connectedness in a Postgraduate Distance Learning programme for Medical Educators

Pattaramas Jantasin: A Social Semiotic Study of Thai EFL University Students’ Multimodal Composing (viva passed with minor corrections)

Wala Almijiwl: Multimodal Meaning-Making in Virtual Exchange through cultural activities on the ENACT web app: A Social Semiotics Approach

Ashlyn Wong: Interculturality, cultures, and communities through the lenses of digital nomads: a Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis  


For PhD candidates:


I only consider exceptional applications closely related to my research area: online multimodal language learner interactions or online language teaching both specifically in the context of videoconferencing or intercultural virtual exchange.


I welcome proposals on the following:

research topics: Social presence; Intercultural Virtual Exchange; Translanguaging; Topic management; Digital/multimodal literacies; Teacher education/teaching skills; Intersubjectivity; Engagement; Interpersonal relations

research methods: Social Semiotics; Multimodal Interaction Analysis; Ethnography; Interactional Sociolinguistics; Social Network Analysis


I will also consider applications related to the ENACT project: Communities, Languages, and Activities App.


Please send me your IELTS scores and your academic transcripts with your proposal.

Please be advised that I check similarity scores for post-graduate proposals using Turnitin. You can find more information about plagiarism on the following links: 

1. https://www.ncl.ac.uk/library/subject-support/informed-learner/plagiarism.php

2. http://www.plagiarism.org/teaching-about-plagiarism

3. http://www.uefap.com/writing/writfram.htm

Also see Activity 10.16 (page198) in Gillet, A., Hammond, A., & Martala, M. (2009). Inside track to successful academic writing. Canada: Pearson Education.


Teaching

I teach on the MA in Applied Linguistics and TESOL degree.


I am the module leader for:

ALC8022 Technology Enhanced Language Learning (TELL)

ALC8038 Teaching Languages Online

ALC8036 Materials Design and Evaluation in TESOL

ECL1001 Global and Cultural Awareness


I contribute to lectures in ALC8020 Research Methods in Applied Linguistics.


A core component in ALC8022 is a curriculum-embedded Virtual Exchange which offers experiential practice in the virtual exchange method. https://microsites.ncl.ac.uk/casestudies/2019/08/15/virtual-exchange-for-internationalisation/


ALC8038 offers both micro-teaching opportunities in class and teaching practice with various groups of real learners, which provide the basis for an assessed reflective log.


I lead a Newcastle University Global Education and Community Fund titled: Collaborative intercultural encounters for global educational experiences. This project aims to enable present-in-person intercultural encounters across the school in order to (a) facilitate dialogue and collaboration among home and international students across different disciplines for global educational experiences, (b) foster intercultural and multilingual awareness, collaboration and team work, and thus employability skills, (c) develop awareness of multiple worldviews and ways of life, (d) support understandings of global citizenship, reflexivity, and social responsibility. To achieve these aims, we will organise a series of collaborative, project-based activities throughout the 2022-23 academic year, which will be co-designed and co-run with our student representatives and post-graduate demonstrators. We will develop materials and resources as well as evaluation and certification tools. The sessions are now offered as a zero-credit module for all students in ECLS: ECL1001 Global and Cultural Awareness


Newcastle University Student Union The Education Awards nominations:

- Outstanding Contribution to Teaching – HASS Faculty (2019)

- Outstanding Contribution to Academic Support (2021)

- Research Supervisor of the Year (2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023)

- Education Awards Nomination (2023) (PGT supervision)







Publications