Keith Johnson

Keith Johnson (born 1944) is a British linguist. He is currently an emeritus professor at the Department of Linguistics and English Language of Lancaster University, United Kingdom. His research focuses on applied linguistics with a special focus on second language acquisition and language teaching.

Career Johnson was one of the three members at the Centre for Applied Language Studies at the University of Reading. He later moved to the Department of Linguistic Science of University of Reading.

He became a Senior Lecturer to the University of Essex.

In 1994 he became a full professor at the Department of Linguistics and English Language at Lancaster University.

He was the founding editor of the Language Teaching Research journal.

He was also a visiting professor at the University of Vienna and the Hong Kong Institute of Education.

Research One of Johnson’s main interests has been in the study of language teaching expertise - areas of expertise shown by language teachers and others working in the language teaching profession (task designers, materials writers, textbook evaluators etc.). He has been involved in a number of externally funded research projects in this area: looking at expertise in task design (as part of a team supported by the ESRC, then individually supported by The Leverhulme Trust); looking at the practices of expert teachers of non-language skills (e.g. teachers of music, sports) and considering their implications for the language teacher (supported by the AHRC). Johnson’s work in expertise was taken forward at Lancaster by the research group known as LATEX, for LAnguage Teaching EXpertise research group.

Publications Johnson has publications in several major journals such as System, ITL International Journal of Applied Linguistics, Language Teaching Research, E L T Journal.