Dr Jo Close
Senior Lecturer
Biography
Dr Jo Close is Senior Lecturer in English Language in the Faculty of Arts, Humanities, Social Sciences and Education at the University of Chester, UK. She has been Programme Leader for BA (Hons) English Language since 2012 and was Deputy Head of English from September 2016 to December 2023. She has been Assessment Officer for English programmes since 2014, acts as Chair of the Panel for Academic Conduct hearings, and is a member of the University's Academic Appeals Board.
Teaching and Supervision
Dr Close teaches on a range of modules across the BA English Language and the MA English Language and Linguistics. Topics include: grammar, syntax, morphology, corpus linguistics, dialect variation, sociolinguistics, discourse analysis, linguistic change, language acquisition, English in education. She has also taught on the PGcertLTHE.
Research and Knowledge Exchange
Dr Close's main research interests are in grammar, grammatical variation in English dialects, the English auxiliary system, corpus linguistics and language change, particularly the changes taking place in present-day English. She is currently working on the Talking Chester project to investigate the accent and dialect in and around Chester with Dr Helen West. They will, with Dr Matt Davies, host the 10th Northern Englishes Workshop in June 2024.