Dr. Sam Mcilroy

Biography

Sam McIlroy is the Director of the Centre for Academic Communication in English at the University of Oxford. He specializes in English for Academic Purposes (EAP) and academic literacies. With a BA (Hons) in Social Political Sciences from the University of Cambridge, an MA in Latin American Cultural Studies from the University of Manchester, and an MA in Applied Linguistics (with distinction) from the University of Nottingham, he is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. Sam has extensive teaching and professional experience across countries including Spain, Turkey, China, Kazakhstan, and Colombia. His prior roles include positions at University College London, the University of Nottingham, and Suzhou University, where he has worked on transnational projects with various universities. In his current role, Sam oversees collaborations with institutions such as the Open University of China and Wuhan University. He has a particular interest in developing learners' academic writing skills and has designed and delivered numerous courses tailored to this area. Additionally, Sam has served as the Head of Academic English at the University of Oxford Language Centre, where he has led the development of accredited Academic English courses, reflecting the department's commitment to high professional standards. His scholarly interests include genre pedagogy, task-based language teaching, and discourse analysis.

Research Interests