About the Author

Dr. Ken Beatty – Series Author

Hi, I’m Ken Beatty, series author of Starship English. If you’re reading this, you are probably a parent or a teacher. Let me tell you a bit about myself on my journey to writing this exciting new series.

I’ve spent my career working both as a teacher and a writer. I was the first in my family to go to university and then it seems I couldn’t stop. I now hold a PhD in Curriculum Studies from Hong Kong University, a Master of Fine Arts in Playwriting from York University, a Diploma in Applied Linguistics from the University of Victoria, and a Diploma in Education and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of British Columbia.

For 12 years, I was a Lecturer and then Senior Lecturer in the Division of Language Studies at City University of Hong Kong. There I developed and taught www-based English courses and also taught desktop publishing and design. I was also fortunate to serve as Academic Advisor for Hong Kong’s Educational Television program from 1998 to 2004, writing and editing scripts on a range of topics for the Hong Kong school system. In this role, I was even (almost) a movie star! I was the host of a primary phonics series available on VCD and frequently aired on TV in Hong Kong.

Before I moved to Hong Kong, I first taught at public schools and universities in my native Canada and then in the People’s Republic of China, including one year at Southwest China Teacher’s University in Beipei, Sichuan, and three years at the Canada-China Language Centre at Beijing Normal University. I’m deeply interested in Asia and am lucky to be able to still travel there frequently on lecture tours and to promote my more than 120 textbooks that I have written for Pearson, Longman, Penguin, Oxford University Press, Thomson/Cengage, Heinle & Heinle, Hong Kong Educational Press, and, of course, Fortunas Publishing!

These textbooks, some co-authored with my PhD advisor, Professor David Nunan, include titles for learning English as a Second Language for the primary through university levels, as well as a series of 46 readers, four of which are recommended by the PRC Ministry of Education for adoption by all school libraries in China. My 2003 graduate-level book, Teaching and Researching Computer Assisted Language Learning, was published in a new edition for the People’s Republic of China in 2005 and in a revised second international edition in 2010.

I have always been curious about language teaching and learning and interested in research. I’ve participated in many research projects on these topics as well as projects on literature and educational technology. These projects include research with Professor Chris Candlin on Content Analysis of Textbooks and Teaching Materials in Respect of Stereotypes.

From 2008 to 2010, I lived in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates with my wife, a painter, and my two young sons. There, I was Chair of Assessment for The Higher Colleges of Technology. Now I am TESOL Professor with Anaheim University and my family and I live on a small Island near Vancouver, Canada. I continue to travel, research, write, and consult.

And what about you? Do you have any questions about language teaching and learning, or suggestions about Starship English? I’d love to hear from you! Please contact me at kenbeatty@mac.com

Always remember: Life is for Learning!