Dr Margaret Hearnden spent the early part of her career teaching EFL and TESOL in France, Germany, Japan and Canada. She was involved in a Citizen and Immigration Canada (CIC) government funded project, researching, writing and piloting an ESOL curriculum specifically for internationally educated nurses who have English as a second language, which has since been published and is now being used in major Toronto educational institutions.

She completed her PhD in September 2007 at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto, Canada. Her research investigated the sociolinguistic and socio-cultural issues of internationally educated nurses coming to work in Ontario. She is also a graduate of French language and literature from University College London and the University of Toronto and holds TEFL and TESOL qualifications. Margaret is currently a Teaching Fellow at the University of York, UK and is Programme Leader for the MA in TESOL.

She is interested in most aspects of second language education, but particularly the social and cultural influences on language learning and teaching, and second language education in the global context. She is especially interested in English for Specific Purposes relating to professions (not exclusively healthcare).