Publications

a) Recent publications in Language Teacher Education and Applied Linguistics

Sharpling, G.P. 1994. Review of Cranmer, D and C. Laroy. Musical Openings. Longman 1992 in Modern English Teacher.

Sharpling, G.P. 2000. 'Web wisdom: internet skills for university students'. In Modern English Teacher, Vol. 9, No. 4, pp. 42-48

Sharpling, G.P. 2001. 'Fun with French' in Early Years Educator (March 2001), pp 22-23

Sharpling, G.P. 2002. 'Learning to teach English for Academic Purposes: some current training and development issues', in ELTED (vol. 6), via: www.elted.net

Sharpling, G.P. 2002. 'Developing foreign language writing skills'. Module for the University of Birmingham DELPHI project (Developing Language Professionals in Higher Education Institutions). Online, via: http://www.delphi.bham.ac.uk/whatisdelphi.htm

Sharpling, G.P. 2002. 'Using sentences for grammar practice: raising the importance of equal opportunities' in Humanising Language Teaching, Year 4, Issue 2. Online, via: http://www.hltmag.co.uk/mar02/mart4.htm

Sharpling, G.P. 2002. 'Second language writing in literary and academic contexts: exploring the interface'. Paper given at the Teaching Writing in Higher Education Conference, University of Warwick, 2001.

Sharpling, G.P. 2004. 'Inter-cultural issues in testing Chinese students' writing: lessons from learners, teachers and the trainers that train them'. ELTED (Autumn 2004). Online, via: www.elted.net

Sharpling, G.P. and R. C. Smith. 2004. 'Introduction to special issue on Cross-cultural concerns in English language teacher education and development'. English Language Teacher Education and Development 8: i-iv, 2004. Online, via: www.elted.net

Sharpling, G.P, H. Nesi and L. Ganobcsik-Williams. 2004. 'Student papers across the curriculum: Designing and developing a corpus of British student writing'. In Computers and Composition 21: 439-450.

Sharpling, G.P., T. Kelly and H. Nesi. 2006. Discussion Skills (EASE CD-ROM series).

Sharpling, G.P. and F. Chuang. 2007. Various entries for CELTE's Academic English Zone. See http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/al/learning_english/leap/

Sharpling, G.P. 2008. ‘The development of a dedicated English language entry test for foundation programme students: the case of WELT’. InFORM: A Journal for International Foundation Programme Professionals, 1: 7-10. Online, via: http://www.reading.ac.uk/nmsruntime/saveasdialog.asp?lID=24347&ampsID=77915

Sharpling, G.P. 2010. 'To standardise or diversify: How should English language be assessed on international foundation programmes?’ InForm: a journal for international foundation programme professionals, pp. 4-7. Available at: www.reading.ac.uk/inform (Issue 5).

Sharpling, G.P. 2010. ‘When BAWE meets WELT: the use of a corpus of student writing to develop items for a proficiency test in grammar and English usage’. Journal of Writing Research, 2 (2): 175-189

Sharpling, G.P. 2010. 'Dear InForm' (letters page). InForm: A Journal for International Foundation Programme Professionals, p. 1. Available at: www.reading.ac.uk/inform (Issue 6).

Sharpling, G.P. & Sky, G. 2011. Introduction to special issue: teacher development, testing and assessment. ELTED, 13: 1-3.

Xiao, Y., Sharpling, G.P. & Liu, H. 2011 'Washback of National Matriculation English Test on students' learning in the Chinese secondary school context'. Asian EFL Journal Quarterly, Vol. 13 (3): 103-129.

X. Jiang and G.P.Sharpling. 2011. ‘The impact of assessment change on language learning strategies: Views of a small group of Chinese graduate students .’ (forthcoming in Asian EFL Journal Quarterly) '

b) Edited volumes

Sharpling, G.P. and R. Smith. (Eds.) 2004. ELTED Volume 8 (Cross-cultural concerns in English Language Teacher Education and Development). Online, via: www.elted.net

Sharpling, G.P. and A. Pinter (Eds.). 2008. ELTED Volume 10. Online, via: www.elted.net

Sharpling, G.P., Mann, S. and P. Brown (Eds.) ELTED Volume 12. Online via: www.elted.net

Sharpling, G.P. and G. Sky (Eds.) 2011. ELTED Volume 13. Special issue on teacher development, testing and assessment. Online, via: www.elted.net 

c) Publications in literary and cultural studies

Sharpling, G.P. 1998. 'Antonin Artaud' and 'The Theatre of Cruelty' in Routledge Encyclopedia of Post-war French Culture, ed. by Alex Hughes and Keith Reader (London: Routledge).

Sharpling, G.P. 1999. 'From delusion to faith: the role of the visual image in Marguerite de Navarre's Heptaméron' in Women's Writing of the French Renaissance: Proceedings of the Fifth Cambridge French Renaissance Colloquium, 7-9 July 1997, ed. by Philip Ford and Gillian Jondorf (Cambridge: Cambridge French Colloquia). 91-103

Sharpling, G.P. 1999. 'All the world's a stage: the theme of dissimulation in Bacon's and Montaigne's essays' in Studies in the Humanities and Sciences, Vol XXXX No. 1. 309-327

Sharpling, G.P. 2001. 'The emerging identity of the poet in Senghor's Chants d'ombre: some preliminary reflections' in International Journal of Francophone Studies, Vol 3 No 3, 132-140

Sharpling, G.P. 2002. 'Towards a rhetoric of experience: the role of enargeia in Montaigne's Essais' in Rhetorica, vol 20, No 2, (2002). 173-192

Sharpling, G.P. 2002. The Role of the Image in the Prose Writing of Erasmus, Rabelais, Marguerite de Navarre and Montaigne. (Lewiston, New York: Edwin Mellen Press). 244 pp. ISBN: 0773468625. For an independent review of this book, see: http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/ren/projects/publications/journal/ten/ 

Sharpling, G.P. 2003. 'Présence de l'Heptaméron dans les Essais de Montaigne: Quelques réflexions sur le role de l'oeuvre de Marguerite de Navarre dans le développement de la prose française de la Renaissance' in Femmes et litterature, ed. by Philippe Baron, Dennis Wood and Wendy Perkins (Paris: Les Belles Lettres). 169-184

Sharpling, G.P. 2004. 'Analyse: regard anglais sur l'identité des harkis et de leurs enfants' in Harkis et Vérité (mars 2004). 6-7

Sharpling, G.P. 2004. ‘Women’s stage?: the role of female characters in Artaud’s Theatre of Cruelty’. In Dalhousie French Studies. University of Dalhousie, Canada. Vol 66. Spring 2004. 39-52.

Sharpling, G.P. 2007. 'From verse into prose: English translations of Louise Labé's sonnets'. Journal of European Studies 37: June 2007. 117-137

Sharpling, G.P. 2009. Review of Winn, Colette H. (ed.) Approaches to Teaching Marguerite de Navarre's Heptameron. ISBN 978-0-87352-592-3. New York: the Modern Language Association of America. In Modern Language Review, 104.1. 196-198.

d) Creative writing

Sharpling, G.P. 2008. Thoughts for rainy days: Collected short poems (Authorhouse Publications). See http://www.authorhouse.com/BOOkStore/ItemDetail~bookid~28561.aspx

e) Internal Audit/report

Sharpling, G.P, R. Maunder, M. Borg and J. Abson. 2008. (internal report). 'An investigation into the teaching, learning and assessment experiences of disabled students at the University of Warwick'

 Selected papers given at professional seminars and conferences

PhD Abstract: The role of the image in the prose writing of the French Renaissance (1998)

My thesis was supervised by Mrs. Judith Sproxton (formerly lecturer in Renaissance French Studies at the University of Birmingham). The examiners of my thesis were Professor Philip Ford (Clare College, Cambridge) and Professor Tony Davies (University of Birmingham)

This study is an investigation of the rôle of the written image in the prose writing of the French Renaissance. An image is taken to be a word, sentence or passage which provides a graphic insight into truth, through the vivid evocation of experience and/or through mental representation. This device is investigated in the light of aspects of reading and writing raised by Desiderius Erasmus in his rhetorical handbook De Copia and his biblical commentaries, and an attempt is made to relate the use of images in each of the books discussed to their authors’ understanding of the human condition. The flexibility of the prose form provides an effective medium for allowing the writers to reflect on their experience in a prospective way.

The first part of the study, divided into two chapters, is an attempt to define the concept of the written image in the Renaissance. In the first chapter, the image is discussed in the context of Erasmus’s rhetorical handbook De Copia. Although the term 'image’ is not widely used at this time, it is circumlocuted, in Erasmus’s handbook, by numerous figures such as enargeia, ekphrasis, similtudo, parabola, analogia and imago. Following a discussion of these individual rhetorical figures, the Renaissance text is then seen to be structured by sequences of connected images, which translate the experience of the writer in visual terms. In the second chapter, a connection is drawn between the importance of the image for understanding the scriptural text and its use in secular prose. Drawing on Erasmus’s reading method, this chapter seeks to show that the open-minded, prospective reading of the Bible, as advocated by Erasmus, amongst others, establishes a perspective which allows writers to describe and discuss their own experience graphically.

In the second part of the study, four prose texts are discussed: Erasmus’s In Praise of Folly (Encomium Moriae) (1511), Rabelais’s Quart Livre (1654), Marguerite de Navarre’s Heptaméron (1555) and Montaigne’s Essais (1572 to 1588). This corpus spans a complete century, but is given continuity through the presence of Erasmus’s thought in all the books discussed. Although written in Latin, Erasmus’s In Praise of Folly was widely available in France, both in Latin and in translation, and appears to define a new tradition of writing which French authors developed and expanded upon.

In all the works discussed, a tension can be noted between those images which suggest stability, such as enargeia, and those which translate instability, such as the writers’ use of lexis and verbal constructions. Oscillating between stable and fluid frames of reference, each text portrays the inherent uncertainty and slipperiness of the human condition, and the consequent need for a faith which can overcome such instablity. Nevertheless, each text is seen as a personal reflection on human experience, and no attempt is made to develop a ‘theory’ of the image to which all books cohere.

In the concluding chapter, the four texts, despite their individual differences, are seen to demonstrate tensions that are symptomatic of the climate of the Renaissance itself, poised between known and unknown elements. Experience is generally seen as fragmented, and there is a consequent mistrust and wariness, in each text examined, of the adequacy of the human power of analysis and the value of discursive reasoning.