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Laura Molway

Senior Departmental Lecturer in Modern Languages Education

laura.molway@education.ox.ac.uk

About me

Laura is Co-Director of the University of Oxford Education Deanery and subject lead for the PGCE in Modern Languages. She also supervises higher degrees in the fields of instructed second language learning and language teacher education.

Before working with the department, Laura taught French and German at secondary school level. She became interested in teacher education whilst mentoring beginning languages teachers during their school placements. Her doctoral research focussed on in-service languages teachers’ professional learning experiences and needs.

Laura is currently working on a project to compare the nature of instructed second/foreign language learning at secondary school in England, Norway and France.

Research

Books

Molway, L., & Gordon, A. (2025). Mentoring Languages Teachers in the Secondary School. Routledge.

https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003495468 https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003495468

Book chapters

Molway, L., & Gordon, A. (2025). Models of mentoring. In Mentoring Languages Teachers in the Secondary School (pp. 6-16). Taylor & Francis.

https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003495468-3
Molway, L., & Gordon, A. (2025). Introduction. In Mentoring Languages Teachers in the Secondary School (pp. 3-5). Taylor & Francis.

https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003495468-2
Molway, L. (2023). Nurturing motivation for foreign language learning. In A Practical Guide to Teaching Foreign Languages in the Secondary School (pp. 17-27). Taylor & Francis.

https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003281399-3
Woore, R., Mutton, T., & Molway, L. (2022). ASSIGNMENTS AS TOOLS FOR PRACTICAL THEORISING: An exploration of affordances, limitations and possibilities. In Practical Theorising in Teacher Education: Holding Theory and Practice Together (pp. 143-159).

https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003183945-13
Molway, L. (2021). Key issues in pre-service language teacher education. In E. Macaro & R. Woore (Eds.), Debates in Second Language Education. Routledge.

https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003008361-9 https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:fadfb517-794f-45a4-8f35-9d52338b7658
Molway, L., Mutton, T., Woore, R., & Porter, K. (2018). What are the possibilities and limitations of small-scale, mediated classroom interventions? Two cases from Modern Foreign Languages. In G. Stylianides & A. Childs (Eds.), Classroom-based Interventions Across Subject Areas: Research to Understand What Works in Education. Routledge.

https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315170077 https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:c5171efa-34fc-420c-86a2-b5a32b53e6cb

Journal articles

Mutton, T., Burn, K., & Molway, L. (2024). The role of schools within initial teacher education in England: an exploration of the shifting policy focus over the past 50 years. Journal of Education for Teaching International Research and Pedagogy, 50(5), 924-945.

https://doi.org/10.1080/02607476.2024.2413167
Chan, J., Woore, R., Molway, L., & Mutton, T. (2022). Learning and teaching Chinese as a foreign language: a scoping review. Review of Education, 10(3).

https://doi.org/10.1002/rev3.3370 https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:8eb0cefe-96ff-44ca-87c4-57099cea1975
Chan, J., Woore, R., Molway, L., & Mutton, T. (2022). Learning and teaching Chinese as a foreign language: a scoping review. Review of Education, 10(3).

https://doi.org/10.1002/rev3.3370 https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:8eb0cefe-96ff-44ca-87c4-57099cea1975
Burn, K., Ingram, J., Molway, L., & Mutton, T. (2022). Beyond reactive responses to enduring growth: the transformation of principles and practices within initial teacher education. Journal of Education for Teaching, 48, 441-458.

https://doi.org/10.1080/02607476.2022.2098007 https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:b548ff99-337d-4bb7-9855-6dfaa8573865
Woore, R., Molway, L., & Macaro, E. (2022). Keeping sight of the big picture: a critical response to Ofsted’s 2021 Curriculum Research Review for languages. Language Learning Journal, 50(2), 146-155.

https://doi.org/10.1080/09571736.2022.2045677 https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:3a80650a-b4bb-446a-8b75-fdd4f56761c6
Molway, L. (2021). Which aspects of their practice do modern languages teachers in England’s secondary schools say they want to develop?. Language Learning Journal, 50(5), 627-649.

https://doi.org/10.1080/09571736.2020.1862897 https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:9c659c34-8033-4dc3-bb64-0e4da32b3d5f
Molway, L. (2020). Measuring effective teaching: Student perceptions of their modern languages lessons in England. System, 97.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2020.102440 https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:d67ec182-311f-4872-8fd3-68c215278deb
Molway, L., Arcos, M., & Macaro, E. (2020). Language teachers’ reported first and second language use: A comparative contextualized study of England and Spain. Language Teaching Research, 26(4), 642-670.

https://doi.org/10.1177/1362168820913978 https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:fccba269-9ba9-4fb1-85cd-dc1593ae4c45
Woore, R., Mutton, T., & Molway, L. (2020). ‘It’s definitely part of who I am in the role’. Developing teachers’ research engagement through a subject-specific Master’s programme. Teacher Development, 24(1), 88-107.

https://doi.org/10.1080/13664530.2019.1693421 https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:0f4e5cf8-4970-42e3-9710-21b3c96d1179
Molway, L. (2019). ’It’s all about coping with the new specifications’: Coping professional development – the new CPD. London Review of Education, 17(2), 97-111.

https://doi.org/10.18546/LRE.17.2.01 https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:be74ca36-f354-414b-97eb-8460ac352d9b
Molway, L., & Mutton, T. (2019). Changing mindsets in the modern foreign languages classroom: An intervention combining intelligence theories and reading strategies. Language Learning Journal.

https://doi.org/10.1080/09571736.2018.1554693 https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:a35ef267-ad6e-4a52-bd53-0baa0ac49795

Reports

WOORE, R., MOLWAY, L., SAVORY, C., SPARKS, J., & GUO, K. (n.d.). Motivation for learning languages in English secondary schools: an exploratory study of beginner learners of Chinese compared to European Languages.