Diane Schmitt began teaching English in Japan and currently lives and teaches in the United Kingdom. She is Academic Team Leader for EFL/TESOL at Nottingham Trent University, where she coordinates all English language instruction at the university. She also contributes to the master's program in English Language Teaching. Her research interests include issues related to the acquisition of English for academic purposes and second-language testing. She is a regular contributor to English teaching conferences.
Norbert Schmitt began his EFL teaching career in Japan, where he taught all levels of students for six years. After completing his Ph.D., he began lecturing at the University of Nottingham, where he is currently Reader of Applied Linguistics and Co-Director of the Centre for Research in Applied Linguistics. He is an active researcher in all aspects of second-language vocabulary studies and has published several books and numerous research papers in this area. He frequently presents at language-teaching conferences and consults on vocabulary learning and testing issues internationally.