Sharoon Sunny

Areas of Interest & Expertise

  • Creativity research
  • Creativity in English language teaching
  • Creative writing
  • Materials creation
  • English Language Teaching (ELT)
  • Early childhood writing
  • Writing difficulties in children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
  • Language learning for people from disadvantaged backgrounds

Biography

Sharoon Sunny is a faculty member at Azim Premji University, Bengaluru campus. She specialises in English Language Teaching (ELT), creative writing, and language learning for disadvantaged communities. Sharoon holds two masters degrees — MA in Humanities from Harry W. Bass Jr., School of Arts, Humanities and Technology, University of Texas at Dallas and MA in English Literature from Bangalore University. 

She completed her PhD from the School of English Language Education at the English and Foreign Languages University, Hyderabad. Her doctoral research focused on exploring how teachers’ perceptions of creativity influence their teaching practices in writing instruction.

Sharoon’s teaching and research interests span a broad spectrum, including language pedagogy, ESL studies, creative writing, and teacher professional development. In addition to her university role, she actively engages in teacher training and conducts workshops aimed at demystifying creative writing, enabling educators to break free from conventional myths surrounding the craft. Her workshops have included teachers from India, Yemen, Syria, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Malaysia and Europe with Prof. Alan Maley. 

In the past, she has worked as a test items writer and editor for K‑12 English Language Arts (ELA) assessments and as an Early Years Educator in Dallas, Texas. She was part of the International Development Programme (IDP) certified International English Language Testing System (IELTS) examination as a language assessor.

As a visiting faculty member at the Regional Institute of English South India (RIESI), Bengaluru, she trains government school teachers in building English language competencies. 

She is an active apiarist, i.e., a person who keeps bees and spends her free time tending to them.

Courses

Selected publications

Journal articles 

  • Sunny, S. (2024). We Wear Ourselves. Writing in Education, 91. National Association of Writers in Education, UK.
  • Sunny, S. (2024). Kappe (Frog) is Missing: Lessons for the Classroom from Oral Narrative Telling. Fortell, 49.
  • Mukherjee, A., Das, A., Kaushik, M., & Sunny, S. (2024). Beyond the chalkboard: Reimagining science and maths education. IndiaBioscience.
  • Sunny, S. (2021). Songs and all that jazz. Language and Language Teaching, 10(20), 19 – 23.

Books

  • Maley, A., & Sunny, S. (2025). Exploring Creativity Through Writing: A Handbook for Teachers. Routledge.
  • Sunny, S. (2026). Learn to Communicate in English: Coursebook 4. Oxford University Press India. ISBN 93−6725−614−0
  • Sunny, S. (2026). Learn to Communicate in English: Workbook 4. Oxford University Press India. ISBN 93−6725−779−1
  • Sunny, S. (2026). Learn to Communicate in English: Coursebook 5. Oxford University Press India. ISBN 93−7374−095−4
  • Sunny, S. (2026). Learn to Communicate in English: Workbook 5. Oxford University Press India.  ISBN 93−6725−029−0 

Chapters in edited volumes

  • Sunny, S. (Forthcoming). Using Dual Language Authoring to Build Writing Success. In English in Multilingual Classrooms. Orient Blackswan.
  • Sunny, S. (2023). Listening to students. In A. B. Asmawi, G. M. Jacobs, G. Qingli, & W.A. Renandya (Eds.), Stories of Teacher Authenticity (pp. 71 — 75). Peachy Publications Ltd, UK 

Public writing

  • Sunny, S. (2026, February 9). Kannada-medium schools at the margins. Deccan Herald. 
  • Sunny, S. (2025). Building reading cultures beyond technology. Deccan Herald.

Creative writing

  • Sunny, S. (2026). Promise tailors. Indian Literature, 70(2), 85 – 90. Sahitya Akademi

Videos

Other publications by the faculty →