In 1992 she began teaching at
King's College London and in 1995 completed her PhD at the
Institute of Education,
University College, London with a thesis on
Variation in Phonological Error in Interlanguage Talk, discussing a continuing research interest of hers: "English pronunciation within an international framework". While there, she introduced a fast-track MA for
TESOL students. When Jenkins' book
Phonology Of English As An International Language was published in 2000 it was seen as potentially controversial and stimulated debate about the prevailing emphasis on "correct" accents in teaching English as a foreign language, and Jenkins' idea of the
Lingua Franca Core. This is a core list of pronunciation features which ELF speakers need to master in order to be mutually intelligible. Jenkins' idea that English is "an international language and as such no longer the preserve of its native speakers" has been seen as a challenge to teachers of English. In 2007 Jenkins was appointed to the Chair of Global Englishes at
Southampton University and in May 2012 launched the Centre for Global Englishes there, of which she is the director. In her lecture inaugurating the Centre she said that UK universities describe themselves as international, and yet they expect overseas students to conform to UK norms of pronunciation, idiom etc. Earlier the same year, Jenkins co-founded the
Journal of English as a Lingua Franca which aims to respond to the "unprecedented use of English as an international lingua franca, as both consequence and driving force of globalization". She has several other editorial roles. ==Honours==