STATEMENT OF PROFESSIONAL WORK IN PROGRESS
To be able to be an efficient lecturer I strongly believe that praxis must be accompanied by rigorous research. Therefore, to design motivating learning experiences I have embarked on a variety of research projects, nationally and internationally, that aim to validate hypotheses formulated during the teaching practice. Researching is not only focused on publishing work, but also attending conferences, preparing seminars and creating spaces to share knowledge.
My collaboration with international research groups started when the University of Alcalá de Henares (Madrid) invited me to teach a graduate course within their Master’s program. The experience was so successful that I was invited to be a member of their Research Group LEIDE, a group that investigates the role of identity, emotions and technology in the teaching and learning of foreign languages. This ongoing collaboration led to networking opportunities and currently I am working on various research projects with other Spanish Universities.
In 2020 I joined the “Research and Educational Innovation in Language and Literature Didactics Group (HUM-1041 ineDLL),” directed by Prof. Romero Oliva from University of Cádiz. This research group arises from the need to shape critical citizens who are able to develop critical thinking skills. The "HUM-1041 ineDLL" Group is made up of university and school professionals, integrates knowledge and experiences from different fields and agents of education aiming to develop linguistic communication competence and literary readers.
One year later, in 2021, I started collaborating on the research project «Fractales. Estrategias para la fragmentación en la narrativa española del siglo XXI» (PID2019-104215GB-I00), funded by el Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación; from the research group GIRLEC. This research project analyzes the use of Microtext and hypertextuality, and its application of multimedia microforms in the educational field, specifically in those aimed in the development of linguistic-literary competences, discursive skills and digital aesthetic literacy. This project combines two of my passions: Didactics of Spanish Language and the use of digital humanities and tools to develop discursive skills and digital literacy.
In 2022 I was invited to participate in the Research Project "PaCorES. Corpus paralelos del español online como herramienta multifuncional para la traducción, el aprendizaje de lenguas y la investigación lingüístico-contrastiva.” The Online Parallel Corpus of English and Spanish is a multifunctional tool for translation, language learning and linguistic-contrastive research. This research project is Funded by el Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, and the lead researchers are from University of Valladolid and University of Santiago de Compostela in Spain. In this group I am in charge of ensuring that the American Spanish linguistic variety is included in the corresponding translations. Currently the use of translation machines is a recurrent topic of debate in the foreign language classroom. This tool will allow educators and learners to access a parallel corpus of English and Spanish translations that will be much more effective than other translation tools.
The intersection of digital technologies and teaching foreign languages has become my area of expertise in recent years. In 2018, Olga Juan, Director of Technology Implementation at Instituto Cervantes in Madrid, invited me to co-author a book about Digital Literacy in the teaching and learning of foreign languages. The book titled “Competencias digitales en el aula: Estrategias y modelos de implementación en la enseñanza de idiomas” (Digital Skills in the classroom: Strategies and implementation models in Foreign Language teaching and learning) was published in September 2020. Various Review articles have been published that underline the importance of this publication in the current post-covid era (Review article 2022, Review article 2021).
I truly believe that to be a better lecturer I need to be an excellent researcher. For that reason, I continue sharpening my research skills through my participation in various research groups and by applying to scholarly grants. In order to bring innovative activities to my class, I need first to conduct research related to the theoretical framework that supports the pedagogical activities that I design with digital tools. Furthermore, it is critical to assess their success in the classroom using adequate tools that will help me objectively analyze whether they achieve the expected pedagogical goals.
Consequently, to be as rigorous as possible in the implementation of technology in my teaching practice and curriculum design, since 2021 I have been working with Dr. Dolores Barbazán Capeáns (LAIC, Columbia University) and Aurora Collado (Learning Designer) on the Provost’s Hybrid Learning Course Redesign and Delivery Grant offered by the Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL). Our research project titled "Brainscape Lifelong learning for Spanish Intermediate II: Developing fluency in Spanish language acquisition through the applications of theories from the science of learning" is focused on evaluating the use of Artificial Intelligence in the teaching and learning of Spanish. This is a work in progress that we expect to publish in an indexed journal.
In Spring 2022 I applied to the Language Resource Center Instructional Innovation Grant with a research project titled Virtual Reality and Cognitive Grammar to Teach “por” and “para” Prepositions. This proposal aims to explore the feasibility of using VR to explain grammar in a more effective and meaningful way. As this is exploratory research, it will focus on one of the most challenging aspects of Spanish grammar: the use of prepositions. The goal of this curricular innovation is to design interactive activities using VR to promote a better understanding of Spanish prepositions. The activities will be designed taking into consideration cognitive linguistics, therefore spatial distribution will be crucial to create VR tasks that enforce the understanding of the use of prepositions such as por and para. The results of this work will be presented in conferences and, ultimately, published in an indexed journal.
In Spring 2022, I was awarded the Travel Grant from the Institute of Latin American Studies (ILAS) to travel to Puerto Rico in 2023 to gather data and conduct interviews for the 3300 advanced course that I have designed titled “Afro-Latinas in the US: Gender, Race and Socio-political Forces in the Digital World.”I will be teaching this course for the first time in Spring 2023. Although the design and creation of the teaching materials have already been completed, I know that next semester is crucial to assess whether the didactic tools are adequate for the students. This is one of the most exciting work in progress that will be developed during next Spring.
Furthermore, I would like to mention that during the last academic year (2021-2022) I was a member of the Proyectos curriculum committee. In this committee I worked with other lecturers to review the redesign of the Spanish program based on the textbook Proyectos. My PhD dissertation analyzed curriculum development aligned to the specific teaching context and students´ ́needs. Working on the Proyectos Committee allowed me to implement much of the research I conducted to obtain my PhD degree. Although the committee work finished last year, I continue adding materials and resources in the courseworks page for other lecturers to use.
As a result of my work in the different research groups and the grants awarded, I have been working on multiple publications. One of the most important is a chapter that I am writing with Dr. Eva Álvarez (University of Valladolid) about multimodal literacy in childhood. The book will be published in 2023 by Peter Lang Publishing Company. I am also working on a paper related to the impact of using technology in the teaching and learning of Spanish that has already been accepted to be published in an indexed journal (Texto Livre). I am very proud of the most recent indexed publication titled “Teaching Foreign Languages During Covid-19: Challenges and Training Gaps for Teachers” in Revista Educação e Pesquisa 48. This work, which was published in October 2022, is the result of a long research journey with Dr. Álvarez and Dr. Mateos.
What underlies my involvement in this work in progress is my one goal: to become an excellent educator and researcher. To achieve this goal, it is necessary to attend conferences, seminars and workshops because those are the ideal spaces to meet other researchers in the field, learn new teaching approaches, discover digital tools and, therefore, continue the journey of learning. For me, it is crucial to be up to date with the implementation of technology in the teaching and learning process, as well as to be aware of the most current methodological developments related to the teaching of applied linguistics to foreign languages. To achieve these goals, I have attended multiple conferences in 2020, 2021 and 2022 and I am planning to continue learning about new trends related to the use of technology in the teaching of foreign languages at these academic events:
● VIII Jornada Lengua y migración (Language and Migration). November 18th, 2022, Nebrija University. Madrid. Spain.
● IV Congreso de Educación Mediática y Competencia Digital. March 30-31, 2023, Segovia, Spain.
● 40 years of CALICO: Toward open, sustainable, and multimodal CALL. June 2023. University of Minnesota.
● LRC Instructional Workshops (Spring 2023), Columbia University.
● CTL Workshops (Spring 2023), Columbia University.
After attending these conferences and seminars, I plan to share what I have learned with my colleagues. In addition, I hope to share the results of my ongoing research by presenting workshops and seminars at LAIC, LRC and CTL.
As part of my professional work in progress, I am currently designing three PhD seminars that I will teach in Spring 2023 at University of Valladolid, University of Cadiz, and University of Zaragoza. These seminars will analyze the integration of digital competence in curriculum design, applied linguistics to teaching foreign languages (specifically, how to implement pedagogy and linguistic theory in the foreign language classroom), phonetics and pronunciation, and the challenge of digital literacy for the future educators.
To conclude, I would like to point out that I am currently serving as an international advisor and supervisor to two PhD candidates from the University of Valladolid. Mentoring them affords me an incredible opportunity to review research methodology and stay up to date with current research on applied linguistics. Both students work in the field of Applied Linguistics to teach Spanish as a Foreign Language and will earn their PhDs in 2025.
This is a work in progress, as the title states, and I am sure that in the months to come more doors will open to new and exciting projects.
My collaboration with international research groups started when the University of Alcalá de Henares (Madrid) invited me to teach a graduate course within their Master’s program. The experience was so successful that I was invited to be a member of their Research Group LEIDE, a group that investigates the role of identity, emotions and technology in the teaching and learning of foreign languages. This ongoing collaboration led to networking opportunities and currently I am working on various research projects with other Spanish Universities.
In 2020 I joined the “Research and Educational Innovation in Language and Literature Didactics Group (HUM-1041 ineDLL),” directed by Prof. Romero Oliva from University of Cádiz. This research group arises from the need to shape critical citizens who are able to develop critical thinking skills. The "HUM-1041 ineDLL" Group is made up of university and school professionals, integrates knowledge and experiences from different fields and agents of education aiming to develop linguistic communication competence and literary readers.
One year later, in 2021, I started collaborating on the research project «Fractales. Estrategias para la fragmentación en la narrativa española del siglo XXI» (PID2019-104215GB-I00), funded by el Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación; from the research group GIRLEC. This research project analyzes the use of Microtext and hypertextuality, and its application of multimedia microforms in the educational field, specifically in those aimed in the development of linguistic-literary competences, discursive skills and digital aesthetic literacy. This project combines two of my passions: Didactics of Spanish Language and the use of digital humanities and tools to develop discursive skills and digital literacy.
In 2022 I was invited to participate in the Research Project "PaCorES. Corpus paralelos del español online como herramienta multifuncional para la traducción, el aprendizaje de lenguas y la investigación lingüístico-contrastiva.” The Online Parallel Corpus of English and Spanish is a multifunctional tool for translation, language learning and linguistic-contrastive research. This research project is Funded by el Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, and the lead researchers are from University of Valladolid and University of Santiago de Compostela in Spain. In this group I am in charge of ensuring that the American Spanish linguistic variety is included in the corresponding translations. Currently the use of translation machines is a recurrent topic of debate in the foreign language classroom. This tool will allow educators and learners to access a parallel corpus of English and Spanish translations that will be much more effective than other translation tools.
The intersection of digital technologies and teaching foreign languages has become my area of expertise in recent years. In 2018, Olga Juan, Director of Technology Implementation at Instituto Cervantes in Madrid, invited me to co-author a book about Digital Literacy in the teaching and learning of foreign languages. The book titled “Competencias digitales en el aula: Estrategias y modelos de implementación en la enseñanza de idiomas” (Digital Skills in the classroom: Strategies and implementation models in Foreign Language teaching and learning) was published in September 2020. Various Review articles have been published that underline the importance of this publication in the current post-covid era (Review article 2022, Review article 2021).
I truly believe that to be a better lecturer I need to be an excellent researcher. For that reason, I continue sharpening my research skills through my participation in various research groups and by applying to scholarly grants. In order to bring innovative activities to my class, I need first to conduct research related to the theoretical framework that supports the pedagogical activities that I design with digital tools. Furthermore, it is critical to assess their success in the classroom using adequate tools that will help me objectively analyze whether they achieve the expected pedagogical goals.
Consequently, to be as rigorous as possible in the implementation of technology in my teaching practice and curriculum design, since 2021 I have been working with Dr. Dolores Barbazán Capeáns (LAIC, Columbia University) and Aurora Collado (Learning Designer) on the Provost’s Hybrid Learning Course Redesign and Delivery Grant offered by the Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL). Our research project titled "Brainscape Lifelong learning for Spanish Intermediate II: Developing fluency in Spanish language acquisition through the applications of theories from the science of learning" is focused on evaluating the use of Artificial Intelligence in the teaching and learning of Spanish. This is a work in progress that we expect to publish in an indexed journal.
In Spring 2022 I applied to the Language Resource Center Instructional Innovation Grant with a research project titled Virtual Reality and Cognitive Grammar to Teach “por” and “para” Prepositions. This proposal aims to explore the feasibility of using VR to explain grammar in a more effective and meaningful way. As this is exploratory research, it will focus on one of the most challenging aspects of Spanish grammar: the use of prepositions. The goal of this curricular innovation is to design interactive activities using VR to promote a better understanding of Spanish prepositions. The activities will be designed taking into consideration cognitive linguistics, therefore spatial distribution will be crucial to create VR tasks that enforce the understanding of the use of prepositions such as por and para. The results of this work will be presented in conferences and, ultimately, published in an indexed journal.
In Spring 2022, I was awarded the Travel Grant from the Institute of Latin American Studies (ILAS) to travel to Puerto Rico in 2023 to gather data and conduct interviews for the 3300 advanced course that I have designed titled “Afro-Latinas in the US: Gender, Race and Socio-political Forces in the Digital World.”I will be teaching this course for the first time in Spring 2023. Although the design and creation of the teaching materials have already been completed, I know that next semester is crucial to assess whether the didactic tools are adequate for the students. This is one of the most exciting work in progress that will be developed during next Spring.
Furthermore, I would like to mention that during the last academic year (2021-2022) I was a member of the Proyectos curriculum committee. In this committee I worked with other lecturers to review the redesign of the Spanish program based on the textbook Proyectos. My PhD dissertation analyzed curriculum development aligned to the specific teaching context and students´ ́needs. Working on the Proyectos Committee allowed me to implement much of the research I conducted to obtain my PhD degree. Although the committee work finished last year, I continue adding materials and resources in the courseworks page for other lecturers to use.
As a result of my work in the different research groups and the grants awarded, I have been working on multiple publications. One of the most important is a chapter that I am writing with Dr. Eva Álvarez (University of Valladolid) about multimodal literacy in childhood. The book will be published in 2023 by Peter Lang Publishing Company. I am also working on a paper related to the impact of using technology in the teaching and learning of Spanish that has already been accepted to be published in an indexed journal (Texto Livre). I am very proud of the most recent indexed publication titled “Teaching Foreign Languages During Covid-19: Challenges and Training Gaps for Teachers” in Revista Educação e Pesquisa 48. This work, which was published in October 2022, is the result of a long research journey with Dr. Álvarez and Dr. Mateos.
What underlies my involvement in this work in progress is my one goal: to become an excellent educator and researcher. To achieve this goal, it is necessary to attend conferences, seminars and workshops because those are the ideal spaces to meet other researchers in the field, learn new teaching approaches, discover digital tools and, therefore, continue the journey of learning. For me, it is crucial to be up to date with the implementation of technology in the teaching and learning process, as well as to be aware of the most current methodological developments related to the teaching of applied linguistics to foreign languages. To achieve these goals, I have attended multiple conferences in 2020, 2021 and 2022 and I am planning to continue learning about new trends related to the use of technology in the teaching of foreign languages at these academic events:
● VIII Jornada Lengua y migración (Language and Migration). November 18th, 2022, Nebrija University. Madrid. Spain.
● IV Congreso de Educación Mediática y Competencia Digital. March 30-31, 2023, Segovia, Spain.
● 40 years of CALICO: Toward open, sustainable, and multimodal CALL. June 2023. University of Minnesota.
● LRC Instructional Workshops (Spring 2023), Columbia University.
● CTL Workshops (Spring 2023), Columbia University.
After attending these conferences and seminars, I plan to share what I have learned with my colleagues. In addition, I hope to share the results of my ongoing research by presenting workshops and seminars at LAIC, LRC and CTL.
As part of my professional work in progress, I am currently designing three PhD seminars that I will teach in Spring 2023 at University of Valladolid, University of Cadiz, and University of Zaragoza. These seminars will analyze the integration of digital competence in curriculum design, applied linguistics to teaching foreign languages (specifically, how to implement pedagogy and linguistic theory in the foreign language classroom), phonetics and pronunciation, and the challenge of digital literacy for the future educators.
To conclude, I would like to point out that I am currently serving as an international advisor and supervisor to two PhD candidates from the University of Valladolid. Mentoring them affords me an incredible opportunity to review research methodology and stay up to date with current research on applied linguistics. Both students work in the field of Applied Linguistics to teach Spanish as a Foreign Language and will earn their PhDs in 2025.
This is a work in progress, as the title states, and I am sure that in the months to come more doors will open to new and exciting projects.
