Research Projects

Who are we?

The Team

SHIFT is an international project which stands for “Understanding the Internationalisation of Higher Education from the Student Perspective: A Longitudinal Examination of Disciplinary Literacies in English-medium education”. It brings together collaboration between linguists belonging to five different universities, and aims at exploring in detail students’ understanding and development of the role of disciplinary literacies in the specific context of Economics and Business Studies.

                                                                                                                Ten of our team members attending the 2022 ICLHE Coference at Maastricht University and the 2023 ICLHE Symposium at Universität Wien.


Emma Dafouz Milne (Complutense University of Madrid)

Emma Dafouz is the principal investigator (PI1) of the project SHIFT. She is a Professor in the Department of English Studies at Complutense University of Madrid (UCM), Spain. Since the 2000s her research deals with understanding the roles of language in education, both in Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) programs in Spain, and more recently, in English-medium higher education. She served as Advisor for Curricular Internationalization at her university from 2014-19 and developed the Plan for Internationalization at UCM. She was also a member of the CRUE (Spanish Rector's Conference, subgroup for Language Policies) and co-author of the framework document on Language Policies and the Internationalization of Spanish Universities.

At present Emma is Chair of the Spanish Regional Group of the ICLHE organization as well as principal investigator of the international project SHIFT, funded by the Spanish Government, which examines longitudinally students’ development of Disciplinary Literacies in English- taught business programs.

Her most recent publication, titled ROAD-MAPPING English-medium education in the Internationalised University (co-authored with Ute Smit), has just been published in Palgrave Macmillan in 2020.

More information here.


Pascual Pérez Paredes (University of Murcia)

Pascual Pérez-Paredes is a principal investigator (PI2) of the project SHIFT. He is a Professor in Applied Linguistics and Linguistics, U. Murcia, and Lecturer in Research in Second Language Education at the University of Cambridge. His main research interests are learner language variation, the use of corpora in language education and corpus-assisted discourse analysis. He has published research in journals such as CALL, Discourse & Society, English for Specific Purposes, Journal of Pragmatics, Language, Learning & Technology, System, ReCALL and the International Journal of Corpus Linguistics. He wasthe Overall Coordinator of the MEd Research Methods Strand at the Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge. He is currently Assistant Editor of Cambridge University Press ReCALL journal.

More information here.


Julia Hüttner (University of Vienna, Austria)

Julia Hüttner is Professor of English Language Education at the University of Vienna, Austria. Her research interests focus on educational approaches where English is used as a medium of instruction, both at tertiary and secondary levels of education. She has researched the perceptions of stakeholders in English-Taught programmes at university and within Content-and-Language-Integrated-Learning (CLIL) at school level. Currently, her main focus lies on the development and use of subject-specific (foreign) language by learners and students in these contexts. In addition to this work, she also researches teacher learning and development. She has published widely, including in the journals International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, Journal of Immersion and Content-Based Language Education, Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, TESOL Quarterly, and System.

More information here.

 


Miya Komori-Glatz (WU Vienna University of Economics and Business, Austria)

Miya Komori-Glatz is a Senior Lecturer in English Business Communication at WU Vienna. Following her first degree from the University of Cambridge, she completed her MPhil and PhD at the University of Vienna. Her research focuses on English as the medium of business education and in the multicultural workplace, with a broader interest in the internationalisation of higher education, the interplay of language practice and policy, and language teaching. She was part of the Erasmus+ Project “IntlUni - The Challenges of the Multilingual and Multicultural Learning Space in the International University” (2013-2015) and has published in several linguistics and management publications (e.g. Journal of English as a Lingua Franca 2017, 2018, European Journal of International Management 2018).

More information here.


Pat Moore (Pablo de Olavide University, Sevilla)

Pat Moore is a senior lecturer in the department of Languages and Translation at Pablo de Olavide in Sevilla where her teaching revolves mostly around teacher education. Her research focuses on bilinguality (becoming and being bilingual) and bilingual education (CLIL & ICLHE). She has participated in national and international research projects on bilingual education (ABSEC, Con-CLIL, AGCEPESA) and has published articles in national and international journals (Applied Linguistics, International Journal of Bilingualism and Bilingual Education, ELT Journal etc.) as well as contributing to books exploring the question published by John Benjamins, Multilingual Matters, Springer etc.

More information here.


Elena Orduna Nocito (Complutense University of Madrid)

Dr. Elena Orduna Nocito holds a Ph.D in English Philology and is currently professor of English Language and Linguistics at the Complutense University (Madrid, Spain). Her research activity is devoted to the field of educational linguistics, more precisely to the field of English as a Medium of instruction and language policy. She has taken part in national and international research projects such as: AICLE (Assessment and Evaluation in CLIL), VESPA (Varieties of English for Specific Academic Purposes), EDICC (European Diploma for Intercultural Competence) and is currently one of the researchers in the SHIFT project. She has experience in management. At present, she is vice-dean of International Relations at the UCM and previously has been Language Policy Director at Universidad Francisco de Vitoria (Madrid) and Director of the Language Centre at the Nebrija University (Madrid). During the years 2010 to 2018, she was a member of the Executive Board of the National Association of University Language Centres in Spain (ACLES).

More information here.


Davinia Sánchez García (Complutense University of Madrid)

Davinia Sánchez García obtained her PhD (with Honours) at Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM), where she combines her work as assistant professor in English and Linguistics with her role as educational developer. Her research interests include English-medium education (EME), (classroom) discourse analysis and teacher education, about which she has published articles in national and international journals (Portalinguarum 2018, ELIA 2018, CLIL Journal 2019, JICB 2020) and book chapters in international prestigious publishing houses (Springer 2020, Routledge 2020). Davinia has been a research member of the European Erasmus+ project ‘Educational Quality at Universities for Inclusive International Programmes’ (EQUiiP) and is currently also actively involved in the nationally funded research project ‘Understanding internationalization in HE from the student perspective’ (SHIFT), and the UCM research group ‘The Role of English in the Internationalization of Spanish Higher Education’ (EngInHE). She is also responsible for the teaching innovation project ‘Mentor-ING’, and a member of the transnational teacher education program ‘Two2Tango’, both trying to help teachers face the challenges and opportunities of the multilingual and multicultural learning space.

More information here.


Ariadna Sánchez Hernández (Complutense University of Madrid)

Ariadna Sánchez is an assistant professor in the department of English Studies at Complutense University of Madrid (UCM). She obtained her PhD in English Applied Linguistics in 2017 (Jaume I University), after conducting research stays abroad in the USA (Ohio University) and Germany (Leuphana University of Lüneburg). Her research interests include second language pragmatics and intercultural competence, with a special focus on the study abroad context and English-medium instruction (EMI). Her publications include articles in international journals (Journal of Pragmatics 2018, System 2018, English Language Teaching 2019, Language Teaching Research 2021) and in Spanish ones (ATLANTIS 2017, Porta Linguarum 2018), chapters in collective volumes (EUROSLA Series 2018; Peter Lang 2018; Routledge 2020), and she is the co-editor of the volume Learning Second Language Pragmatics beyond Traditional Contexts (Peter Lang 2018). Moreover, she has participated in different funded research projects both at the national and international level, including the European COST Project on Study Abroad Research in European Perspective (2015-2020).

More information here.


Ute Smit (University of Vienna, Austria)

Ute Smit is a Professor of English Linguistics at the University of Vienna. Her main research focus is on English used as a lingua franca and/or classroom language in various educational settings, by combining micro, meso and macro perspectives. Her publications, which include three authored books and numerous contributions in international journals (e.g. in Applied Linguistics, International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, Journal of Immersion and Content-Based Language Education, TESOL Quarterly, System), deal with classroom interaction, language policy and participant perspectives in EMEMUS (English Medium Education in Multilingual University Settings) and CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning). She was a co-founding member of the AILA Research Network on CLIL and Immersion Education and is presently a board member of the ICLHE (Integrating Content and Language in Higher Education) Association.

More information here.


Sonia López-Serrano (Complutense University of Madrid)

Sonia López-Serrano is a researcher at Universidad Complutense de Madrid and an English lecturer at the University of La Laguna. Her main research interests are the language learning potential of L2 writing tasks and written corrective feedback, and the effects of learning contexts on L2 vocabulary and pragmatic development. Her latest publications include a chapter in the book Writing and language learning: Advancing research agendas (John Benjamins) and an article in the journal Studies in Second Language Acquisition. She is also the co-editor of the volumen Learning context effects: Study abroad, formal instruction and international immersion clasrooms of the EuroSLA Studies series.

More information here.


Elizabeth Galindo Ortiz (UCM) - Predoctoral researcher and project assistant

Elizabeth Galindo is currently a Predoctoral Researcher in the field of English Linguistics at Complutense University of Madrid. She obtained her BSc in Business Management from University of Murcia and University of Birmingham (U.K.) and her BA in Translation and Interpreting from University of Vic. Her main research interests include English-Medium Education (EME) and Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) in which she specialised through her MA in Bilingual Education (Cardenal Herrera University). After over thirteen years as an Associate Professor at University of Murcia and Polytechnic University of Valencia, she has been awarded by the Spanish Ministry of Education to become a full-time researcher in order to earn her PhD as a member of the international research project ‘Understanding the Internationalisation of Higher Education from the Student Perspective: A longitudinal Examination of Disciplinary Literacies in English-medium education’ (SHIFT) at Complutense University of Madrid. At this point of her career, Elizabeth is eager to apply her broad educational linguistic knowledge and background, together with her passion for languages, to the use of English as a medium of education in the context of today’s internationalisation of higher education as a response to globalisation.

More information here.


Verena Grau (University of Vienna, Austria) - Predoctoral researcher and project assistant

Verena Grau is a research assistant and PhD student in English linguistics at the University of Vienna and a member of the research project ‘Understanding the Internationalisation of Higher Education from the Student Perspective’ (SHIFT). As a former university lecturer and trained teacher, she wants to contribute to providing research-based insights into English-medium education in multilingual university settings (EMEMUS). Her main research focus is on stakeholders' - in particular students' -perspectives on EMEMUS, language policy and practice, disciplinary literacy and ESP.

More information here.


Irene Soriano Flórez (UCM) - Predoctoral researcher and project assistant

Irene Soriano is a PhD student in English Linguistics at Complutense University of Madrid (UCM). She holds a MA with Distinction in Applied Linguistics from University College London (UCL). She is a member of UCM’s Research Group ‘The Role of English in the Internationalization of Spanish Higher Education’ and of SHIFT research project from which she has been awarded a FPI scholarship to follow her predoctoral research while collaborating with this project as a research assistant. Her main academic interest focuses on (trans)languaging practices and policies within the internationalisation of higher education. As a former intern in the Education Agency at the EU Commission, a qualified English teacher and a former Europaeum Scholar she is devoted to education and internationalisation.

More information here.


Scientific Advisory Board


Christiane Dalton-Puffer (University of Vienna)

Christiane Dalton-Puffer is professor of English Linguistics at the University of Vienna where she is also affiliated to the University’s Centre of Teacher Education. One of the pioneering researchers internationally on Language and Content Integrated Learning, she is the author of Discourse in CLIL classrooms (Benjamins, 2007), has edited books and journal issues on CLIL research and published articles in Applied Linguistics, Language Teaching, International Journal of Bilingualism and Bilingual Education, Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, European Journal of Applied Linguistics, Journal of Immersion and Bilingual Education. She has given talks and keynotes on CLIL in several countries and continents. Her research focus is on how teachers and students use language to express subject content and to work towards the curricular learning goals of specialist subjects while using a second or foreign language. Together with Angel Lin she edits the Routledge book series on Language and Content Integrated Teaching and Plurilingual Education.
 
More information here.

Jean-Marc Dewaele (Birkbeck, University of London)

Jean-Marc Dewaele (PhD Free University of Brussels) is Professor of Applied Linguistics and Multilingualism at Birkbeck, University of London. He has authored and edited 8 books, published over 300 papers and chapters on individual differences in psycholinguistic, sociolinguistic, pragmatic, psychological and emotional variables in Second Language Acquisition and Multilingualism. He is former president of the International Association of Multilingualism and the European Second Language Association and he is General Editor of the Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development. He won the Equality and Diversity Research Award from the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (2013), the Robert Gardner Award for Excellence in Second Language and Bilingualism Research (2016) from the International Association of Language and Social Psychology and the EUROSLA Distinguished Scholar Award (2022) from the European Second Language Association.

More information here.


Luke Plonsky (Northern Arizona University)

Luke Plonsky (PhD, Michigan State) is Associate Professor of Applied Linguistics at Northern Arizona University, where he teaches courses in SLA and research methods. His work in these and other areas has resulted in over 100 articles, book chapters, and books. Luke is Senior Associate Editor of Studies in Second Language Acquisition, Managing Editor of Foreign Language Annals, Co-Editor of De Gruyter Mouton's Series on Language Acquisition, and Co-Director of the IRIS Database (iris-database.org). In addition to prior appointments at Georgetown and University College London, Luke has lectured in China, Japan, The Netherlands, Poland, Spain, and Puerto Rico. 

More information here.


Li Wei (University College London)

Li Wei is Director and Dean of the IOE, UCL's Faculty of Education and Society at University College London, where he is also Professor of Applied Linguistics. His research covers various aspects of bilingualism and multilingualism. He is Editor of the International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, and Applied Linguistics Review. He is Fellow of the British Academy, Academia Europea, Academy of Social Sciences (UK), and Royal Society of Arts (UK).

More information here.