Dr Mara Fuertes Gutiérrez

Professional biography

I have more than 20 years' experience teaching Spanish and Linguistics in higher education institutions, mainly in Spain and the UK. I am currently the Head of Spanish at the School of Languages and Applied Linguistics and  I have worked on all Spanish modules. I have been an Academic Conduct Officer and I currently sit at the Student Research Project Panel as the Faculty of Wellbeing, Education and Language Studies representative, and at the Praxis steering committee. I am also a member of the Inclusive Curriculum Task and Finish group at the Open University.

Before joining the Open University, I was a Senior Lecturer in Spanish at Leeds Becket University for a number of years, where I carried out several roles, such as Period Abroad Academic Leader or Course Leader for all the Languages Full-Time Undergraduate Courses. Previously, I held several research fellowships, including a Post-Doctoral Fellowship at the University of Manchester funded by the Spanish government, and taught Spanish at several institutions, namely the Instituto Cervantes in Manchester.

Over my career, I have conducted extensive research in the areas of Spanish Language Teaching, Historiography of Linguistics and Linguistics Typology, among other fields. I have experience in theoretical research, as well as mixed-methods of data analysis applied to research related to these fields. Within Spanish Language Teaching, at the moment I am interested in exploring the relationship between theoretical linguistics and applied linguistics, in particular how linguistic theories support and inform language teaching and sociolinguistics applied to Spanish Language Teaching. I also investigate how language teachers’ identities, background and cognition impact on their practices.

I have received several prizes, amongst others two Undergraduate Extraordinary Academic Achievement Awards and a PhD Academic Achievement Award. In addition, I have been nominated or shortlisted for several “Achieving Excellence Awards” (granted by Leeds Beckett University) and “Golden Robes” (granted by the Student Union at Leeds Beckett University) including Innovative Teacher of the Year (2010); Course Leader of the Year (2012); Fantastic Feedback (2015); Innovative Tutor (2015); Motivator of the Year (2015); Personal Tutor (2015).

Outside the Open University, recognition of my expertise in Spanish Language Teaching is evidenced in my executive roles in the Association of Spanish as a Foreign Language Teaching (Vicepresident), the Association of Hispanists of UK and Ireland (Secretary), and the International Association of Spanish in Society (Mentoring Scheme). I am the review coeditor of the Journal of Spanish Language Teaching, the only journal on the subject indexed in Scopus.

Research interests

I have recently co-lead the Diasporic identities and politics of language teaching strand of the AHRC-funded Language Acts and Worldmaking project and have lead the Erasmus+ Project MOOC2Move, and led the Open University SIG "Linguistics in Language Learning and Teaching". I have been the Open Languages Research Group (OLRG) convenor for a number of years and I am currently the Languages Postgraduate Research Convenor. 

I am interested in the following research fields:

• Spanish Language Teaching, particularly Sociolinguistics applied to Spanish Language Teaching
• Linguistic Theories in Language Learning and Teaching
• Language Teachers' professional development
• Using corpora for Language Learning and Teaching
• Open Educational Practices and Resources

In the past, I have also conducted extensive research in the area of Historiography of Linguistics, Linguistic Typology and Sociolinguistics, and have lead or been involved in different research projects, such as The E-Portfolio Toolkit, funded by the Centre for Excellence in Learning and Teaching (ALPS) or The Pragmatic Change in Spanish, funded by the Spanish Council of Science and Technology. I also collaborated in the CORDE Project, conducted by the Spanish Royal Academy.

I am currently co-supervising several PhD researchers in the fields of Languages Education, Spanish Language Teaching and Teachers' Professional Development. 

Teaching interests

I have experience in teaching Spanish language and culture, Cross-Cultural Capabilities, Linguistics and various related fields to a wide range of levels in Higher Education; in addition, I have taught Research Methods applied to Modern Languages and collaborated as a guest lecturer on a MA in Materials Development. I am qualified as a DELE Examiner and I am currently participating in the Council of Europe’s Education Department validation workshops of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages Mediation descriptors. I am also a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

External collaborations

I am an external examiner at the University of Westminster. I have previously been an external examiner for the University of Leeds and Canterbury Christ Church University.

International links

I am a Member of the Research Group GIEL (Language Teaching – Enseñanza de Lenguas), lead by Dr Carmen Rodríguez Gonzalo (University of Valencia, Spain).