Academic biography

Elena graduated in Humanities (Complutense University, Madrid) and holds a Masters in Islamic Art (University of Edinburgh) as well as a Masters in Teaching Spanish as a Foreign Language (University Antonio Nebrija, Madrid). She completed her doctoral studies in DCU. Her PhD proposes a design-based classroom research which examines new multimodal pedagogies in the Spanish as a second language classroom. Drawing on multimodal pedagogies, her approach explores a pedagogy based on active literacy practices in the classroom with the aim of allowing students to become active meaning-makers. In particular, her research evaluates how the use of artworks and Visual Thinking Strategies can support language teaching and learning.

Elena has wide range of experience teaching Spanish Language and Culture in different Institutions across Europe, including, College of Europe in Belgium, Instituto Cervantes (Athens and Brussels) and the Institute for Applied Language Studies (University of Edinburgh) where she was Assistant Course Director of the Spanish Section. During her professional career she has participated in different teacher training programs and research projects.