Innovation in Language Learning

María-Elena Gómez-Parra PhD. is Full Professor at the Department of English and German Philologies at the University of Cordoba. Her area of work is bilingual and intercultural education. She directs the HUM-1006 Research Group entitled 'Bilingual and Intercultural Education' (EBeI). She is the director of the Ibero-American Network for Bilingual and Intercultural Education (IBIE) and the PI of three research projects on bilingualism: i. 'Facing Bilinguals: Study of Bilingual Education Programmes' Results through Social Data Analysis', ref. no. EDU2017-84800-R; ii. ‘Future of Bilingual Education – FOBE’, ref. no. PID2021-127031OB-I00; and iii. ICT applied to English language learning: 'LinguApp: Ensuring Access to Universal and Inclusive Second Language Learning', ref. no. PRY208/17. She has published in numerous international journals on second language learning, intercultural education and bilingual education. She has participated as a researcher in numerous international projects (IP, Comenius and KA2, among others), and she is the Director of the Erasmus Mundus Joint Master Degree (EMJMD) entitled 'Play, Education, Toys and Languages (PETaL)'. She also coordinates the KA203 TEACUP (Teachers, Culture, Pluri) project. She has also participated at international conferences related to bilingual education, intercultural education, and as keynote at important international meetings related to international cooperation (e.g., 16 October 2016, Africa Climate Talk, where she delivered a plenary on the role of women in sustainable development), and to bilingual and intercultural education (e.g., May 2017, 8th World Play Day in Istanbul with a plenary lecture on the importance of play in the early initiation of second languages; April 2021, keynote speaker at Alexi Network on the PETaL approach to Early Childhood Bilingual and Intercultural Education, among others). She has also been the director of the bilingual teacher training courses (Primary Education, Early Childhood Education and Secondary Education) at the Menéndez Pelayo International University (2017 and 2018), and the President of the International Congress on Bilingual Education (since 2015 to nowadays).

Areas of expertise: Bilingual Education, Intercultural Education, Teacher Training, Degree and Master Dissertations, Academic Writing, English for Cooperation and Social Purposes (ECSP).