Discussing Global Citizenship through Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) - Virtual Exchange (VE) in Language Learning and Teaching: Symposium Proceedings

Dr Ana Gimeno Sanz is Full Professor of English Language in the Department of Applied Linguistics at the Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV), Spain. She has published numerous research papers on language learning and teaching, more specifically in the fields of English for Specific Purposes (ESP), Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL), and Content and language Integrated Learning (CLIL). Prof. Gimeno is Head of the CAMILLE Research Group, devoted to research in CALL and e-Learning. She is Associate Editor of ReCALL (Q1 journal published by Cambridge University Press) and serves on the Editorial Board of Computer-Assisted Language Learning Journal (Q1 journal published by Taylor and Francis), as well as being editor-in-chief of The EUROCALL Review. She has been President of the European Association for Computer Assisted Language Learning (EUROCALL) for 6 years (2005-2011) and is currently President of the world organisation for computer-assisted language learning, WorldCALL.

Dr Asuman Aşık is an Associate Professor at the Department of English Language Teaching at Gazi University in Ankara, Türkiye. Her main research topics include teacher training, technology and language teaching, teaching English to young learners and curriculum and materials development, corpora and language teaching, CALL and e-learning. She has worked as a researcher in two Erasmus+ projects called SBATEYL (A Web and School based Professional Development Project for Foreign Language Teachers of Young Learners) and ILTERG (International Language Teacher Education Research Group). She has published several research articles nationally and internationally in refereed journals, books and book chapters. Dr Aşık has been involved in several VE projects.

Dr Kyria Finardi (https://www.kyriafinardi.com/) is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Languages, Culture and Education (DLCE) and a researcher in the post-graduate program of Education (PPGE) of the Federal University of Espirito Santo (UFES), Brazil. She is a member of the Internationalization Board of UFES and created and coordinated the Language Division of the International Office of UFES between 2012-2020. Professor Finardi was the President of the Brazilian Association of Applied Linguistics (ALAB) 2018-2019, is the co-founder and co-coordinator of the Ibero-America Association of Applied Linguistics (AIALA) and the vice-president of the International Association of Applied Linguistics (AILA) where she convenes a research network on the role of VE together with Professor Marina Orsini-Jones: https://aila.info/research/list-of-rens/english-as-a-medium-of-education-multilingualism-and-the-sdgs-equity-diversity-and-inclusion/

Dr Victoria Ríos Castaño is Lecturer in Spanish at Coventry University. Her main fields of research lie in early colonial Latin America and contemporary Latin American literature. She has taught Spanish in several institutions, including the Instituto Cervantes (Berlin), Potsdam Universität, Newcastle University, and Victoria University of Wellington (New Zealand). She holds a Post Graduate Certificate in Education from the Universidad de Salamanca (Spain) and a Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education from the University of Ulster. She is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and a qualified DELE (Diplomas de Español como Lengua Extranjera) Examiner. She has been involved in COIL projects since 2022 with the Université Catholique de l’Ouest Nantes and the Sorbonne Université (France). She has published in her fields of research interests: eg: essays in Bulletin of Latin American Research, The Translator, and The Americas.

Mrs Carlota Medina-Díaz is Assistant Lecturer in Spanish at Coventry University, UK. She holds a PGCE in Modern Foreign Languages and a Postgraduate Diploma for Research in Hispanic studies from the University of Warwick, funded by a university scholarship award. She is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and a qualified DELE (Diplomas de Español como Lengua Extranjera) examiner. She is interested in the affective, creative and emotional side of language learning, especially using narrative, art and music in order to overcome barriers and cultures. Her teaching includes Spanish language and translation, Business Spanish and languages through foreign policy issues. She has been involved in COIL with Dr Rios Castaño since 2022.

Dr Abraham Cerveró Carrascosa is a lecturer in TEFL and Applied Linguistics and coordinator of the IMDAE research group at Florida Universitària in València, Spain. He completed his International PhD in Language and Literature Teaching (University of València) in 2022. He was a secondary school teacher for more than ten years, during that time he served as head of the Languages Department and became involved in different Erasmus and Comenius projects. Since 2017, his research interests have focused on active methods in Higher Education and, particularly, virtual exchanges (VEs) as he has engaged in several of them with universities across Europe, America and Asia. He has contributed to numerous international conferences and has published extensively on the impact VEs and MOOCs on pre-service English teacher education. He received the BESST Award at the EARLI SIG writing 2018 conference.

Ms Zoe Gazeley is the Course Director for BA English and Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) at Coventry University. She has taught various forms of English as a Foreign Language including Business English, English for Young Learners, English for Academic Purposes (EAP), and ESOL for a number of years, in Mexico City, Moscow, Japan, China and Saudi Arabia as well as at UK colleges and universities. Zoe is also a Cambridge accredited CELTA trainer and teaches on the TEFL modules at both UG and PG level and a PhD candidate at Coventry University, where she is exploring the need for an ESAP (English for Specific Academic Purposes) pedagogy and materials development for International Fashion students. Alongside this she has been working on a number of COIL projects including the Erasmus+ funded iKudu project between universities in Europe and South Africa. Her research on COIL projects began back in 2012 when she worked on the MexCo project as part of her MA dissertation which explored intercultural Computer Mediated Communication (CMC) in language exchanges. She has also been a recipient of the Digital Fluency and Innovation award at the Coventry University Excellence awards for her work on the British Council SPARK project in Hong Kong.

Mr Carlos Alberto Hildeblando Júnior is a PhD candidate studying on a co-tutelle doctoral institutional agreement between the Federal University of Espírito Santo (UFES), Brazil, and Coventry University (CovUni), UK, and his dissertation title is: Virtual Exchange as a Third Space to Decolonize ELT. His research interests include Internationalization of Higher Education, Internationalization at Home (IaH), and Internationalization of the Curriculum (IoC) with a focus on language teacher education and Virtual Exchange (VE). He has published on the integration of technology in English teacher education. His most recent published work focused on the integration of Virtual Exchange (VE) projects in English Teacher Education in the Brazilian Higher Education context.

Dr Sofia Di Sarno-García obtained her PhD on pragmatics and intercultural communicative competence in Virtual Exchanges from the Universitat Politècnica de València in 2023. She also has an MA in English Language Teaching and Acquisition in Multilingual Contexts from the Universitat Jaume I (Spain). She is a member of the CAMILLE Research Group and has published in refereed international books: e.g., Intercultural Communication and Ubiquitous Learning in Multimodal English Language Education (García-Sánchez & Clouet, 2022) and has co-edited two collections of chapters on telecollaboration/VE, one forthcoming and one published in 2023: Telecollaboration Applications in Foreign Language Classrooms. She completed a research Erasmus placement at Coventry University (UK) in 2022.

Dr Thuy Thi Ngoc Bui is Deputy Head of the External Affairs Office at Hanoi University of Science and Technology. Her research focuses on multilingualism, critical literacy, teacher agency, and the relationship between language and education policies and socio-economic equity and she has published journal articles and book chapters on these topics. Besides her academic positions, Thuy works as a community project manager for projects funded by the U.S and Australian embassies. Her projects focus on ELT training for teachers and enhancing academic and personal development skills and engagement for disadvantaged minority people, community leaders, and local activists. Thuy was Co-Principal Investigator on project ViVEXELT.

Mrs Jenny Wells has worked in the field of ELT since 2007 and has taught English for a range of purposes including EAP (English for Academic Purposes), ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) and ESP (English for Specific Purposes, aviation English). Since 2018 she has been working as a tutor in EAP at Coventry University, a position she took up after completing her MA in English Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics (ELTAL, awarded with distinction), also at Coventry. Her interests include intercultural communication and the promotion of those skills with her students in the classroom. Jenny is an Oxford University graduate and pursued a career in business, primarily in the field of logistics, before moving into teaching. She frequently draws on her business experiences to inform and enhance her teaching practice. Jenny was appointed as the UK research assistant for ViVEXELT and also took part in a COIL-VE project as a student while on the MA ELTAL.

Mr Andrew Preshous is Assistant Professor in Academic English at Coventry University and Course Director for the English for Academic Purposes (EAP) provision in Humanities and Business and Law. He has taught English in many different contexts and countries and has created a popular module on Business English for the MA in English Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics. His areas of interest include subject-specific materials design and Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL). He has written articles on EAP, Business English, COIL and is co-author of a coursebook (IELTS Foundation). He took part in ViVEXELT as e-mediator and assessor of the lesson plans based on the Sustainable Development Goals collaboratively designed by the participants on the VE.

Dr Thi Thom Thom – Nguyen is Lecturer in English Language Teacher Education at University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University – Hanoi, Vietnam. She is also an academic consultant in teacher professional development projects, including Community-based educational models, Innovation in Education, Emotional intelligence and Education policy. Her research interests include Teacher education, Professional development and Language policy. She has presented in numerous national and international conferences as well as publishing journal articles and book chapters on these topics. Dr Thi Thom Thom Nguyen Thom was an academic consultant for the ViVEXELT (Vietnam Virtual Exchange for English Language Teaching) project, funded by the British Council and supported by the Vietnam National Foreign Languages Project team.

Mrs Farida Butt is an ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) tutor and a part-time lecturer of English language at Coventry University. She used to be, until 2022, manager for the English provision at the Coventry Refugee and Migrant Centre. Farida’s work at the refugee centre gave her the opportunity to work with people who are seeking asylum, refugees and migrants, wanting to better their lives. She was born and bought up in Coventry and lived in Italy for over 18 years, where she taught English to students from ages 3 to 18. Farida completed the MA in English Language Teaching and Applied Linguistic programme at Coventry University as a part-time student in 2022, and based her dissertation on project ViVEXELT, with a focus on the role of e-mediators in breakout rooms. She participated in ViVEXELT with the dual role of manager at the Refugee and Migrant Centre and participant/e-mediator on the VE.

Dr Katherine Wimpenny is Full Professor of Research in Global Education in the Research Centre for Global Learning, Coventry University, UK. She is Theme Lead for Global Learning: Education without Boundaries and has 24 years of experience in higher education research and practice. Katherine’s research examines contextualised and comprehensive internationalisation. Her studies focus on local-global teaching and learning pedagogies, practices, and strategies, in a diverse range of learning spaces, including Third Space collaborative online international learning, which can serve to connect learning communities, as well as to connect the university to its locale. She uses interdisciplinary, participatory, and hybridised approaches including appreciative and post qualitative inquiry. Katherine serves on the Editorial Board of Teaching in Higher Education. She has substantial experience as a PhD supervisor and track record as principal and co-investigator on large scale international education research projects. Current / recent projects have been awarded through ESRC ODA, UKRI-GCRF, Erasmus+, DHET South Africa and the British Council.