María Ángeles VELILLA SÁNCHEZ

mavelilla@unizar.es

I am a lecturer at the Department of English and German Studies of the University of Zaragoza (Education Faculty), where I teach courses on English language teaching. In April 2021, I received my PhD cum laude after defending my thesis, where I examined the use of pragmatic strategies in English-medium lectures in Spanish tertiary education from the perspective of English as an academic lingua franca. My main research interests are the study of English as a lingua franca, internationalization practices and English as medium of instruction in tertiary academic settings. I am a member of the research group CIRES (Intercultural communication and societal challenges), financed by the Government of Aragon (Spain) and the EU.

You can follow my updates on ResearchGate.

ORCid: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0285-9834

Publications

  • Luzón, M. J. & Velilla, M.A (Forthcoming, 2024). New Digital Genres to  Summarize Medical Research: Implications for ESP Teaching. In Eda Işık, E & Hocking, D. (Eds). English for Specific Purposes in the 21st Century: Innovative  Perspectives and Practices. Palgrave Macmillan.
  • Velilla, M.A. (Forthcoming, 2024). Context-sensitive strategies for effective intercultural communication in English-Medium Instruction. In Alonso-Almeida, F. J. (Ed.) The Pragmatics of Metadiscourse: Insights from Intercultural and Cross-Cultural Communication. The Gruyter Mouton.
  • Velilla, M.A. (Forthcoming). Localised practices of intercultural communication in EMI lectures: The impact of local cultural identity on academic meaning making processes”. In Álvarez, J., Quintana, E., Sánchez, M.E. (Eds) The (inter)cultural dimension in language learning. Peter Lang.
  • Velilla, M. A. (2022). English-medium instruction experiences: ‘Focus on form’ as a strategy to develop subject specific literacy. Revista de lenguas para fines específicos 28(1), 193-206. https://doi.org/10.20420/rlfe.2022.494
  • Velilla-Sánchez, M. A. (2021). Bilingual resources in English-medium instruction lectures: the role lecturer’s L1 is playing in EMI courses. Language Value, 14(2), 45-67. https://doi.org/10.6035/languagev.6122
  • Velilla, M. A. (2020). Strategic communication in English-medium lectures at the University of Zaragoza: Pre-empting/remedying breakdowns in communication and establishing solidarity among ELF speakers. In: Levey. D (Ed.) Strategies and Analysis of Language and Communication in Multilingual and International Contexts (pp. 123-129). Newcastle Upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
  • Albero-Posac, S. & Velilla, M.A. (2019). Language learning for social inclusion: Creating a collaborative network to support the teaching of Spanish to adult migrants. In Proceedings of ICERI 2019 Conference 11th-13th November 2019, Seville, Spain.
  • Luzón, M. J., Velilla, M. A. & Albero, S. (2018). Use of online videos in English for the design of teaching materials in Human Biology subjects. In Universidad de Zaragoza. Vicerrectorado de Política Académica. Instituto de Ciencias de la Educación de la Universidad (Ed.). Materiales e Innovación Educativa en la Sociedad del Conocimiento (pp. 52-58). Zaragoza: Universidad de Zaragoza.
  • Velilla, M. A. (2015). International business e-mail communication: A matter of structure and communicative competence in BELF. Studium, 21, 303-324.

Presentations

  • Velilla, M.A & Fage-Butler, A. (2024). Scientists as Engaged and Engaging: Investigating the Scientific Discourse about Climate Change in the Website Latest Thinking. Twentieth International Conference on Technology, Knowledge, and Society. 7-8 March 2024, Valencia, Spain. Conference presentation.
  • Velilla, M. A. (2023). “Let me just give you one example”: Academic Video Publications or how to promote scientific work without trivialising it. 40th International Conference of the Spanish Society of Applied Linguistics (AESLA). 26th-28th April 2023. Mérida, Spain.
  • Velilla, M. (2022). The impact of local cultural identity on academic culture: A discourse pragmatic analysis of English-mediated lectures. 39th International Conference of the Spanish Society of Applied Linguistics (AESLA), 27-29 April 2022, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain. Conference presentation.
  • Velilla, M. (2021) Collaborative dialogue between language and content teachers to improve English-medium instruction. The 4th International Dialogue on English Language Teaching Seminar (INDELT). Adam Mickiewicz University (Poznañ) and Burdur Mehmet Akif Ersoy University. Invited speaker’s seminar presentation.
  • Velilla, M. (2020). Building bridges between EMI and ELF research points of view as regards international university lectures: A case study at the University of Zaragoza. SEING II Predoctoral Seminar on English Studies: Research Across Genres, Modes and Media, Universidad de Zaragoza (Zaragoza), 25 September 2020. Conference presentation.
  • Velilla, M. (2019). Bilingual resources in English-medium instruction lectures: The role lecturer’s L1 is playing in EMI courses. The International Conference of the European Association for Teaching Languages for Specific Purposes: AELFE. University of Navarra (Pamplona), 20-21 June 2019. Conference presentation.
  • Luzón. M., Velilla, M. & Albero, S. (2018). Uso de videos disciplinares en inglés para el diseño de material docente en las asignaturas de Biología Humana en los grados de Medicina y Enfermería. XII Jornadas de Innovación Docente e Investigación Educativa. Universidad de Zaragoza (España) 7 y 8 de noviembre de 2018. Poster.
  • Velilla, M. (2018). Strategic communication in English-medium lectures at the University of Zaragoza: pre-empting/remedying break-downs in communication and establishing solidarity among ELF speakers. 36th International Conference of the Spanish Society for Applied linguistics. “Applied linguistics and knowledge transfer: Employability, internationalization and social challenges”. University of Cádiz (España), 19-21 April 2018. Conference presentation.
  • Velilla, M. (2017). Pragmatic Strategies used by Spanish Lecturers to Pre-empt Misunderstanding in English-Medium University Courses: A Case Study at the University of Zaragoza. The 10th International Conference of English as a Lingua Franca. Helsinki (Finland), 12-15 June 2017. Conference presentation.
  • Velilla, M. & Vázquez, I. (2016). The Policies and Practices of English as a Medium of Instruction (EMI) in Spanish Universities: A Case Study. The 9th International Conference of English as a Lingua Franca. Lleida (España), 27-29 June 2016. Conference presentation.
  • Velilla, M. (2015). International business e-mail communication: A matter of structure and communicative competence in BELF. II Jornadas de Iniciación a la Investigación Lingüística (JIIL). Universidad de Extremadura (Cáceres), 10-12 December 2015. Conference presentation.

More

  • Ninth “Enrique Alcaraz Research Award” granted by the European Asociation of Languages for Specific Purposes (AELFE) in the Unpublish works category for my doctoral thesis: English as an Academic Lingua Franca in Spanish Tertiary Education: An Analysis of the Use of Pragmatic Strategies in English-Medium Lectures. In Zaragoza, 30th June 2023.