Scholarship of Teaching and Learning

Current and recent research projects

FLEUR SIG Gender-Inclusive Language: National Survey (2026)

Kelly Mayjonade-Christy

This project investigates how teachers and learners across the UK encounter and use gender‑inclusive language in French. Because this topic is still unfamiliar to many, the survey seeks to understand current levels of awareness, how inclusive forms appear (or don’t) in teaching, and what support educators might need. Led by the FLEUR Special Interest Group on Gender‑Inclusive Language, the study will build a national picture of emerging practices and challenges. The findings will guide future resources and training, and will be shared at the FLEUR National Conference in September 2026. Link to survey.

Bridging Cultures: Multilingual Instruction, Digital Methodologies, and Collaborative Teaching in Transnational Language Education

Cecilia Piantanida and Marcela Cazzoli (Durham University)

This project explores how multilingual teaching, digital methods, and cross-institutional collaboration can enhance student learning in language and culture education. Based on the online undergraduate module Migration and Hybridity: Italy and Argentina in the 20th and 21st centuries, co-taught in Italian and Spanish at the University of Warwick and Durham University, it investigates how transnational pedagogy can function both as course content and as a teaching approach.

The module invites students to engage with themes such as linguistic hybridity, diasporic memory, digital activism, and migration through translanguaging, bilingual creative activities, and digital storytelling. Drawing on a pilot study and student feedback, the project examines how these practices support intercultural understanding, multilingual confidence, and critical reflection. We argue that embedding transnationalism in both teaching content and practice allows students to engage with complex global realities, while also expanding the scope of multilingual curriculum design. The findings contribute to current SoTL discussions on multilingual pedagogy, teaching with digital technologies, and collaborative curriculum design.

Decolonising the Teaching of Spanish in Higher Education in the UK

Leticia Villamediana Gonzalez

Leticia is co‑leading the Special Interest Group Decolonising the Teaching of Spanish in Higher Education in the UK within the ELEUK association. Established in 2021, the SIG provides a collaborative space for educators to critically examine curricula and pedagogical practices, and to design teaching materials for Spanish language HE informed by decolonial and critical perspectives. She has co-authored the chapter 'From Reflection to Practice: Designing Decolonial Teaching Materials for the Spanish Classroom' with colleagues at other UK universities, which will soon appear in the volume Multimodalidad, interlengua y transdisciplinariedad en la enseñanza del español, edited by C. Soler Montes, A. del Pozo García, I. Gutiérrez-González, and H. Lázaro Ruiz.

Essay Writing Skills in German and English as a Second or Further Language: A Practical Guide (2025)

Andrea Klaus and Yuliia Lysanets (Poltava State Medical University)

Written language proficiency represents a fundamental component of a language degree, complementing the other three key skills, speaking, listening, and writing. In British universities, essay writing constitutes a core academic requirement and an integral component of language education and many other subjects. The development of essay writing skills in any language cultivates a range of transferable competencies, including the capacity to communicate with clarity, precision and conciseness. Furthermore, it fosters the ability to think critically, to structure and articulate complex ideas, and to manage time effectively. Our own experience and observations also indicate that essay writing techniques and methodological approaches students acquire in their foreign language classes have an additional positive impact on their performance in culture-related modules, which are typically assessed through essays in their first language.

This study guide is the result of a sustained collaboration between the two co-authors, a partnership that commenced in 2022 during Dr Yuliia Lysanets’ fellowship at the University of Warwick. What initially began as an academic connection evolved into a dynamic scholarly cooperation, marked by the co-authorship of several research articles and conference presentations. This ongoing intellectual partnership ultimately led to the development of the present guide. The guide was published open access by the University of Warwick Press in 2025.

Investigating ‘Decolonising the Curriculum’ in Japanese language education in the UK and beyond

Tomoko Fujita, alongside Fumiko Narumi (University of Edinburgh), Kaoru Umezawa (Durham University), Akiko Tomatsuri (University of East Anglia), Chieko Yonezawa (Manchester Metropolitan University), Chisato Ofune (The Japan Foundation Japanese-Language Institute, Urawa, Saitama, UK)

“Decolonising the Curriculum”, widely discussed in the UK as part of inclusive education, is less explored in Japanese language teaching. While DtC in Japan addresses its former colonies, this approach is not applicable in the UK and Europe, where Japanese is a minority language. Funded by the British Association for Teaching Japanese as a Foreign Language since 2024, this project builds on an initial investigation into how Japanese teachers in the UK and Europe perceive and implement DtC in their teaching, revealing its complexity in these contexts, and aims to further explore DtC in Japanese language education within and beyond the UK to clarify these complexities. This will help Japanese language teachers feel more confident in implementing DtC, fostering a more inclusive and diverse learning environment. As initial research, we conducted surveys and interviews about DtC with Japanese language teachers in the UK and Europe. In this project, we will extend the research to include Japanese language teachers and Japanese studies researchers in a wider range of regions. The results will be shared with BATJ members through BATJ annual conferences and journals. By understanding the complexities of DtC in Japanese language education and the regional differences, we can contribute to creating learning environments that consider DtC, inclusive education, and diversity. We hope the findings of this project will serve as a useful guide for Japanese language teachers in the UK, where DtC is frequently discussed.

Artificial Intelligence in Language Teaching and Learning

Cecilia Piantanida

This Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (2024-2025) project explored the role of generative AI in undergraduate language and culture pedagogy, with a particular focus on Italian. It investigated how students perceived and used AI in their university coursework, and considered the implications of these practices for teaching, learning, and assessment.

Drawing on student perspectives and current pedagogical research, the project also revisited the core Italian Studies language curriculum and developed sample learning activities for core Italian language modules, which were implemented and evaluated in 2024/2025. Alongside this curriculum work, it produced resources to support staff in engaging critically and effectively with AI in language education.

Together, these strands informed a broader framework for integrating generative AI into university-level language courses at the University of Warwick. The project contributes to ongoing SoTL conversations about digital pedagogy, curriculum design, and the responsible use of AI in language teaching and learning.

Exploratory Pedagogic Inquiry: a cross-disciplinary approach to learning from teaching

Dr Leticia Villamediana Gonzalez and Dr Cathy Hampton

Leticia and Cathy were active members in the "Pedagogic Research in HE" Learning Circle at the Warwick International Higher Education Academy, which was launched by John Kirkman and Richard Smith in 2019. The Learning Circle aimed to develop an approach that HE teaching staff with multiple demands on their time can adopt to engage in inquiry into teaching and learning, with ultimate benefits for improvement of student experience but also with immediate benefit to participants themselves. Based on this project, they have co-authored an article with colleagues across Warwick (Smith, School of Education, Learning and Communication Sciences; Kirkman, Academic Development Centre; Miriam L. Gifford, School of Life Sciences; Debbi Marais, Warwick Medical School), which is scheduled for publication in Journal of Perspectives on Applied Academic Practice. "Exploratory Pedagogic Inquiry: a cross-disciplinary approach to learning from teaching" describes the development, characteristics and outcomes of "Exploratory Pedagogic Inquiry" on the basis of their shared experience as a group of educators with different roles and from diverse disciplinary backgrounds in a "teaching academy" in a UK university. Sets of questions and tools to promote thinking were developed and implemented within a structured peer-coaching procedure combined with group meetings and guided individual reflections. The examples of EPI presented in this article, together with thematic analysis of overall reflections, highlight reflective, practical, and affective gains, involving enhancement of well-being, productive collaborative working, and enactment of compassion in relation to the challenges faced by the authors. By explaining and publicising the EPI approach, this article offers an illustration and resource for other higher education practitioners to explore as a means for addressing challenging issues and/or building on achievements in their own contexts. The guidance and questions developed for EPI are reproduced in a linked, freely downloadable booklet which could be utilised in other contexts.

Collaborative Teaching, Learning and Research in Chinese Studies: Co-development and Co-creation among Staff and Students

This two-year project (2023-2025), funded by the Monash and Warwick Alliance Education Fund, supported students learning Chinese at the higher levels in both universities in developing their study and general research skill on China-related topics, grew their confidence and motivation in leveraging various technological resources to facilitate group work, and enhanced their intercultural communicative competence by using their target language to manage cross-cultural issues with their peers.