DrIria Gonzalez-Becerra

I joined Imperial College in 2009 after working in teaching, team management and administration in a range of different higher education institutions in the UK and the USA (Northumbria University, Ursinus College, SSEES - UCL, Kingston University). I have also taught Spanish and coordinated teaching teams at Princeton University (SPO).

As Languages Field Leader, my role is to oversee the thriving languages provision that CLCC provides across different areas. This includes Imperial's popular IWLP modules in 10 languages (Horizons/iExplore), modules for the Language for Science programmes (Life Sciences with French, German or Spanish) and the Year in Europe bespoke provision which supports undergraduate research and study opportunity in non-English speaking placements.  

With a special interest in finding ways to improve multimodal teaching practices and in understanding and developing students' engagement, my research and daily practice focus on the design of teaching materials for specific purposes, in the application of technology to the classroom and in understanding language learning motivation, learner investment and perceptions of value of Languages other than English in the Anglosphere. For my doctoral thesis, I developed a qualitative context-sensitive model to represent the value of foreign language learning for STEM students, highlighting the discursive tensions that impact learners’ perseverance and proposing value as analytical tool to expand the study of motivation and complement the notion of investment.

During my time at Princeton, I was co-recipient of a PCLS Summer Fellowship to design ConTextos (https://commons.princeton.edu/contextos/), a pedagogical platform which uses mapped texts to develop learner's independent language learning skills. I have also led curricular redesign, created templates for VLE adoption across teams, adapted course materials to distanced teaching, including a Zoom-mediated theatre initiative, and led teacher training and reflexive sessions for lecturers to guide curricular review. 

Education:
Doctorate in Education (EdD), King’s College London, UK.

MPhil (B) in Medieval Studies, University of Birmingham, UK. Research Masters Dissertation focusing on the study of Late Medieval and Early Modern English travel literature.

CELTA (Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults), International House, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK.

MA European Union Studies, Universidade da Coruña, Spain. MA Dissertation focusing on the development of undergraduate European exchanges at UdC.

BA English Studies. Universidade da Coruña, Spain.

Conferences and workshops:

‘Realism, Relevance, Reflection: enhancing assessment for language learning in a STEM context’, LSPHE2025 (10th International Conference on Languages for Specific Purposes in Higher Education), Faculty of Organizational Sciences, University of Belgrade, Serbia, 12th September 2025.  

‘Ciencia y español lengua extranjera: Proyectos del Comité de Política Lingüística de CERU’ - presentation with Dr. Carlos Soler Montes (U. Of Edinburgh) at the ELEUK 2025 annual conference, Open University, Milton Keynes, 20th June 2025.  

'The three Rs of Assessment for Engagement’. Festival of Learning and Teaching 2024 – Sustainable Success: Teaching, Learning, and Assessing Well in STEMMB. Imperial College London, 1st May 2024. Available at: https://www.imperial.ac.uk/staff/educational-development/networks-and-events/festival-of-learning-and-teaching-2024/  

'Becoming Multilingual in a STEM Context: [Contested] Hybridities & Powerful Selves', Centre for Languages, Culture & Communication, Imperial College London, 30th November 2023. Available online: CLCC Research Seminars

'La interdisciplinariedad como objetivo de un curso de ELE: creación de un manual para estudiantes universitarios de ciencias, tecnología e ingeniería’. Presentation (with Dr. Anna Riera Mora) at the IV Jornadas de Español para Fines Específicos (JEFE-Vi), 5-6 May 2023, Vienna University.

'Blackboard Templates: one year on'. Practice sharing presentation with Tunde Vodicska (Interdisciplinary Ed-Tech Lab) introducing a templating project for the departmental VLE (CLCC, Imperial College London, 12th June 2023).

’Assessment for engagement o la evaluación en los tiempos del cólera'. Presentation at the ELEUK 2022 annual conference, 17th June 2022, University of Warwick.

'Translating language assignments into Blackboard'. Online sharing practice presentation, Perpetual Beta, 24th February 2022, Centre for Languages, Culture & Communication, Imperial College London.

'Developing interactive readings for a flipped languages classroom'. CLCC Research seminar, with Dr. Gorka Bilbao-Terreros (Princeton University), Centre for Languages, Culture & Communication, Imperial College London, 28th October 2021. Available online: CLCC Research Seminars

'Explorando funciones a través del mapeado textual interactivo'. Presentation at ASELE 2021, ‘Creatividad, innovación y diversidad en la enseñanza del español como LE/L2’, 1-3rd September 2021. With Dr. Gorka Bilbao-Terreros.

'ConTextos. Navigating Function, Language and Style through Total Mapping'. Presentation at NEALLT 2021, ‘From Tried and True to Generation Next—Language Learning in the Post-Communicative Age’, (virtually hosted by) Lafayette College, 13th March 2021. With Dr. Gorka Bilbao-Terreros & Ben Johnston.

'ConTextos: A functional approach to written communication'. Online presentation of the ConTextos platform with Dr. Gorka Bilbao-Terreros & Ben Johnston (20th November 2020, PCLS, Princeton University). Available at: Princeton Center for Language Study 

Remote Synchronous Interaction through Google Docs. Contribution to the L2 Remote teacher training website designed by Dr. J. Rankin (10th November 2020, PCLS, Princeton University). Available at: L2 Remote. Princeton Center for Language Study

'’Something good’ is not enough: the Value of Language Learning in a STEM context'. Staff research seminar, Centre for Languages, Culture & Communication, Imperial College London, 10th January 2019.

'STEM students’ language learning motivational map'. Staff research seminar, Centre for Languages, Culture & Communication, Imperial College London, 22nd June 2017.

Guest speaker, “Destino Reino Unido: cómo trabajar de profesor ELE en el Reino Unido”, FLECOS Granada (Festival Internacional, de la Lengua, la Cultura y el Ocio), 2nd April 2016, Granada, Spain.

'Language motivation in STEM. Preliminary results of the Motivation Study'. Staff research seminar, Centre for Languages, Culture & Communication, Imperial College London, 2nd July 2015

'The novice researcher as square peg: reflections on research choices'. Seminar presentation. EdD postgraduate Summer Seminars, King’s College London, 12th June 2015

Chair of the round table “Intercambios en el extranjero, nuevos retos”, III Encuentro para profesores de centros universitarios y de centros formadores de ELE, University of Roehampton, London, 21st June 2013.

“Get further with languages” practice sharing presentation with Dr. Miguel Bernal-Merino (Roehampton University) at the Capital-L / Routes into Languages national dissemination event “Working together for languages”, London, 13th June 2012.

'Andrew Boorde’s Europeans: Fashion, Nation & the ‘Ungrateful Priest’'. Staff research seminar, Centre for Co-Curricular Studies, Imperial College London, 31st May 2012.

'Plataformas virtuales: estrategias para principiantes'. Workshop for teachers. Instituto Vicente Cañada Blanch, Consejería de Educación en el Reino Unido “Spanish Workshops”, London, 8th Oct 2011.

'Science, in a different language'. Workshop for teachers. The Language Show, Olympia, London 23rd Oct 2011.

'Global Scientist Day'. Workshop for teachers. ALL Languages World Conference, Imperial College London, 8th July 2011(external event organized by the Association for Language Learning).

'Recursos multimedia para la creación de materiales de español científico-técnico'. Seminar. I Encuentro para Profesores Universitarios, Regents College London 21st June 2011.

'Teacher’s Toolkit: first steps'. Workshop for teachers. “Developments in e-learning at Imperial” series, Imperial College London, 3rd March 2009.

'Otherness, Space and Nation'. Conference presentation. Blurring the Boundaries AHRB funded postgraduate conference, the Birmingham and Midland Institute, Birmingham, UK, 15th Sept 2005.

'Reading "The Fyrst Boke of the Introduction of Knowledge”'. Borderlines Postgraduate conference, University College Dublin, Ireland, 8th April 2005.

Design and delivery of Blackboard training sessions for the Department of Humanities at Imperial College (June 2009 & Sept 2009) and Kingston University (Oct 2009)