Staff profile

Dr Hannah Valenzuela


Senior Lecturer in Education Studies

Hannah Valenzuela standing outside on a working day

Subject

Education, Childhood and SEND

College

College of Arts, Humanities and Education

Department

Institute of Education

ORCiD ID

0000-0002-0691-6488

Campus

Derby Campus

Email

H.Valenzuela@derby.ac.uk

About

I am a Senior Lecturer on the BA (Hons) Education Studies programme. I am Stage 1 lead, and responsible for the Sociology of Education strand of the programme. I am also Employability and Sustainability leads for the programme. 

I am co-programme lead for the BA (Hons) English language and TESOL, which is taught at one of our international collaborative partners.

My research interests are in the ways that language is used in interaction, particularly with and between multilingual speakers.

Teaching responsibilities

I teach at all stages of the programme and am Module Leader for all our Sociology modules (Another Brick in the Wall? Is it All Just Words? Left Behind and Left Out), Linguistics for TESOL, Education in Context, and Principles & Practices of TESOL 2. I supervise undergraduate and postgraduate Independent Studies.

 

Professional interests

I am particularly interested in language in all its aspects: how it works, how we use it, how it is changing in today's world, and how we teach it in different contexts. 

I am part of the University's Education for Sustainable Development Network and have thought carefully about how to bring greater awareness of social and environmental sustainability into our programme.

Research interests

My PhD focused on young people who arrive quite late into the English school system, and who are multilingual. I explored how their interactions with peers and staff form part of their construction of a learner identity, and if this might help us to understand success in new ways.

My research uses a range of methods and theories including Positioning Theory, Conversation Analysis, and Model Minorities to explore multilingual identities in and beyond the English language classroom. I uncover plurilingual and multilingual practices amongst majoritarian stories of Englishness and Otherness. These are analysed at societal and local levels as well as through momentary and emergent categories in interaction. 

Membership of professional bodies

Qualifications

Recent conferences

Experience in industry

For twelve years I worked in TESOL, as a teacher and teacher trainer, in a variety of international contexts. During this time, I taught classes to adults and young learners, business English, and one-to-one specialist classes. I also developed and facilitated teacher training sessions and courses on methodology, as well as language skills.

In 2008, I moved back to England and began working as an MFL teacher in a secondary school. I taught languages to young people aged 11-18, as well as primary children through outreach programmes. I developed a Spanish curriculum within the school and mentored trainee teachers. In addition, as a Specialist Leader of Education, I facilitated external teacher training courses and supported a number of primary schools in the development of MFL provision.

Recent publications