Portada > Personal Docente e Investigador
I have a Ph.D. in Computational Linguistics from the University of Tübingen (2018, Germany; Magna Cum Laude), funded by a scholarship of the LEAD Graduate School & Research Network in empirical educational science. I also hold two master’s degrees: (i) an M.A in TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) from Lancaster University (2014, United Kingdom; First Class Honours Distinction), funded through a Hornby Trust Scholarship by the British Council; and (ii) an M.Sc. in English as a Foreign Language from the Universidad Central de Venezuela (2011, Venezuela, Excellent distinction). For my undergraduate studies, I completed a B.Ed. in Teaching English from the Universidad Pedagógica Experimental Libertador (UPEL) (2002, Venezuela).
I have several years of teaching experience at the university level, teaching both graduate and undergraduate students. Firstly, I worked five years as a lecturer at the UPEL, a teacher training university where I taught several undergraduate courses on the English language, including teaching courses on reading and writing in English. During this time, I also taught postgraduate courses on TESOL and applied linguistics, such as second language acquisition (SLA) at the M.A. in TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language). Then, as part of my doctorate and postdoctorate studies at the University of Tübingen, I taught courses on SLA and research methods in linguistics.
My research work seeks to explain why some people are more successful than others when learning an additional language other than their native language(s). As such, my research has focused on the interface of Linguistics, Psychology, Cognitive Science, and Computer Science, both in fundamental research and applied to language teaching. My work expands our understanding of the variables that affect language acquisition by investigating how learner-internal (e.g., memory) and learner-external (e.g., types of instruction) factors interact to account for language learning, with the aim to use these insights to improve educational interventions.