Isabel Alonso Belmonte

I am an Associate Professor in the Modern Languages and Methodology Department at the University Autónoma of Madrid (UAM), where I have worked since 1997 under different employment contracts. I am accredited to the rank of Full Professor (Catedrática de Universidad) since 18^th November 2025. My research interests include critical and multimodal discourse analysis across genres and languages (English and Spanish in the main). I believe the significance of my contributions lies in combining critical, functional, and socio-cognitive approaches to the study of language to deepen the understanding of how discourse practices shape, sustain, and challenge power dynamics in society across different contexts. In the field of foreign language teaching, my research focuses on fostering specific learning competencies in the classroom, exploring the identity of foreign language teachers, and analyzing their discourse practices. Furthermore, I have created teaching materials for foreign language instructors and teacher educators, leveraging digital tools to enhance the learning experience.

I have more than 70 academic publications which include books and chapters in edited books indexed in SPI (John Benjamins, Springer, Peter Lang, Mouton de Gruyter, Síntesis, Comares, etc.), journal special issues (Computer Assisted Language Learning and RAEL) and articles in different prestigious journals such as Text & Talk, Journal of Pragmatics, Language & Communication, Discourse & Communication and Discourse & Society, among others. I have presented my research at more than 100 national and international conferences and participated as researcher in 29 nationally and regionally funded research & educational innovation projects. Throughout my research career, I have served as the principal investigator for two R&D projects funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO) (FFI2016-77540-P and PID2020-119102RB-I00). In these projects, I led an international team of ten discourse analysts. The results of these projects have been disseminated through specialized journals, as well as more accessible platforms such as The Conversation or Espacios de Educación Superior. I have been a visiting scholar at different universities and research centers.

I have also signed research contracts to facilitate the transfer of scientific knowledge. For example, I collaborated with the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) under the project "Pilot Media Project on the Representation of Migrants, Minorities, and Issues of Racism, Ethnic Diversity, Multiculturalism, and Integration in the Press of Six EU Member States" (FRA2-2007-3200-02-NP-02) to work with journalists of different European countries to analyze the representation of minorities and the press. In the teaching field, I supervised the project "Bibliografía de Didáctica del Español como Lengua Extranjera” (Virtual Center of the Instituto Cervantes) which aimed at making ELE bibliographic resources available online.

In addition to my research activities, I have served the profession in various capacities, including work for professional associations like AESLA (Spanish Association of Applied Linguistics), reviewer of research grant proposals (for national and regional research agencies in various countries) and journal articles.

At present I lead the UAM DAIC (Discourse Analysis and Intercultural Communication) research group (UAM SOC PR/009), integrated by 9 researchers. In UAM DAIC we work on discourse analysis, intercultural communication, and educational linguistics (second language teaching pedagogies from a sociocultural perspective, second language teacher development and classroom research). Within the framework of UAM DAIC I have supervised six PhD theses so far, as well as numerous Masters’ theses.

Professionally, I have acted as an external advisor of different publishing firms and schools in Spain specialized in foreign language teaching and learning (Articulo 60 LOSU). I am also the author of different teaching books and materials for FL teachers and learners, some of which have obtained international recognition (In Trouble (UAM). Highly Recommended Materials. MEDEA Awards 2012).