The research areas of expertise in the MEILE program are cultivated in the three campuses of the program (Xalapa, Veracruz, Orizaba-Córdoba). The students’ theses are closely related to such areas of expertise and they are supervised by the professors from the corresponding campus. Research areas are described in what follows:
1. English Teaching and Learning Processes in the Mexican Public Educational System
This research line is focused on developing studies aimed at the study of educational phenomena that arise from language teaching and learning processes in the Mexican context. That is, it focuses on aspects of learning and teaching, including the inquiry of culture and written discourse; learning styles and strategies; beliefs and attitudes towards the foreign language (EFL), from a socio-constructivist perspective. The research projects carried out in this research line are the following:
- Processes of writing and publishing research reports in Higher Education Institutions.
- Perception of the training of English teachers in public universities.
- Standardization of learning experiences and evaluation criteria for research reports in English at the Bachelor’s level.
2. Educational Innovation
This reserach line, from a socio-educational perspective, seeks to raise the awareness of those who plan university policies, administrators and agents of change, so that together with the university community we seek to provide, create and take advantage of the necessary conditions to facilitate the work of all those committed to change and quality education for the good of society.
Research projects related to this line are the following:
- Teachers’ and students’ perceptions of their educational environment to facilitate professional development.
- The Issues that Form and/or Transform the Construction of an EFL Teacher’s Professional Identity.
- The Emotional Dimension of a Classroom and its Impact on Teaching and/or Learning.
3. Foreign language teaching and learning modalities
This research line focuses on the relevance, correspondence and congruence of the different teaching and learning modalities (face-to-face, autonomous, and virtual) from a socio-political axis, which higher education institutions have been offering to study foreign languages, especially English, either by students from the general public or from the different existing undergraduate and graduate programs within the same university. The following projects emanate from this line:
- The Implementation of Project Work and incorporation of ICTs in the various modalities of teaching and learning of Foreign Languages.
- Relevance and impact of ESP (English for Specific Purposes) and EAP (English for Academic Purposes) courses for various sectors of society.
- Trajectory and prospective of the UV Self-Access Center.
