Sònia Mas-Alcolea
Sònia Mas-Alcolea is an Associate Professor in the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures at the University of Lleida (Catalonia, Spain) where she obtained her PhD in Applied Linguistics (2017). She is also a member of the CLA (Cercle de Lingüística Aplicada) research team and her work, which adopts a discourse-analytic approach, has focused on study abroad, identity, second language acquisition, cross-cultural communication and interculturality.
Sònia Mas-Alcolea is member of the Cercle de Lingüística Aplicada (UdL) and of the following research projects:
- Project: The global competence of higher education students: A pilot study
- Financial institution: Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades
- Amount granted: 30.492€
- Duration: 2020-2023
- Project: Interculturality, European Citizenship and English as a Lingua Franca: Policies and Practices in Higher Education International Mobility Programmes (FFI2012-35834)
- Financial institution: Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades
- Amount granted: 51.480€
- Duration: 2013-2016
- Cots, J. M., Aguilar, M., Mas-Alcolea, S., & Llanes, À. (2016). Studying the impact of academic mobility on intercultural competence: a mixed-methods perspective. The Language Learning Journal, 44(3), 304-322.
- Mas Alcolea, S. (2017). Discourses on study abroad: The experience of Erasmus students from a university in Catalonia. (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). University of Lleida, Lleida, Catalonia, Spain.
- Mas-Alcolea, S. (2018). ‘I Thought I Was Prepared.’ ERASMUS Students’ Voices on Their Transition from L2 Learners to L2 Users. In Second Language Study Abroad (pp. 223-255). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.
Mas-Alcolea Sònia, (2019). Study Abroad and the Students’ Discourse on ‘Cultural Difference’: A Longitudinal View. (pp. 46-74), Multilingual Matters.
- Torres-Purroy, H., & Mas-Alcolea, S. (2019). The Internationalization of Scientists’ Communication: An Essential Literature Review. Internationalizing the Communication Curriculum in an Age of Globalization. (99-112) Routledge.
- Mas-Alcolea, S. & Torres-Purroy, H. (2021). Study abroad and students’ (lack of) integration: The case of a Spanish ghetto in Italy. In R. Mitchell & H. Tyne, Language, Mobility and Study Abroad in the Contemporary European Context (pp. 47-63). Routledge/Taylor & Francis.
- Mas-Alcolea, S. & Torres-Purroy, H. (2021). Shadowing and narrative interviewing combined: the advantages of using an observational method in higher education research. Theory and Method in Higher Education Research.
- Torres-Purroy, H. & Mas-Alcolea, S. (2021). Applying the Community of Practice Theory in Higher Education: The Case of the Research Group, Huisman, J. and Tight, M. (Ed.) Theory and Method in Higher Education Research (Theory and Method in Higher Education Research, Vol. 7), Emerald Publishing Limited, Bingley, pp. 39-53. https://doi.org/10.1108/S2056-375220210000007003
- Mas-Alcolea, S. & Torres-Purroy, H. (2022). Discourses of foreign language development in study abroad: Social networks and other intervening factors. Foreign Language Annals. https://doi.org/10.1111/flan.12612
- Torres-Purroy, H. & Mas-Alcolea, S. (2022). Language policy and multilingualism in semi-peripheral higher education research: Two cases from a University in Catalonia. Linguistics and Education, 71(101105). DOI: http://doi.org/10.1016/j.linged.2022.101105
- Mas-Alcolea, S. & Llanes, À. (2022). Challenging the language learner as the only source of data in study abroad research. In J. McGregor & J. Plews, Designing Second Language Study Abroad Research: Critical Reflections on Methods and Data, Palgrave Macmillan. DOI: http://doi.org/10.1007/078-3-031-05053-4
My teaching interests are broadly within Applied Linguistics with a particular focus on (critical) discourse analysis, second language acquisition in different contexts and interculturality. Examples of courses in which I am a tutor or coordinator include:
- Special Topics in English Language and Linguistics (Degree in English Studies – Faculty of Arts)
- Ideology, Society and Discourse in English (Degree in English Studies – Faculty of Arts)
- Intercultural Communication and Mediation in English (Degree in English Studies – Faculty of Arts)
- Grammar and Meaning (Degree in English Studies – Faculty of Arts)