Speaker
Description
This presentation examines how transmedia and multimodal approaches can inform innovative curriculum design in English Language Teaching (ELT), transforming screen media from a tool of passive consumption into a resource for active, task-based, and project-based learning. It highlights how carefully designed pedagogical frameworks can support the development of linguistic competence, intercultural awareness, and digital literacies, while fostering learner motivation, autonomy and agency (Herrero and Vanderschelden, 2019; Herrero and Suárez, 2024).
Drawing on over two decades of curriculum development and teacher education initiatives developed in collaboration with the Film in Language Teaching Association [see www.filta.org.uk] (Herrero, 2016), the presentation showcases classroom-tested models for integrating film and screen media into ELT. These models align with principles of Task-Based and Project-Based Language Teaching, enabling learners to engage in authentic, collaborative tasks that connect classroom practice with real-world communication contexts.
The presentation also addresses key issues of classroom implementation, as well as approaches to assessment that capture both linguistic development and multimodal competences. Examples of formative and performance-based assessment strategies illustrate how learners’ creative and critical engagement with media can be meaningfully evaluated.
Finally, the presentation highlights best practice grounded in transmedia pedagogy that promotes intercultural competence and ethical media engagement, positioning learners as active “prosumers” who create and share knowledge across platforms and audiences. By moving beyond text-centric curricula, these approaches respond to the evolving demands of global communication and equip learners with the skills required for participation in contemporary digital and professional contexts (Jenkins et al., 2000; Herrero, 2023; Tombleson, 2024).
Biography
Dr Maria del Carmen Herrero is Reader (Associate Professor) in Hispanic Studies in the School of English at Manchester Metropolitan University. Carmen an experienced language teacher educator and community-builder. Dr Herrero’s work includes developing multilingual communities of practice and designing sustainable professional networks that foreground inclusion, mentoring, and participatory culture. She has published on the use of screen media in language teaching, academic networks, and open education. She is the co-founder and co-director of the Film in Language Teaching Association (FILTA), a professional association of language teachers, film educators and researchers which provides a forum for the exchange of information and material related to the use of film in language teaching. professional organisation for language teachers, film educators, and researchers, boasting 5,700 members from over 100 countries.
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