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Faculty of Education and Language Studies > People Profiles > Tita Beaven

Tita Beaven

Associate Head of Department,Senior Lecturer in Spanish

The Open University Faculty of Education and Language Studies Department of Languages


Profile

I am a senior lecturer in Spanish and Associate Head of Department in the Department of Languages at the Open University.

After working as an EFL teacher in Italy, and an Associate lecturer for the Arts Faculty at the Open University, I joined the Department of Languages at the OU in 1997. Since then, I have worked on the development of the OU Spanish courses, writing and coordinating a number of OU Spanish course books and other teaching materials, including AV and e-learning resources. I have also worked on the development of the Italian beginner's course.

My research interests include the following: Transnational identities, narratives, and intercultural understanding; Development of intercultural competence, in particular in distance education and through web-based materials; Curriculum design in language education, in particular in relation to the Council of Europe's Framework of Reference adn the European Language Portfolio; Pedagogical implications of the teaching of Spanish as a world language.

I am also interested in the use of web 2.0 technologies in teaching and learning, and have set up a number of small projects to investigate the pedagocical implications of using blogs, wikis, and social networking tools.  From 2005 to 2009 I worked on a project to develop an electronic European language Portfolio for the OU's Moodle Virtual Learning Environment. Currently, I am working as a partner with KMI on the development of an iPhone application for the delivery of Spanish learning materials.

Teaching Interests

After working as an EFL teacher in Italy, and an Associate lecturer for the Arts Faculty at the Open University, I joined the Department of Languages at the OU in 1997. Since then, I have worked on the development of the OU Spanish courses, writing and coordinating a number of OU Spanish course books and other teaching materials, including AV and e-learning resources. I have also worked on the development of the Italian beginner's course.

Research Interests

My research interests include the following: Transnational identities, narratives, and intercultural understanding; Development of intercultural competence, in particular in distance education and through web-based materials; Curriculum design in language education, in particular in relation to the Council of Europe's Framework of Reference adn the European Language Portfolio; Pedagogical implications of the teaching of Spanish as a world language. I am currently working on the project "Aquitaine-Europe", an international project led by the Institut Francais in Madrid and funded by the Aquitaine Region to provide information and intercultural learning resources for international settlers in that area of France.

I am also interested in the use of web 2.0 technologies in teaching and learning, and have set up a number of small projects to investigate the pedagocical implications of using blogs, wikis, and social networking tools. I worked on a project to develop an electronic European language Portfolio for the OU's Moodle Virtual Learning Environment, and I am currently directing the JISC-funded LORO repository project (Languages Open Resources Online).

Current Research

Currently, I am involved in three externally-funded projects:

Performing Languages, a Grundtvig learing partnership project which explores the intersections between drama, language teaching and intercultural communication.

Aquitaine-Europe, led by the Institut Francais in Madrid and funded by the Aquitaine Region, designed to provide information and intercultural learning resources for international settlers in that area of France. The project website, Vivre en Aquitaine, provides free resources for learners and teachers of French. I was invited to take part in the project as an expert in intercultural communication, especially in the newly-emerging area of transnational identities. This project is ongoign, and has been granted funding for a further three years.

Finally, although the JISC-funded LORO (Languages Open Resources Online) project (2009-10), for which I was project director, is now finished, but we are still adding to, supporting and disseminating the large collection of languages OER we have developed.

Publications

Book Chapter
Álvarez, Inma; Beaven, Tita and Garrido, Cecilia (2008). Strategies for acquiring intercultural communication. In: Hurd, Stella and Lewis, Timothy eds. Language Learning Strategies in Independent Settings. Bristol, UK: Multilingual Matters, pp. 179–195.
Harper, Felicity; Smith, Pete and Beaven, Mary (2005). Developing competence in the language (1): reading and listening skills. In: Hurd, Stella and Murphy, Linda eds. Success With Languages. Routledge Study Guides. Abingdon: Routledge, pp. 79–109.
Beaven, Tita (2002). The transitory, the fugitive, the contingent: Cristina Terzaghi’s mural in La Boca, Buenos Aires. In: Godsland, Shelley and White, Anne M. eds. Cultura Popular: Studies in Spanish and Latin American Popular Culture. Oxford, UK: Peter Lang.
Garrido, Cecilia and Beaven, Mary (2002). The European Framework of Reference for language teaching and learning: The OU experience. In: Council of Europe, ed. Common European Framework of References for languages : Learning, Teaching, Assessment - Case studies. Strasbourg: Council of Europe.
Garrido, Cecilia and Beaven, Mary (2002). The European Framework underpinning the language teaching/learning process from curriculum design to the delivery of outcomes. In: Ruane, M ed. T'Qila: Today's Quality Issues in European Language Centres. CercleS Proceedings. Strasbourg: CercleS.
Beaven, Tita (2002). La enseñanza de ELE a personas adultas inmigrantes no alfabetizadas. In: Perez Gutierrez, M. and Coloma Maestre, J. eds. El Español, Lengua del Mestizaje y la Interculturalidad. Universidad de Murcia, pp. 180–190.
Álvarez, Inma and Beaven, Tita (2001). Destrezas interculturales en una comunidad virtual. El sitio A buen puerto de la Open University. In: Gimeno Sanz, A. M. ed. Tecnologías de la información y de las comunicaciones en la enseñanza de E/LE, 5-8 de septiembre de 2001. Universidad de Valencia, pp. 239–249.
Beaven, Tita and Garrido, Cecilia (2000). El español tuyo, el mío, el de aquél… ¿Cuál para nuestros estudiantes? In: Martín Zorraquino, M. A.; Pelegrín, C. D. and Ballesteros, M. P. eds. Qué español enseñar?: norma y variación lingüísticas en la enseñanza del español a extranjeros. Universidad de Zaragoza.
Beaven, Tita (1999). ”¡Pero si no se dice así!": Un estudio de las actitudes de los profesores de ELE hacia la enseñanza del español como "lengua mundial". In: Figueroa, M. F. ed. Nuevas perspectivas en la enseñanza del español como lengua extranjera: actas del X Congreso Internacional de ASELE, Cádiz, 22-25 de septiembre de 1999. Universidad de Cádiz, pp. 115–122.
Conference Item
Woodthorpe, John; Shaw, Jill; Hauck, Mirjam and Beaven, Tita (2009). What’s in it for me? The stick and the carrot as tools for developing academic communities. In: 7th International Conference on Education and Information Systems, Technologies and Applications: EISTA 2009, 10-13 July 2009, Orlando, Florida, USA.
Journal Article
Comas-Quinn, Anna; Beaven, Mary; Pleines, Christine; Pulker, Helene and de los Arcos, Beatriz (2011). Languages Open Resources Online (LORO): fostering a culture of collaboration and sharing. The EuroCALL Review(18),
Beaven, Tita; Emke, Martina; Ernest, Pauline; Germain-Rutherford, Aline; Hampel, Regine; Hopkins, Joseph; Stanojevic, Mateusz Milan and Stickler, Ursula (2010). Needs and challenges for online language teachers - the ECML project DOTS. Teaching English with Technology: A Journal for Teachers of English, 10(2), pp. 5–20.
Beaven, Tita (2007). A life in the sun: Accounts of new lives abroad as intercultural narratives. Language and Intercultural Communication, 7(3), pp. 188–202.
Beaven, Tita (2004). Immigration in Spain: society, culture and the teaching of Spanish as a foreign language. Vida Hispánica, 29
Beaven, Tita and Álvarez, Inma (2004). Translation skills for intercultural purposes: An on-line course for non-specialist learners of Spanish. Language, Culture and Curriculum, 17(2), pp. 97–108.
Other
Stickler, Ursula; Beaven, Tita; Emke, Martina; Ernest, Pauline; Germain-Rutherford, Aline; Hampel, Regine; Hopkins, Joseph and Stanojevic, Mateusz Milan (2010). From the editors: stepping stones to teaching lnguages with technology. Journal of Teaching English with Technology (10) 2.