Maria Fernandez-Toro

Profile

María Fernández-Toro joined the Open University in April 2007. Her main research interest, closely linked to her teaching, is centered on learner strategies in foreign language learning, with particular attention to:

• The role of affect on learning and motivation
• Self-assessment in independent learning
• Assessment in distance learning 
• Observational methods in strategy research 
• Listening strategies

Her publications include the book D.I.Y Techniques for Language learners (London: CILT, 2001; with F.R. Jones), which also illustrates her own approach to teaching and learning.

Teaching Interests

María Fernández-Toro has been working in British Universities since 1989 and has taught Spanish at all levels, both as a core degree subject and as an optional module. She was also co-ordinator of a university-wide programme of credit-bearing courses in French, Spanish and German for non-language degrees at Newcastle University.

As a member of the Spanish team, she is currently Course Team Chair for the Level 3 Spanish course L(ZX)314 A Buen Puerto. She is also a member of the Remake team that is currently revising A Buen Puerto for online delivery via the website. María has also contributed several units to the remake of the Level 2 course L204 Viento en Popa, the new version of which is due to start in 2010.

Throughout her teaching carreer, her driving interest has been to develop teaching methods that encourage and support an independent approach to learning foreign languages (cf. her two latest books), and she is happy to consider portgraduate research proposals for supervision in any of her research areas.

Research Interests

María Fernández-Toro has research interests in the following areas:

• The role of affect on learning and motivation
• Self-assessment in independent learning settings
• Feedback in distance learning
• Observational methods in strategy research
• Listening strategies

For further details on her work in these research areas please refer to http://kn.open.ac.uk/public/workspace.cfm?wpid=8962

Current Research

(1) A paper for the One-day SWAN-IATEFL conference 2009 (Open University, 11th December 2009): 'Affect and autonomy: issues for learning and performance' (with Stella Hurd)

(2) A study of written feedback on language assignments in distance learning

This COLMSCT-funded project is a cross-faculty study conducted in collaboration with Mike Truman (Dept. of Languages) and Mirabelle Walker (ICT). It was designed to replicate an earlier study by M. Walker entilted 'Improved learning through improved feedback on TMAs', which was itself based on the FAST project conducted in the Science Faculty. 

The purpose of replicating the former studies within a Language learning context is to:

• Compare tutor feedback across disciplines (Science, ICT, and Languages)
• Use, adapt and/or build on the work already done in Science and ICT to enhance practice in the Department of Languages (DoL).

In line with previous studies, the aims of this project are to examine…

1. the nature and depth of the feedback comments that tutors provide on written TMAs for two OU Diploma courses in Advanced Spanish.
   
2. the extent to which students value different types of comment in the feedback they are given on their written assignments
   
3. the extend to which students use these comments in order to bridge the gap between their actual and desired performance levels
   

The data consist of 75 marked assignments from Level 2 and Level 3 Spanish courses in which all tutor feedback has been analysed and coded, and 20 follow-up interviews with some of the students for whom the feedback in question was intended.

Data collection for the project has now been completed and statistical analysis of preliminary data is currently taking place. The first article submission is planned for January 2010.

Publications