Dr Lluisa Astruc

Professional biography

My research has dealt with all areas of Modern Languages and Linguistics. For instance, my first research interest was dystopian novels written by women. After completing a Master and a PhD in the Laboratory of Phonetics, University of Cambridge, my expertise expanded to speech and the interfaces of prosody, pragmatics, and syntax.

I have led or collaborated in several research projects over the last few years.  My work on these projects has contributed to advance the knowledge of the intonation of Catalan and Spanish dialects, of the interrelation between prosodic sensitivity and reading ability, and between intonation and politeness.

My new research interests include the application of playful learning and gaming principles to education (e.g. leading on an internally-funded project, 2019-20) and communication (leading on an internally-funded project involving a climate change simulation game, 2020-ongoing).

Spanish language and linguistics. For instance, I coordinate, the OU advanced-level course in Spanish. I have taught Spanish linguistics as an Affiliated Lecturer (University of Cambridge) and Spanish language at beginners and intermediate level as an Associated Lecturer (The Open University).