Aoife Kathleen Ahern

Aoife Kathleen Ahern is an Associate Professor at the School of Education of Complutense University of Madrid and a Senior Lecturer in the Foreign Language Teaching Unit, Faculty of Education. She teaches language teaching methodology for young learners of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) and literacy in EFL. As pedagogical coordinator of the English specialization studies for Primary Education, she integrates digital competencies and service learning in bilingual literacy. Her research focuses on pragmatics, second language acquisition, and literacy teaching in multilingual contexts.

She holds a PhD in Spanish Linguistics (Summa cum Laude, European Doctorate from UNED and University College London), a BA in English (UNED), and a BA in Spanish Philology with an Honorary Award (UCM). Her international experience includes postdoctoral work at the University of Edinburgh and research collaborations in Spain and the UK.

Research interests include the interplay between linguistic meaning and pragmatics, bilingual education, and CLIL approaches. She has led projects funded by CNEAI (Central Council of Spanish Languages) and contributed to initiatives like the SPIRIM Research Project and SIGGRAM Network. Her work emphasizes practical applications, such as improving academic literacy in teacher training and addressing challenges in multilingual education.

Administratively, she served as Departmental Academic Secretary (2012–2017) and evaluated EU education projects (Erasmus+, Leonardo da Vinci) for OAPEE and SEPIE. She also contributed to university accreditation processes for the Catalan Quality Agency (AQU).

Key groups include the ForMuLE Group (Multilingualism and Literacy in Education) and SIGRAM, highlighting her engagement in both theoretical and applied research.