Prof Elodie Vialleton

Professional biography

I am a Professor in Distance Education and Language Studies in the School of Languages and Applied Linguistics, and a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. I currently hold the position of Associate Head of School (Curriculum and Quality).

I joined the Open University in 2005. I was Head of French from 2008 to 2014, Associate Head of Department (Languages) and Head of Qualification (Certificate in Higher Education) from 2014 to 2016, Associate Head of School (Curriculum) in the School of Languages and Applied Linguistics from 2016-2019, and Head of School in 2018-2019. I held the position of Deputy Associate Dean (Teaching Excellence) in the Faculty of Wellbeing, Education and Language Studies in 2019-2021 and was Associate Head of School (Learning and Teaching) in 2023-2025.

I have taught on all the French modules currently offered at the Open University, from ab initio to degree level. I was also a joint module team chair of the production of our former Intermediate Italian module and a module team member on the previous version of our Intermediate German module.

Before joining the Open University, I taught French language, grammar and translation at Worcester College, Oxford, and English linguistics, phonology and translation at the Sorbonne Nouvelle in Paris. I was a Visiting Lecturer at Dartmouth College, USA, in 1993-94. I hold the highest qualified teacher status in France (Agrégation) and I am a graduate of the École Normale Supérieure (Fontenay St Cloud) in Paris, France.

Research interests

My main research area is distance and online language teaching and learning. My recent research has included work on the move to online teaching following the covid-19 pandemic and how it affected teachers, students, and language teaching approaches, on curriculum development in language teaching in general and in language studies in Higher Education in particular, and on models of distance language teaching.

Previously I also did research in the linguistic analysis and teaching of spoken French and English, and the use of naturally-occurring speech in language teaching.

Teaching interests

Since I started working at the Open University, I have written course materials for all of our French modules. I have also contributed to Italian and German modules, and to Exploring languages and cultures, our module introducing language studies and intercultural communication.

I am particularly interested in the teaching of listening and speaking skills, especially at a distance, and in the use of authentic speech and authentic materials in language teaching.

I also have a keen interest in curriculum development in the field of languages, in employability and sustainability in the curriculum, and in decolonising the French language curriculum.

Impact and engagement

From 2013-17 I was the Honorary Treasurer of the University Council of Modern Languages. I am a member of the Executive of the Association of University Professors and Heads of French +. I am also a member of the Association for French Language Studies.

I am part of the team that developed the Moving your language teaching online free toolkit.

I am a member of the scientific committee of the scientific journal Distance et Médiation des Savoirs / Distance and Mediation of Knowledge.

External collaborations

I was an External Examiner in French at the University of Northumbria from 2019-22.

I was a member of the Expert Panel working on the revision of the QAA Benchmark statement for Languages, Societies and Cultures, published in 2022-23. 

International links

I am one of the co-organisers of the international conference Distance education : a brave new world ? working in collaboration with the French Centre National d'Enseignement à Distance (CNED) and the scientific journal Distance et Médiation des Savoirs / Distance and Mediation of Knowledge.