Elvis Coimbra Gomes
PhD in Linguistics
My Teaching
Having grown up in Switzerland, and being the first in my family of Portuguese immigrants to have studied in higher education, I am especially attuned to the challenges students from national/ethnic minority groups can face. Academia is a strange world that requires one to adapt to an elitist culture, and learn its own specialized language. As such, I try as best as I can to:
- speak in an accessible language when explaining complex concepts
- maintain an interactive and supportive relationship with students
- present concrete examples students can relate to when explaining theories
- provide students with exercises where they can apply the learned methods
- provide well-explained, illustrative, numbered power point slides containing all used references
- encourage students to develop their critical thinking and communication skills
- provide criteria-based assessment grids containing constructive feedback that explicitly tell students how to improve
- design assessments that develop their meta-cognitive awareness
My goal is to forge a community of mutual learners that do not get intimidated by the power dynamics between students and lecturers, but actively engage with what they learn. All of this, while creating a welcoming and respectful atmosphere for disadvantaged social groups (e.g., women, LGBT+ people, ethnic/national minorities, and people with disabilities).
Ever since my teacher training at the Haute École Pédagogique de Vaud – especially after attending a module on assessment strategies taught by Prof. Raphaël Pasquini – I've been interested in developing methods to assess students at the university level. I mostly follow the paradigm of "assessment for/as learning" by providing students formative assessments or self-assessments where they can regulate their learning process when acquiring (inter)disciplinary and transversal skills. In order to get an idea of the kind of assessment grids that I promote, I can send you a PowerPoint document containing step-by-step instructions on how to create one. Just send me a mail with a request.
Finally, when teaching English language, I tailor my lessons according to students' needs by drawing from different approaches (task-based language teaching, content and language integrated learning, present-practice-produce, etc.). My lesson planning is constantly structured around specific communication tasks that may occur in students' lives.
Teaching Experience
(A)= Autumn semester (S) = Spring semester
- 2023- English Language Teacher (A1-C2) at the Language Center, University of Lausanne.
- Regular language courses (A2-B2)
- English for Communicating in Business and Economics
- English for Childcare
- TOEFL Exam Preparation
- Academic Writing for Doctoral Students
- English for Social Sciences PhD Students
- English for Effective Classroom Communication
- One-on-one coaching
- 2027(S) MA – Language & Sexuality, University of Lausanne.
- 2025(S) MA – Health Communication: Discursive Approaches, University of Bern.
- 2024(S) MA – The Language of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, University of Lausanne.
- 2024(S) BA – English Composition, University of Lausanne.
- 2023(A) MA – Language & Health, University of Lausanne.
- 2023(A) BA – Introduction to Discourse Analysis, University of Lausanne.
- 2023-24 BA – Practicing English Proficiency, University of Lausanne.
- 2023-24 BA – Introduction to English Linguistics (lecture & tutorials), University of Lausanne.
- 2023(S) MA - Language & Sexuality, University of Lausanne.
- 2023(S) BA – Introduction to English Linguistics (tutorials), University of Lausanne.
- 2023(S) BA – Introduction to Discourse Analysis, University of Neuchâtel.
- 2022-23 English Language Teacher (B1-B2), Centre d'enseignement professionnel de Vevey.
- 2021-22 English Language Teacher (A2-B1), École secondaire Montreux-Est.
- 2021-22 BA – Introduction to English Linguistics (tutorials), University of Lausanne.
- 2021(A) BA – Introduction to Discourse Analysis, University of Lausanne.
- 2020(S) BA – Health, Discourse and Communication, King's College London (Teaching assistant).
- 2019(A) BA – Language and Health Communication, Queen Mary Uni of London (Teaching assistant).
- 2015/17 Examiner at Swiss high school English (B2) graduation exams.
- 2013-17 English Language Teacher (A1-A2), École de la Cressire.
Invited Guest Lectures / Workshops
- Coimbra-Gomes, E. (2026). "Démarche d’évaluation dans l’enseignement de l’anglais". Pratiques d’enseignement et d’évaluation au service des apprentissages. Haute école pédagogique Vaud (Switzerland). 5 May.
- Coimbra-Gomes, E. (2024). "Constructive Grading: Assessment Strategies for the English Department". University of Lausanne (Switzerland). 10 October.
- Coimbra-Gomes, E. (2023). "Assessment Strategies for the English Department". University of Lausanne (Switzerland). 23 November.
- Coimbra-Gomes, E. (2022). "Critical Discourse Analysis". Linguistic Research Methods. University of Lausanne (Switzerland). 2 December.
- Coimbra-Gomes, E. (2017). "Introduction to Queer Linguistics and Its Application to Sexual Orientation OCD". Language & Gender. Venice International University (Italy). 3 April.
- Coimbra-Gomes, E. (2017). "Applying Corpus Linguistics to Analyze CMC Discourse: a Very Brief Introduction". The Sociolinguistics of Cyberspace. Venice International University (Italy). 3 April.
- Coimbra-Gomes, E. (2016). "Social Media and Corpus Linguistics in Health Communication: the case of Sexual Orientation Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder". Language and Social Media. University of Neuchâtel (Switzerland). 16 November.
- Coimbra-Gomes, E. (2015). "Online Identity Creation". Language and Social Media. University of Lausanne (Switzerland). 10 November.