I hold a PhD in Applied Linguistics and Second Language Acquisition from the University of Barcelona (UB), and I am currently a research member of the Barcelona L2 Speech Research Group (UB & UAB) and the GRAL research group (UB).

My main research interests lie in L2 pronunciation learning and teaching, task-based instruction, and individual differences in instructed language contexts. More specifically, my work focuses on the design and evaluation of pedagogical techniques aimed at fostering L2 speech perception and production, and oral skills. I am particularly interested in task-based pronunciation instruction, high-variability phonetic training and other form-focused holistic approaches, as well as in the role of pronunciation instruction in enhancing listening comprehension. A central goal of my research is to explore how pronunciation can be effectively integrated into communicatively oriented teaching approaches to enhance learners’ oral performance in classroom settings.

Lastly, I am co-founder of the SLA Speech Tools repository, which provides L2 researchers and teachers with empirically validated materials for L2 pronunciation teaching and learning, and the Oralitat website, which offers a wide range of educational tools and resources for developing public speaking skills.



You can find me here:

Office: B11/110
Department of English and German Studies
Faculty of Arts and Humanities
Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
08193 Bellaterra (Cerdanyola del Vallès)
Latest News
—Publications

Mora-Plaza, I. & Ortega, M. (2026). Listeners’ self-assessment of second language speech. In M. Reed & J. Levis (Eds.), The Handbook of Second Language Listening (pp. 199-212). Wiley-Blackwell.

Xu, J., Saito, K., & Mora-Plaza, I. (2024). Task-based pronunciation teaching: lack of auditory precision but not memory hinders learning. System, 127, 103532.

—Presentations

Mora-Plaza, I., & Saito, K. (2025, April 23–25). Tools for second language speech research and teaching [Oral presentation]. 11th International Symposium on the Acquisition of Second Language Speech (NEW SOUNDS 2025), University of Toronto, Canada.

Mora-Plaza, I., Ortega, M., Mora, J.C., & Fouz-González. (2025, April 23–25). Effects of textually-enhanced input in captioned video on L2 vowel production [Oral presentation]. 11th International Symposium on the Acquisition of Second Language Speech (NEW SOUNDS 2025), University of Toronto, Canada.