Raili Hilden's field of specialization is language assessment. She has extensive experience in various developmental and administrative projects and expert duties related to language curricula, subject teacher education and assessment. She also works for the Finnish Matriculation Examination Board.
Hilden's current research activities include the leadership of the projects DigiTala (Academy of Finland), and Digisvenska (Svenska Kulturfonden), and the role of a partner PI in the project PARVI (Ministry of Education and Culture). Hilden's literary work comprises dozens of scientific articles alongside handbooks and book chapters written in Finnish, English and Swedish for multiple audiences in the field of language education.
Research interests: language assessment, language teaching, teacher education, automatic assessment, oral language skills, large-scale language testing
Hildén's profile on the University of Helsinki research portal
Kaisa Hahl is a university lecturer and teacher educator in foreign language education at the Faculty of Educational Sciences, University of Helsinki. Hahl is the head of subject teacher education at the Faculty. She is also Adjunct Professor in applied linguistics with specification in multiculturalism in language education at the University of Jyväskylä. Hahl teaches in the national subject teacher and class teacher education programmes and in the international English-medium subject teacher education programme (STEP). She has several years' experience in working in different international projects that aim at enhancing teacher competences and the quality of teacher education.
Research interests: foreign language teaching and learning, early teaching of foreign languages, active language learning, internationalisation of teacher education, intercultural education, teacher identity development
Hahl's profile on the University of Helsinki research portal
Suvi Kotkavuori is a University Instructor in foreign language education and a Doctoral Researcher in the Doctoral Programme of School, Education, Society and Culture (SEDUCE). She is finalizing her thesis in foreign language education and her topic is about engaging international students as first language peers in language courses within the university context. Her research interests emerged while she was working as a French teacher at the Language Centre of the University of Helsinki. These interests involve the expanded view on mediation, shared expertise, as well as intercultural and foreign language teaching and learning in higher education.
Kotkavuori's profile on the University of Helsinki's research portal
Anna von Zansen works as a University Researcher for the Aasis project at the Faculty of Education, University of Helsinki. The AASIS project (Research Council of Finland 2023-2027) develops automatic assessment of oral interaction for Finnish as a second language (L2) learners. In addition to speech and spoken interaction, she investigates non-verbal features of interaction such as facial expressions, gaze, gestures and body movements in the context language assessment.
Her current project builds on the DigiTala research project (Academy of Finland 2019–2023) which developed ways to assess L2 Finnish and Swedish learners’ speaking skills automatically. Previously she has worked, for example, for governmental and European projects in the field of language teaching, language assessment and software development.
Research interests: computer-assisted language learning, language assessment, multimodality, L2 listening and speaking, Many-facet Rasch measurement, interpersonal behavior, non-verbal cues, software development, eye-tracking, facial expression analysis
Von Zansen’s profile on the University of Helsinki research portal
(On parental leave 2025, contact Raili Hildén or reach out via Linkedin)
Minna Ahtiainen is studying in the Doctoral Programme of School, Education, Society and Culture (SEDUCE). She is writing her thesis in the field of foreign language education and her topic is about defining and developing culturally responsible education. Minna is a teacher of Russian and Finnish languages, but she has since 2000 worked in the Science Centre. Because of that, she has a long experience about science centre pedagogy, learning by doing -method and co-creating of pedagogical solutions. Her ambition is to plan different interactive workshops and playful learning materials. Minna has lived in Russia for four years due to work and studies.
Research interests: foreign language teaching and learning, cultural competences, dialogic pedagogy, linguistic and cultural diversities, inspiring learning methods
Franklin Nyairo is a doctoral student whose research interests include comparative studies in curriculum, teacher education and instructional design. Franklin's research project investigates how English subject pre-service teachers in Finland and Kenya learn technological, pedagogical, and content knowledge (TPACK) in readiness to fulfill the digitalization ethos stated in the national educational policy documents such as national core curriculum.
Nyairo's profile on the University of Helsinki Research portal
Pirjo Harjanne is Adjunct Professor of Foreign Language Education, University of Helsinki Teachers’ Academy Fellow, and Principal Investigator. Harjanne has the qualifications necessary for a professorship in FL education (the expert opinions at Jyväskylä University, 2011 and Turku University, 2014). She has had many responsibilities in the developmental work at the Department of Education, University of Helsinki, and has a lot of experience in supervision (e.g., doctoral theses, master’s theses). She has worked as an invited lecturer and researcher at Stockholm University (2013–2014). She has contributed to international EU projects (e.g., WebCEF, CEFcult) and has a lot of international research co-operation (Japan, Chile, Spain, Sweden). She is currently Director of the national and international KIELO Project, focusing on FL teaching, studying and learning. She is also an active in-service teacher educator in Finland and abroad.
Research interests: foreign language teaching, studying and learning; communicative language teaching and practice; oral language proficiency; language and intercultural communication; FL teacher students’ cognition and professional developement during the pedagogical studies.
Harjanne's profile on the University of Helsinki research portal
Esa Penttinen is Habilitierter Privatdozent (PD) and Principal Investigator in foreign language education at the Faculty of Educational Sciences, University of Helsinki. Penttinen has the qualifications necessary for a professorship in FL education (University of Eastern Finland) and in School pedagogy (University of Jyväskylä). He has foreign language teaching and learning projects with German speaking colleagues.
Research interests: foreign language teaching and learning, language awareness, multilingualism, authenticity, applied linguistics
Penttinen's profile on the University of Helsinki research portal