Qualifications

PhD in Hispanic Studies at the University of Edinburgh. 2019 - 2025. Project title: Students' Language Beliefs and Attitudes towards Dialectal Varieties of European Spanish: The Case of Ceceo, Seseo and Distinción, supervised by Dr Carlos Soler Montes and Dr Iona Macintyre.

Project summary: This research project arises from the need to surface and understand attitudinal factors in teaching and learning Spanish as a foreign language. Its main aim is to analyse the language beliefs held by present-day university students in the United Kingdom towards European dialectal varieties of Spanish and the phonetic variation phenomena of ceceo, seseo and distinción of /s/ and /θ/ sounds. Focussing on affective and cognitive criteria, social status, and personal characteristics, this study has adapted the methodology primarily developed in the Project for the study of beliefs and attitudes towards the varieties of Spanish in the XXI century (PRECAVES-XXI) (2013). The results that I present build upon PRECAVES-XXI to reveal problematic language ideologies and discriminatory attitudes towards some European varieties and certain associated linguistic phenomena. Finally, I conclude with a reflection on the impact that this research project may have on the teaching and learning of Spanish, both within the context of UK Higher Education and internationally.

MScR in Applied Linguistics in teaching Spanish as a foreign language at Nebrija University (Spain). 2016 - 2018. Project title: The speech act of apologising in the teaching and learning of Spanish as a foreign language: an online didactic unit, supervised by Dr Carlos Soler Montes.

• Visiting postgraduate research visit at the University of Edinburgh. January - March 2018. Research period on the acquisition of the speech act of apologising in Spanish as a foreign language.

Undergraduate degree in English Studies at the University of Granada (Spain). 2012 - 2016. Year Abroad: University of East Anglia. 2014 - 2015. Project title: A Corpus-Based Study of Compound Words in General English and in Official EU documents, supervised by Dr Jesús Fernández Domínguez.

Accreditation courses for DELE examiners at Instituto Cervantes. Mario is an examiner for the DELE official Spanish exams (all levels).

• DELE examiner at the University of Strathclyde. November 2019, 2021 and 2023.
• DELE examiner at Instituto Cervantes London. November 2024 and May 2025.

Responsibilities & affiliations

• Roving Director, Society of Spanish Researchers in the United Kingdom (SRUK/CERU). Mario leads SRUK/CERU's prestigious Awards and Grants program, contribute to shaping its strategic vision and strengthen connections across regional chapters.
• Examiner, Beddington Prize 2025 (Spanish) at Eton College.
• Reviewer, Association for the Teaching of Spanish in Higher Education in the United Kingdom (ELEUK).
• External reviewer, Revista Internacional de Lenguas Extranjeras (RILE) / International Journal of Foreign Languages, Universitat Rovira i Virgili.
• External reviewer, Revista Philologia Hispalensis, University of Seville.

Undergraduate teaching

Spanish Language Teacher at the Department of Hispanic, Portuguese and Latin American Studies, University of Bristol, 2024 - Present.

Academic year 2024/2025:

• Spanish Language and Cultures 1A (Integrated Skills and Grammar).
• Spanish Language 2 (Integrated Skills).
• Spanish Language 3 (Integrated Skills, Translation EN > ES and Student Cultural Projects).

Other teaching responsibilities:

Tutor in Spanish Language and Culture at the School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures, the University of Edinburgh, 2018 - 2024.

Academic year 2023/2024:

• Spanish 1A: history, literature and culture seminars; and spoken language.
• Spanish 1B: history, literature and culture seminars; written and spoken language.
• Spanish Language 2: written and spoken language.
• Spanish Year Abroad online language learning course.
• Oral for Spanish (Year 4).

Academic year 2022/2023:

• Spanish 1B: history, literature and culture seminars; and spoken language.

Academic year 2021/2022:

• Spanish 1B: history, literature and culture seminars; written and spoken language.
• Spanish Year Abroad online language learning course.

Academic year 2020/2021:

• Spanish 1A: history, literature and culture seminars.
• Spanish 1B: history, literature and culture seminars; written and spoken language.

Academic year 2019/2020:

• Foundation Spanish language 1.
• Spanish 1B: history, literature and culture seminars; and written language.

Academic year 2018/2019:

• Foundation Spanish language 2 and 3.
• Spanish 1B: written language.

Tutor of "Geographies of Spanish: Linguistic and Cultural Variation in the Hispanic World" at Instituto Cervantes, April - May 2022. This explores diverse varieties of Spanish and Spanish-speaking cultures. The main differences and similarities of the Hispanic culture is deepened in order to better understand the origin of our traditions and thus establish points of convergence on both sides of the Atlantic. 

Lecturer of Spanish at the Modern Language Centre, King's College London, October 2021 - June 2023.

• Short courses. Spanish language: Level 1, 2 and 3.

Tutor in Spanish at Instituto Cervantes London (all levels), April 2021 - November 2022.

Tutor of "Geographies of Spanish: Linguistic and Cultural Variation in the Hispanic World" at Instituto Cervantes, May - June 2020. 

Tutor in Spanish (Adult Education Programme) at the City of Edinburgh Council, September 2019 - August 2020. His major tasks include planning, preparing, delivering and evaluating adult education courses, supporting learners to develop their knowledge and skills in Spanish.

Tutor in Spanish at JESIE-Instituto Nebrija (Nanjing, China), March - June 2017.

Tutor in Spanish at College Marseilleveyre (Marseille, France), January - March 2017.

Spanish language assistant at the University of East Anglia, 2014 - 2015.

Current research interests

Mario's research interests encompass various topics within the fields of Spanish language and Hispanic linguistics, such as phonetics and phonology, sociolinguistics, dialectology, pragmatics, the history of language and Spanish language teaching.

Conferences

Congreso ASELE 2025. Participation in the 35º Congreso Internacional de la Asociación para la Enseñanza del Español como Lengua Extranjera at Universitat Jaume I (Castellón), from the 28th July to 1st August 2025. Presentation title: Inmersión lingüística y jerarquías dialectales: análisis de opiniones de estudiantes británicos durante su año en el extranjero.

ELEUK 2025 Conference: Research and Practice in Spanish Language Teaching. Participation in the ELEUK 2025 Conference at the Open University, from the 19th to 20th June 2025. Presentation title: "Qué cabrón": desafíos pragmáticos y soluciones didácticas de los tabús lingüísticos para estudiantes de español en el Reino Unido. 

Spanish in Society Conference. Participation in the 11th International Conference of Hispanic Linguistics and 9th Biennial Meeting of the International Association for the Study of Spanish in Society at the University of Bristol, from the 5th to 6th June 2025. Presentation title: Género y (des)prestigio lingüístico en la sociedad: estudio actitudinal con aprendientes de ELE anglófonos.

Fourth International Symposium on Language Attitudes toward Spanish, Portuguese and Related Languages (LASPRL-4). Participation in the Fourth International Symposium on Language Attitudes toward Spanish, Portuguese and Related Languages (LASPRL-4) at Palacký University Olomouc (Czechia), from the 8th to 10th May 2025. Presentation title: Actitudes lingüísticas en el ámbito de la enseñanza y el aprendizaje de la variación.

Congreso internacional Investigando las hablas andaluzas. Participation in the 3rd Congreso internacional Investigando las hablas andaluzas at the University of Eichstätt (Germany), from the 11th to 12th October 2024. Presentation title: Percepciones y creencias de estudiantes universitarios de ELE británicos sobre el español hablado en Andalucía: el caso del ceceo.

Congreso ASELE 2023. Participation in the 33º Congreso Internacional de la Asociación para la Enseñanza del Español como Lengua Extranjera at the University of Burgos, from the 29th August to 2nd September 2023. Presentation title: Prejuicio lingüístico y jerarquías dialectales del español europeo: datos de aprendientes de ELE en contextos anglófonos.

ELEUK 2023 Conference: Research and Practice in Spanish Language Teaching. Participation in the ELEUK 2023 Conference at the University of Leeds, from the 22nd to 23rd June 2023. Presentation title: Creencias y actitudes lingüísticas por parte de hablantes no nativos de español en el contexto educativo del Reino Unido.

Hispanic? Sociolinguistics at a Crossroads. Participation in the 10th International Conference of Hispanic Linguistics and 8th Biennial Meeting of the International Association for the Study of Spanish in Society at the University of Liverpool, from the 8th to 9th June 2023. Presentation title: Creencias y actitudes lingüísticas de estudiantes universitarios de ELE británicos hacia las variedades europeas de la lengua española.

24th Association of University Language Communities in the UK and Ireland (AULC) Annual Conference 2023. Languages for All in Higher Education: Inclusion, Diversity, and Sustainability at the University of Edinburgh's Centre for Open Learning, from the 27th to 28th April 2023. Presentation title: Students' Language Beliefs and Attitudes at The University of Edinburgh: The Case of the Dialectal Varieties of European Spanish.

AHGBI 68th Annual Conference 2023 at Trinity College Dublin and University College Dublin, from the 17th to 18th and 21st April 2023. Presentation title: Creencias y actitudes lingüísticas hacia las variedades del español de España: perspectivas de estudiantes de ELE anglófonos.

AHGBI 67th Annual Conference 2022 at the Institute of Modern Languages Research (IMLR), School of Advanced Study, University of London, from the 11th to 13th April 2022. Presentation title: Creencias y actitudes lingüísticas en la clase universitaria de ELE en el Reino Unido.

ELEUK 2021 Conference: Research and Practice in Spanish Language Teaching. Participation in the online ELEUK 2021 Conference, from the 9th to 11th June 2021. Presentation title: Creencias y actitudes lingüísticas de estudiantes universitarios de ELE en Reino Unido hacia las variedades dialectales del español europeo: ceceo, seseo y distinción.

Visions of Contemporary Spain: An inter-disciplinary Postgraduate & ECR Symposium at Cardiff University, from the 21st to 22nd January 2021. Presentation title: A Study of Ceceo Variation in The Endless Trench (2019).

Transnational Perspectives on the Study of Spanish in Society. Participation in the 9th International Conference of Hispanic Linguistics and 7th Biennial Meeting of the International Association for the Study of Spanish in Society at the University of Edinburgh, from the 5th to 6th September 2019. Presentation title: Los límites del ceceo en España y Latinoamérica.

ELEUK 2019 Conference: Research and Practice in Spanish Language Teaching. Participation in the ELEUK 2019 Conference at the University of Edinburgh, from the 13th to 14th June 2019. Presentation title: El acto de habla de disculpa en la enseñanza y el aprendizaje de ELE: una unidad didáctica en línea.

Publications

Saborido Beltrán, M. (2024). Actitudes lingüísticas en el ámbito de la enseñanza y el aprendizaje de la variación. In Soler Montes, Carlos; Herrera Jiménez, Francisco José (Eds), Variación lingüística en el aula de español: La diversidad de la lengua (pp. 156-169). Barcelona: Difusión.

Saborido Beltrán, M. (2022). Creencias y actitudes lingüísticas de estudiantes universitarios de ELE en Reino Unido hacia las variedades dialectales del español europeo: ceceo, seseo y distinción. In Soler Montes, Carlos; Díaz-Bravo, Rocío; Colomer i Domínguez, Vicens (Eds), Avances investigadores y pedagógicos sobre la enseñanza del español: aportes desde el contexto universitario británico (pp. 109-128). Research-publishing.net. 

Saborido Beltrán, M. (2020). El acto de habla de disculpa en la enseñanza y el aprendizaje de ELE: una unidad didáctica en línea. In Lallana, Amparo; Hernández Martín, Lourdes; Fuertes Gutiérrez, Mara (Eds), Five years of ELEUK conferences: a selection of short papers from 2019 (pp. 41-51). Research-publishing.net. 

Conference organiser

AHGBI 70th Annual Conference 2025 at the School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures, the University of Edinburgh, on the 7th, 8th and 10th April 2025.

34º Congreso Internacional de la Asociación para la Enseñanza del Español como Lengua Extranjera (ASELE) at the School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures, the University of Edinburgh, from the 16th to 20th July 2024.

International Conference on Tense, Aspect and Modality in L2 (TAML2) at the School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures, the University of Edinburgh, from the 27th to 28th October 2023.

Online ELEUK 2021 Conference: Research and Practice in Spanish Language Teaching, from the 9th to 11th June 2021.

Transnational Perspectives on the Study of Spanish in Society at the School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures, the University of Edinburgh, from the 5th to 6th September 2019.

ELEUK 2019 Conference: Research and Practice in Spanish Language Teaching at the School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures, the University of Edinburgh, from the 13th to 14th June 2019.

Seminar organiser

DELC Research Seminar Series 2019-20: Regional Languages beyond the Iberian Peninsula at the School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures, the University of Edinburgh, from the 4th to 5th December 2019.

Webinars

ProfedeELE. Participation in an online webinar on the 23rd May 2024. Title: La variación lingüística y sus aplicaciones a la enseñanza de ELE (blog). 

Press

Saborido Beltrán, M. (2020). El ceceo llega a Edimburgo. Diario de Jerez. 

Grants

AHGBI PGR Conference Award (2022-23): Association of Hispanists of Great Britain & Ireland.

AHGBI Conference Award for Postgrads and Early-Career Academics (2022-23): Association of Hispanists of Great Britain & Ireland.

AHGBI Conference Award for Postgrads and Early-Career Academics (2021-22): Association of Hispanists of Great Britain & Ireland.

HISPANEX Grant (2021): Ministerio de Cultura. Gobierno de España funded his PhD project on language beliefs and attitudes towards the dialectal varieties of European Spanish.

SRUK/CERU Travel Grant 2020: Society of Spanish Researchers in the United Kingdom.

AHGBI Conference Award for Graduate Students (2019-20): Association of Hispanists of Great Britain & Ireland.