In today’s globalized world, English has become the lingua franca for international communication, and intercultural competences and a thorough understanding of diversity have become of vital importance.
The English Linguistics section is the expertise group in the department when it comes to English Language structure and use. With 'English' we mean not just Britsh English or North American English, but also other varieties of English as it is used around the world.
Our work concerns both written and spoken English, including consideration of the many context of its use (e.g. in news reporting, on websites, in conversation, etc). We also pay special attention to English in the local context of The Netherlands, including translation between Dutch and English.
The group consists of experts in language variation and language change, grammatical theories, metaphor studies, translation, global English, written and spoken language, and gesture studies. We cooperate closely with researchers in the Netherlands and around the world, and are well-connected with specialists in second language learning, language testing, and teacher education. The group also provides advice on English language policy.
Permanent staff
Jens Branum, MA, is a lecturer for the Academic Language Programme and mostly teaches writing and grammar classes. In terms of research, his main areas of interest are second language acquisition, differences between native and non-native speakers, speech fluency, persuasion, critical discourse analysis and the language of newspapers and the media.
Prof. Dr. Alan Cienki is professor (Hoogleraar) of English Linguistics and also director of the Language Use and Cognition research group. He conducts research in cognitive linguistics and in gesture studies. With the former, he focuses on grammatical theory and semantics, including metaphor analysis; his gesture research is connected with the analysis of spoken language and the study of thinking for speaking. He teaches in and coordinates the tracks in Multimodal Communication (MA).
Dr. Gea Dreschler, assistant professor (UD), does research in historical linguistics, focusing on grammatical changes and in particular on non-canonical aspects of subjects. In addition, she is Academic Director of the ALP and coordinates and teaches courses on academic writing for Bachelor’s, Master’s and PhD students. She also does research on academic writing and effective written feedback. She teaches in the MA track in Writing and Translation, and the Minor in English, which she coordinates.
Abby Gambler, MFA in creative writing, is a lecturer in the English Linguistics section teaching courses for the Minor in English, and the Academic Language Programme.
Kristen Gehrman, MA, teaches courses in translation, academic writing and Language and Communication. Her academic background and research interests are in the fields of applied linguistics, language acquisition and translation. She is also a literary translator working from Dutch to English. She teaches in the BA track in Language and Media and the MA track Schrijven en Vertalen (Writing and Translation).
Dr. Tina Krennmayr, assistant professor (UD), does corpus research on metaphor variation in both spoken and written discourse and is an expert in methods of metaphor identification. She is interested in metaphor use in the media and applies metaphor research to foreign language learning and teaching. She teaches in the MA track in Multimodal Communication.
Dr. Anna Martonfi is Lecturer in Academic English, teaching a variety of courses in the ALP. In addition, she conducts research and publishes on transcultural media texts, examining audiovisual translation methods and transnational aspects of comedy. Her research interests include British radio, television and film comedy, transnational humour, Hungarian comedies of the inter-war era, and Jewish comedy.
Dr. Laura Rupp, associate professor (UHD), has research expertise in grammar and language variation and change. Her current research focuses on morphosyntactic features of varieties of English that have become obsolescent. She teaches courses like Global English and Postcolonial Language and Literature in the MA track Educatie in de Taal- en Cultuurwetenschappen. She is the creator of the MOOC English Pronunciation in a Global World.
Additional staff
Paul Robertson, MA, is a lecturer with the Academic Language Programme and teaches academic writing in a variety of courses. He has a background in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages, and his recent research has focused on Digital Competency for International Students and Flipped Learning.
The group has created the MOOC “English Pronunciation in a Global World”. It is an online academic course for developing English pronunciation skills but it also addresses sociolinguistic issues like language and identity. The MOOC embraces diversity in English (accents) and provides inclusive quality English teaching. It is freely available.
Our section of the department also staffs the English section of the university's Academic Language Programme.
• BA degree: In the bachelor’s programme in Communication and Information Studies, the English Linguistics section teaches some of the fundamental courses for all of the students on topics such as English as a medium of international communication and global English.
• BA Minor: The Minor in English that we offer allows students from other BA programmes not only to improve their writing and speaking skills in English but also to gain theoretical background and insight into what characterizes the English in their own discipline.
• MA degree: We offer two tracks within the MA programme in Communication and Information Studies. The track in Multimodal Communication concerns how we combine different audible and visible means of communication for different purposes, including written text and images, and spoken words and gestures. We consider how formulating our messages in different media and genres can produce different effects.
• ALP: Our staff direct the English division of the VU Academic Language Programme and offer courses, workshops and coaching sessions on academic English for students, PhD candidates and lecturers across the university.
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