Wendy Hillier
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0118 378 5043
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Lecturer
Module Convenor and Lecturer for IL1GSAA/B English for Study Abroad Programme Students
Areas of interest
My main areas of interest are the teaching and learning of English as a foreign language and German as a foreign language, as well as English for Academic Purposes. In general, I have a keen interest in learning other languages, discovering other cultures, and exploring cross-cultural comparison, cultural stereotypes, and culture shock.
Within applied linguistics, I find sociolinguistics a fascinating area – particularly accents and dialects, and the many different varieties of English – and also pragmatics, especially work on politeness and indirectness, and language transfer in language learning.
Historical Englishes from the Anglo-Saxon and medieval periods (Old and Middle English) are also highly intriguing.
Teaching
IL1GSAA/B English for Study Abroad Programme StudentsBackground
I grew up in Reading and studied English and German in Nottingham, which gave me the opportunity to spend a year abroad in Tübingen, in the South of Germany, as an Erasmus student and Language Assistant in a Kindergarten.
I enjoyed my Year Abroad in Tübingen so much that directly after graduating, I went back to this picturesque university town and lived there for a further four years, mainly teaching English as a Foreign Language to German adults and university seminars in Old and Middle English.
I also worked as a proof-reader of academic articles and a translator.
All this gave me a fantastic insight into the differences between English and German and the ways in which languages can be taught and learnt.
In 2012, I began working at the University of Reading on the Pre-sessional English programme in ISLI, and was delighted when the opportunity arose in 2013 to combine this with teaching German on the Institution-Wide Language Programme. I now enjoy teaching German to Beginners and Intermediate students on the IWLP, and academic and general English in ISLI to visiting students spending their Year Abroad in Reading.
Academic qualifications
MA Applied Linguistics (University of Nottingham)
BA Joint Hons English Studies and German (University of Nottingham)
Cambridge CELTA