Professor Sascha Stollhans' Inaugural Lecture: “Watch your language! A linguist‘s tale of education, science and scholarship”
- Date
- Wednesday 7 May 2025, 5pm to 6pm
- Location
- Rupert Beckett Lecture Theatre, Michael Sadler Building
- Registration
- Register
Prof. Sascha Stollhans' Inaugural Lecture
“Watch your language! A linguist‘s tale of education, science and scholarship”
Event Details
This is a hybrid event, with the option to either attend in person or watch the lecture online via Microsoft Teams. Please register to attend either in person or online using the orange 'Reserve a spot' button above.
After the lecture, there will be a drinks reception, held in the Michael Sadler Foyer from 6.00pm to 7.00pm, to which all are welcome. Attendees under the age of 18 must be accompanied by an adult at all times.
About the lecture
Watch your language! A linguist‘s tale of education, science and scholarship
“Watch your language!” is a phrase we might hear from parents as a reaction to their children’s swearing. But the phrase also demonstrates something very human: many of us notice language and like to ‘watch’ it and talk about it. We are often fascinated by language and language use, we all have views on language, and we all have certain language related preferences.
Language and languages have not only been a great passion of mine since I was a child, but also the overarching theme in my career. In my inaugural lecture, I will therefore touch on:
· My own language biography and how it has shaped me both professionally and personally, and how it has informed both my teaching and research.
· Language learning in the UK, and what is sometimes called the “languages crisis”. I will outline some of the developments we have observed over the past years and the associated challenges around the declining number of language learners. I will reflect on some of the positive initiatives that have been set up by the languages community to promote language learning.
· My work on linguistic and cultural diversity in language teaching and learning, in particular my ideas on how to be mindful of questions around diversity and inclusivity in (language) education.
· Linguistics as the ‘language science’. I will share my thoughts on how linguistics research can inform language teaching and learning, and how linguistics can be a leveller in the classroom. In this context, I will present some of the work that I have carried out in collaboration with colleagues from the Linguistics in Modern Foreign Languages project.
I will discuss the connections between these different areas, and reflect on the connections between (language) education, (language) science and (language) scholarship.
About Sascha
Sascha grew up in Germany and studied Linguistics, French, and German as a Foreign Language (Applied Linguistics for Language Teaching) at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. During his degree, he spent a semester in both Cape Town, South Africa, and Aix-en-Provence, France. After a summer teaching languages to children at an international summer camp, he moved to Newcastle-upon-Tyne and fell in love with the north of England. Before settling down in Leeds, he held academic posts at Newcastle University and the University of Nottingham (both funded by the German Academic Exchange Service), the University of Manchester and Lancaster University. At Nottingham, he received a Lord Dearing Award for “outstanding achievements in supporting the student learning experience” in 2016.
In 2022, he joined the University of Leeds as a ‘Curriculum Redefined Transformative Educator’. He has since held the roles of Digital Education Academic Lead and Director of Scholarship in the School of Languages, Cultures and Societies, where he also led the Centre for Excellence in Language Teaching. He became Pro-Dean for Student Education in the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Cultures in 2024, and is the academic lead for the University’s Student Success Centre. In February 2025, he was promoted to Professor of Language Education and Linguistics. Being a passionate educator and advocate for languages and for arts and humanities education more generally, he is proud to have been promoted on the “Excellence in Student Education” career pathway.
Sascha’s research is closely connected to his teaching, focussing on the interface between linguistics and language education, linguistic and cultural diversity, as well as digital pedagogies. He co-leads the German strand of Linguistics in Modern Foreign Languages, a national research, outreach and advocacy project that explores the potential of linguistics for school-based language learning. He is the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Officer for the Association for German Studies in Great Britain and Ireland (AGS).
His most recent publication is a special issue of the German as a Foreign Language Journal on “Cultural and linguistic diversity in German language teaching and learning”, co-edited with Judith Eberharter. Sascha also regularly writes for non-specialist audiences (e. g. “GCSE results: more young people are studying languages – but the overall picture for language learning remains bleak” and “The UK is poorer without Erasmus – it’s time to rejoin the European exchange programme” in The Conversation), and his work has been widely discussed in the national and international media (e. g. The Guardian, National Geographic, Times Higher Education and LBCRadio).