Promoting German Studies in the UK

Although the benefits of foreign-language skills are immediate and incontrovertible, language learning is in decline across the UK. IGES scholars work closely with partner institutions and practitioners to promote interest in German language and culture and to improve our understanding of the needs and cognitive processes of language students.

Strand speaker: Ruth Whittle

Affiliated IGES scholars

Dr John Goodyear is a Lecturer in English as a Modern Foreign Language and a German Tutor researching post-war Anglo-German theatre life, specifically in the context of the Globe theatre in Oldenburg, Germany.

Christiane Hoyer is a DAAD Lecturer interested in ways of integrating literary texts into language teaching, theories of language acquisition and intercultural differences.

Dr Ruth Whittle is a Senior Lecturer in German Studies with an interest in the areas of language study and internationalisation. She has examined how to achieve transformational changes with language students as reflective learners.

Current research projects

Teaching German in a Transcultural World, DAAD, 2022-2023 (Principal investigator: Ruth Whittle; Co-Investigators: Julian Pänke, Klaus Richter, Jutta Vinzent, Caroline Ardrey)

Recent publications (selection)

Ruth Whittle, Preparing Modern Languages Students for ‘Difference’: Going beyond Graduate Skills (New York: Peter Lang, 2017).


Learn more about the other strands in the IGES research profile