Professor Jeannette Littlemore BA, MA, PhD, PGCHE, FAcSS
Jeannette Littlemore is a Professor of Applied Linguistics in the Department of English Language and Linguistics at the University of Birmingham. Her research focuses on figurative language and explores the facilitative and debilitative role played by metaphor and metonymy in language education and in cross-linguistic communication. She is interested in the ways in which emotional experiences drive the use of creative figurative language.
Her monographs include: Unpacking Creativity: The Power of Figurative Communication in Advertising, (with Paula Pérez-Sobrino and Samantha Ford, Cambridge University Press, 2021), Metaphors in the Mind: Sources of Variation in Embodied Metaphor (Cambridge University Press, 2019), Metonymy: Hidden Shortcuts in Language, Thought and Communication (Cambridge University Press, 2015); Figurative Language, Genre and Register (with Alice Deignan and Elena Semino, Cambridge University Press, 2013); Doing Applied Linguistics (with Nicholas Groom, Routledge 2011); Applying Cognitive Linguistics to Second Language Learning and Teaching (Palgrave MacMillan, 2009) and Figurative Thinking and Foreign Language Learning (with Graham Low, Palgrave MacMillan, 2006).
- Post Graduate Certificate in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education. University of Birmingham, 2001.
- PhD English Language Teaching, Thames Valley University, 1998. Title: Individual differences in second language learning: towards an identification of the strategy preferences and language learning strengths of L2 students with holistic and/or imager cognitive styles. Supervisor: Professor Peter Skehan.
- MA Applied Linguistics and English Language Teaching, University of East Anglia, 1993.
- BA (Hons) European Studies (majoring in French and Economics with a mathematics subsidiary), University of Bradford, 1989.
I have been working at the University of Birmingham since 1999. Before that, I taught and lectured in Spain, Japan and Belgium.
I teach on both the campus-based and the distance MA programmes in TEFL and Applied Linguistics as well as the BA Single Honours and Joint Honours programmes in English Language. I teach on and/or convene modules in Language Teaching Methodology, Second Language Acquisition, Lexis, Research Methods in Applied Linguistics, Cognitive Linguistics, Pedagogic Grammar, Psycholinguistics and Teacher Training.
I have a lively group of PhD students working on metaphor, metonymy and second language learning. I am interested in supervising MA and PhD research in the areas of:
Teaching and learning figurative language
Language learning and cognitive linguistics
Analyzing figurative language
Find out more - our PhD English Language and Applied Linguistics page has information about doctoral research at the University of Birmingham.
My research interests lie in the area of figurative language and thought. I am currently working on the relationship between emotion, empathy, metaphor and creativity.
Research groups
External research grants and awards received
- Dates: Sep 2016 - Sep 2018
Title of Project: Death before Birth: Understanding, informing and supporting the choices made by people who have experienced miscarriage, termination, and stillbirth (Project Reference: ES/N008359/1)
Funding Body: ESRC
Amount: £537,225
My role: Co-Investigator - Dates: Oct 2015 - Oct 2017
Title of Project: Exploring Multimodal Metaphor in Advertising (Project Reference: 659078)
Funding Body: European Union (Marie Curie Fellowship Scheme)
Amount: €183,455
My role: Principal-Investigator (Research Fellow: Dr Paula Sobrino-Perez) - Dates: Jan 2012-Dec 2014
Title of Project: Metaphor use in one-to-one academic consultations in English: Implications for Spanish student mobility in Europe (FFI2011-22809)
Funding Body: Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness
Amount: €50,820
My role: Co-Investigator - Dates: May 2014 - Apr 2016
Title of Project: Metaphor: From Embodied Cognition to Discourse
Funding Body: Thyssen Foundation (Germany)
Amount: €10,000
My role: Co-Investigator - Dates: Oct 2014-Sep 2017
Title of Project: Cognitive modeling and meaning construction across languages: Theory, implications, and applications (FFI2013-43593-P)
Funding Body: Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness
Amount: €73,000
My role: Co-Investigator - Dates: Aug 2010-Jul 2011
Title of Project: Verbal and gestural metaphor in cross-cultural communication
Funding Body: The British Council
Amount: £2,820
My role: Principal Investigator - Dates: Apr 2010-Mar 2011
Title of Project: Investigating figurative proficiency at different levels of second language writing
Funding Body: Cambridge ESOL
Amount: £5,000
My role: Principal Investigator - Dates: Jan-Dec 2006
Title of Project: The Development of Creativity in Japanese Learners of English
Funding Body: Japanese DAIWA Foundation
Amount: £1,200
My role: Principal Investigator - Dates: Aug 2000 - Feb 2003
Title of Project: New Technologies and Language Learning: Pedagogical Approaches and Practical Applications (Project Number: 56563-CP-1-98-1-IE-LINGUA-LA)
Funding Body: The European Union
Amount: €146,000
My role: Co-Investigator - Dates: Jan 1997 - Jul 1999
Title of Project: European Language Council Thematic Network Project in the area of Languages: (Project 25917-CP-2-97-1-DE-ERASMUS-ETN)
Funding Body: The European Union
Amount: €6,030,000
My role: Co-Investigator
I am involved in a number of national and international research projects, investigating the use of verbal and gestural metaphor in cross-cultural communication and the development of figurative proficiency at different levels of second language writing.
Highlight publications
Littlemore, J 2019, Metaphors in the mind: Sources of variation in embodied metaphor. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108241441
Littlemore, J 2015, Metonymy: Hidden Shortcuts in language, thought and communication. Cambridge University Press. <https://www.cambridge.org/gb/academic/subjects/languages-linguistics/cognitive-linguistics/metonymy-hidden-shortcuts-language-thought-and-communication?format=HB&isbn=9781107043626>
Littlemore, J, Deignan, A & Semino, E 2013, Figurative Language, Genre and Register. Cambridge University Press.
Littlemore, J 2009, Applying Cognitive Linguistics to Second Language Learning and Teaching. Palgrave Macmillan.
Littlemore, J & Low, G 2006, Figurative Thinking and Foreign Language Learning. Palgrave Macmillan.
Recent publications
Book
Littlemore, J, Bolognesi, M, Julich-Warpakowski, N, Leung, D & Pérez Sobrino, P 2023, Metaphor, metonymy, the body and the environment: An exploration of the factors that shape emotion-colour associations and their variation across cultures. Cambridge Elements in Cognitive Linguistics, Cambridge University Press.
Littlemore, J & Turner, S 2023, The Many Faces of Creativity: Exploring Synaesthesia through a Metaphorical Lens. Elements in Cognitive Linguistics, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108974813
Article
Wilding, E, Bartl, S, Littlemore, J, Clark, MT & Brooke, J 2023, 'A metaphor analysis of older adults’ lived experience of household isolation during COVID-19', Frontiers in Communication, vol. 7, 1015562. https://doi.org/10.3389/fcomm.2022.1015562
Woodin, G, Winter, B, Littlemore, J, Perlman, M & Grieve, J 2023, 'Large-scale patterns of number use in spoken and written English', Corpus Linguistics and Linguistic Theory. https://doi.org/10.1515/cllt-2022-0082
Turner, S & Littlemore, J 2023, 'Literal or metaphorical? Conventional or creative? Contested metaphoricity in intense emotional experiences', Metaphor and the Social World.
Littlemore, J & Fielden-Burns, L 2023, 'On the fringes of metaphor: Using ambiguously figurative vague language to negotiate sensitive topics in the English as a Medium of Instruction classroom', Journal of Pragmatics.
Littlemore, J & Fielden-Burns, LV 2023, 'On the fringes of metaphor: Using ambiguously figurative vague language to pragmatically negotiate sensitive topics in the English as a Medium of Instruction classroom', Journal of Pragmatics, vol. 209, pp. 1-14. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2023.02.016
Clark, MT, Littlemore, J, Taylor, J & Debelle, G 2022, 'Child abuse linked to faith or belief: working towards recognition in practice', Nursing Children and Young People. https://doi.org/10.7748/ncyp.2022.e1444
Werkman-Horvat, A, Bolognesi, M, Littlemore, J & Barnden, J 2022, 'Comprehension of different types of novel metaphors in monolinguals and multilinguals', Language and Cognition, vol. 14, no. 3, pp. 1-36. https://doi.org/10.1017/langcog.2022.8
Chow, MY & Littlemore, J 2022, 'Metaphorical conceptualizations of cancer treatment in English and Chinese languages', International journal of language and culture. https://doi.org/10.1075/ijolc.21051.cho
Turner, S, Littlemore, J, Taylor, J, Parr, E & Topping, A 2022, 'Metaphors that shape parents’ perceptions of effective communication with healthcare practitioners following child death: a qualitative UK study', BMJ open, vol. 12, no. 1, e054991. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2021-054991
Littlemore, J 2022, 'On the creative use of metonymy', Review of Cognitive Linguistics, vol. 20, no. 1, pp. 104–129. https://doi.org/10.1075/rcl.00103.lit
Turner, S, Littlemore, J, Parr, E, Taylor, J & Topping, A 2022, '‘Lights in the darkness’, Part 1: characterising effective communication with healthcare practitioners following the death of a child', Mortality. https://doi.org/10.1080/13576275.2022.2081495
Chapter (peer-reviewed)
Ford, S & Littlemore, J 2023, Exploring the impact of figurative communication and advertising: reflections on a collaboration between linguistics researchers and a Midlands-based marketing agency. in H Price & D McIntyre (eds), Communicating Linguistics: Language, Community and Public Engagement. 1 edn, Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003096078-14
Houghton, D, Littlemore, J, Ford, S, Harfield, C & Marder, B 2022, What drives emotion and physiological arousal in adverts? The critical role of figurative operations. in A Bagasheva, B Hristov & N Tincheva (eds), Figurativity and Human Ecology. John Benjamins Publishing Company, pp. 181–205. https://doi.org/10.1075/ftl.17.08hou
View all publications in research portal
Death Before Birth - how people reach decisions regarding what happens to their baby after death, how their perceptions of the law inform their decisions, as well as how these experiences are expressed to people around them