Anita Thomas
Prof. Dr.
anita.thomas@unifr.ch
+41 26 300 7971
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6777-3006
- Second language acquisition (L2 - SLA) and second language development
- Teaching and learning French as a Foreign/Second Language
- Input and interaction
- Teaching interaction
- Multilingualism and norms
- Psycholinguistics, cognitive processes, priming
- Corpus linguistics
Professor
Department of Multilingualism and Foreign Language Education
Rue de Rome 1
1700 Fribourg
Biography
Anita Thomas spent the first part of her life in French-speaking Switzerland where she also completed her first studies (University of Geneva). She worked for nearly 10 years in the associative sector before moving to Lund in Sweden, where she studied French and linguistics, and wrote a doctoral thesis under the supervision of Susanne Schlyter. In 2009, she completed her PhD in French linguistics at the University of Lund. She then worked as a senior lecturer in French language and linguistics and collaborated on various research projects, including one on "Age of onset and development of French" and another on "French spoken language in interaction and teaching". In 2012, she received a scholarship from the Birgit Rausing Language Programme that allowed her to spend 7 months at the Department of Linguistics at the Université du Québec à Montréal (Canada). Between 2014 and 2016, she worked as a senior lecturer in French language and linguistics at Dalarna University, where all teaching was online. Since August 1, 2016, she holds the position of full professor of French as a foreign language (FLE) at the University of Fribourg. She was vice-dean of the Faculty 2021-2023 and is currently (since 2024) director of the Institute of Multilingualism.
Research projects:
- 2021-2024: Digitization and the development of oral interaction skills (DICOI)- https://centre-plurilinguisme.ch/en/recherche/Dicoi
- 2024-2028: L’influence de la qualité de l’input dans l’enseignement du FLE - https://data.snf.ch/grants/grant/219847
- 2025-2028: Teaching and development of the oral communicative competence in French as a Foreign Language (FFL) at the lower secondary level (DISCO) https://centre-plurilinguisme.ch/en/research/DISCO
Research and publications
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Publications (ORCID)
36 publications
Les corpus comme interface entre linguistique et didactique : défis et possibilités
Anita Thomas, SHS Web of Conferences: (2026) | ConferenceEvaluating L2 textbook input for grammar learning: from research findings to operationalized evaluation criteria
Research Methods in Applied Linguistics (2025) | Journal articleResearching L2 French input and instructed learning , in Research Methods in Applied Linguistics
Anita Thomas (2025), ISBN: 9789027219497 | Book chapterThe Sequencing of Pre- and Post-viewing Activities in a Vocabulary Learning Study with Adolescent French L2 Learners , in Educational Linguistics
Lea Suter, Raphael Berthele, Anita Thomas (2025), ISBN: 9783031910005 | Book chapterCréation de ressources didactiques ciblant l’interaction pour des apprenti·es allophones en formation professionnelle : l’exemple du projet DiCoi
Éducation et socialisation (2025) | Journal articleSituation d’input et développement lexical de l’imparfait en français L2
Langue française (2024) | Journal articleCorpus d’élèves en langue étrangère
Babylonia (2024) | Journal articleCorpus d’apprenant-es : un « basquette » de ressources pour l’enseignement des langues étrangères
Babylonia Journal of Language Education (2024) | Journal articleLes corpus comme input et comme output : l’exemple des marqueurs 'bon' et 'bien'
Babylonia Journal of Language Education (2024) | Journal articleL’apprentissage du vocabulaire en français L2 avec Netflix : effet des activités de pré-/post-visionnage
Journal of French Language Studies (2024) | Journal article -
Research projects
L’influence de la qualité de l’input dans l’enseignement du FLE
Status: OngoingStart 01.03.2024 End 29.02.2028 Funding SNSF Open project sheet The goal of the project is to study the influence of teaching materials found in a compulsory school textbook on the learning of two grammatical phenomena. Following an analysis of the way in which these two phenomena are presented in the textbook, an improved variant will be constructed using criteria associated with input quality.
The influence of input on the development of foreign and second languages is affected by the language to which learners are exposed and the processes whereby attention is focused on its operation. We are hypothesising that the way in which language is presented to learners influences its learning, for example, in terms of the ability to make the connection between a particular form and its meaning in a given context.
This project will involve the analysis of an FFL textbook used in compulsory schools in German-speaking Switzerland in relation to the frequency and manner of presentation of two grammatical phenomena, the relative pronouns ‘qui’ and ‘que’ (‘who’ and ‘what’), and pronominal verbs (e.g. ‘se laver’, to ‘wash oneself’ in English). The textbook's input regarding the two phenomena will be improved using the input quality criteria found in the literature with the aim of facilitating attentional processes and learning. Lastly, we will conduct an experimental study involving forty compulsory school classes, enabling us to compare the effects of the two variants on the learning of the two grammatical phenomena.
https://data.snf.ch/grants/grant/219847
Purpose – Expected results
In terms of input effects, we expect those classes working with the improved input to do better than the others. If this proves to be the case, the criteria table could serve as the basis for the creation of new teaching materials. The project could therefore contribute to the improvement of foreign language teaching in compulsory schools. If the hypothesis is not borne out, the project represents an opportunity to discuss the importance of input in the process of learning a foreign language.