Anita Thomas

Anita Thomas is a Full Professor of French as a Foreign Language at the University of Fribourg, Switzerland, within the Faculty of Letters and Human Sciences and the Department of Multilingualism and Foreign Language Teaching. She serves as Director of the Institute for Multilingualism since 2024 and previously served as Vice Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities (2021-2023).

Dr. Thomas completed her PhD in French linguistics at Lund University in 2009. Her educational journey began in French-speaking Switzerland at the University of Geneva, followed by academic work in Lund, Sweden. She has held academic positions at Dalarna University in Sweden (2014-2016) and has been at the University of Fribourg since 2016.

Professor Thomas specializes in second language acquisition, particularly focusing on French as a foreign language. Her research examines how input quality and interaction influence language learning, with special attention to oral communication skills development, multilingualism, and corpus linguistics applications in language teaching. She investigates cognitive processes in language acquisition, priming effects, and the relationship between input exposure and grammatical development.

Her recent publications demonstrate a strong focus on textbook input evaluation, vocabulary acquisition through media like Netflix, and the development of oral skills in classroom settings. Thomas employs both qualitative and quantitative methodologies, often using corpus linguistics approaches to analyze learner language and instructional materials. Her work bridges theoretical linguistics with practical language teaching applications.

Scientific awards:

• Birgit Rausing Language Programme scholarship (2012)

Professor Thomas leads several significant research projects including "Digitalization and development of oral skills (DiCoi)" (2021-2024), "The influence of input quality in FLE teaching" (2024-2028), and "Teaching and development of oral communication skills in FLE in Secondary I (DISCO)" (2025-2028). These projects examine how input quality affects language learning outcomes in classroom settings, with funding from organizations like the Swiss National Science Foundation.

As Director of the Institute for Multilingualism, she oversees research initiatives exploring multilingual education practices, language policy, and the cognitive aspects of multilingual development in Swiss educational contexts.