معرفی
Thomas Dickins is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Humanities within the Faculty of Arts, Business and Social Sciences at the University of Wolverhampton. He serves as Coordinator for the Area Studies Unit of Assessment and has extensive administrative experience, including membership on the Faculty of Arts Research Committee and the Faculty of Arts Gender Equality Action Plan Sub-Committee.
His educational background includes a PhD (by published work) from the University of Wolverhampton (2012) on Czech language contact; a PGCE from the University of Nottingham (1986), where he was awarded the Wortley Year Prize for theory of education; an MA from the University of Leeds (1983) focusing on Czech literature; and a BA (Hons) in Russian Studies from the University of Leeds (1981).
Dickins specializes in applied Slavonic linguistics with particular expertise in Czech language variation and change. His research explores Czech lexicology, diachronic language change, linguistic purism, loanwords, and the relationship between language and political discourse. He has written extensively on Czech language contact phenomena, particularly examining how political contexts influence lexical borrowing and language attitudes.
His scholarly output demonstrates a consistent focus on how political regimes, particularly Communist Czechoslovakia, shaped linguistic practices and discourse patterns. His work often analyzes historical texts, dictionaries, and political slogans to trace ideological influences on language development.
- Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (2016)
- Wortley Year Prize for theory of education (awarded with PGCE)
- Member of editorial board for Studie z aplikované lingvistiky
- Member of Linguistics Association of Great Britain
- Member of British Association of Slavonic and East European Studies
Dickins has supervised PhD students including Sara Almugharbil, and has served as external examiner for Czech, Russian and Linguistics at multiple institutions including University of Sheffield, University of Birmingham, and University of Durham. He has considerable experience as both internal and external PhD examiner. His industry experience includes work as an interpreter/translator for organizations such as West Midlands Police and Banks's Brewery, and facilitating externally funded projects with Czech academic institutions.
He teaches courses including Language in Use, Language and Society, Research Methods for English Language, Linguistics and TESOL, Language Variation and Change, Analysing Talk and Text, and Russian Language at various levels.
