Jeannette Littlemore — Applied linguist specializing in metaphor and gesture

Education and academic background

Littlemore completed a Bachelor of Arts in European Studies at the University of Bradford (1989), followed by a Master of Arts in Applied Linguistics and English Language Teaching at the University of East Anglia (1993). She earned a PhD in English Language Teaching from Thames Valley University in 1998. These qualifications provide a foundation for her interdisciplinary approach that connects linguistic theory, pedagogy and classroom interaction.

Research interests and themes

Her primary research interests include the role of metaphor and gestures in communication and learning. She explores questions such as how metaphors structure conceptual understanding for learners, and how hand and body movements support meaning-making during instruction and conversation. Her work often emphasizes multimodality—the idea that speech, gesture and visual resources jointly create meaning.

Teaching and international experience

Littlemore has taught in a variety of educational contexts across Europe and Asia, including positions in Spain, Japan, Belgium and the United Kingdom. This international teaching background informs her studies of classroom interaction, materials design and teacher training: she draws on real-world classroom practice to test and refine theoretical claims.

Contributions and practical relevance

Her publications comprise research articles and books aimed at both specialists and practitioners. They link theory with pedagogical techniques, suggesting ways teachers can attend to metaphorical language and gesture to aid comprehension and retention. Her research has influenced teacher education, materials development and studies of multimodal communication in second-language acquisition.

Notable aspects and further resources

• Focus on cognitive and interactional accounts of figurative language (metaphor).
• Emphasis on multimodal meaning-making, including gestural analysis.
• Practical orientation toward English language teaching and teacher training.

For institutional information and current activities see the English Language department at the University of Birmingham and related academic profiles. Additional biographical or publication listings can be consulted via departmental pages and academic directories referenced above.