PD Dr. Dieter Thoma
Senior Researcher and Lecturer with Tenure
Consultation hour(s):
Tue 2–3 p.m. Please send an email for individual appointments.
Tue 2–3 p.m. Please send an email for individual appointments.
Research
Dieter Thoma is Senior Researcher and Lecturer at the Chair of Psycholinguistics and Head of the Department of English. In his research, he is interested in language acquisition and (bilingual) language processing. He has been studying how (second) language processing interacts with cognitive, emotional and social processes in decision making and consumer behavior. He uses different experimental methods including reaction-time tasks, eye tracking and pupillometry as well as large-scale survey studies.
Biographic Information
Dieter Thoma received his PhD in psycholinguistics in 2009 from the University of Mannheim and studied for his Diploma/
M.Sc. in Business Education at the Universities of Mannheim and Swansea (UK). He is co-founder and scientific director of the Mannheim Center for Empirical Multilingualism Research (MAZEM gGmbH). Since 2010 he has also been a Visiting Professor teaching at the Summer University of Aarhus University (Denmark). Teaching
Publications
- Thoma, D. (2024). Language-dependent emotions in heritage and second language bilinguals: When physiological reactions deviate from feelings. International Journal of Bilingualism, 28(3), 374–389. https://doi.org/10.1177/13670069231159840
- Thoma, D., Becker, K. & Kißler, A. (2023). Presuppositions are more persuasive than assertions if addressees accommodate them: Experimental evidence for philosophical reasoning. Applied Psycholinguistics, 44(5), 816–843. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0142716423000292
- Thoma, D., Hüsam, J. & Wielscher, K. (2023). Introducing grip force as a nonverbal measure of bilingual feelings. Bilingualism : Language and Cognition, 26(1), 125–137. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1366728922000396
- Hopp, H., Thoma, D., Kieseier, T., Jakisch, J. & Sturm, S. (2022). Early plurilingual foreign language teaching in mixed classrooms: Linguistic and metalinguistic predictors of foreign language development among majority-language and minority-language students in EFL classes. System, 108(Article 102828), 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2022.102828
- Kieseier, T., Thoma, D., Vogelbacher, M. & Hopp, H. (2022). Differential effects of metalinguistic awareness components in early foreign language acquisition of English vocabulary and grammar. Language Awareness, 31(4), 495–514. https://doi.org/10.1080/09658416.2022.2093888
- Hopp, H., Kieseier, T., Jakisch, J., Sturm, S. & Thoma, D. (2021). Do minority-language and majority-language students benefit from pedagogical translanguaging in early foreign language development? Multilingua, 40(6), 815–837. https://doi.org/10.1515/multi-2020-0164
- Hopp, H. & Thoma, D. (2021). Effects of plurilingual teaching on grammatical development in early foreign-language learning. The Modern Language Journal : MLJ, 105(2), 464–483. https://doi.org/10.1111/modl.12709
- Thoma, D. (2021). Emotion regulation by attentional deployment moderates bilinguals’ language-dependent emotion differences. Cognition & Emotion, 35(6), 1121–1135. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699931.2021.1929853
- Thoma, D. & Wechsler, J. (2021). Older and more personal: Stronger links between brand‐name recall and brand‐related autobiographical memories in older consumers. Psychology & Marketing, 38, 1384–1392. https://doi.org/10.1002/mar.21533
- Hopp, H. & Thoma, D. (2020). Foreign language development during temporary school closures in the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic. Frontiers in Education, 5(Article 601017), 1–4. https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2020.601017
- Hopp, H., Jakisch, J., Sturm, S., Becker, C. & Thoma, D. (2019). Integrating multilingualism into the early foreign language classroom: Empirical and teaching perspectives. International Multilingual Research Journal, 31(1), 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1080/19313152.2019.1669519
- Hopp, H., Vogelbacher, M., Kieseier, T. & Thoma, D. (2019). Bilingual advantages in early foreign language learning: Effects of the minority and the majority language. Learning and Instruction, 61, 99–110. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.learninstruc.2019.02.001
- Thoma, D. & Baum, A. (2019). Reduced language processing automaticity induces weaker emotions in bilinguals regardless of learning context. Emotion, 19(6), 1023–1034. https://doi.org/10.1037/emo0000502
- Thoma, D. & Tytus, A. E. (2018). How cross-linguistic differences in the grammaticalization of future time reference influence intertemporal choices. Cognitive Science, 42(3), 974–1000. https://doi.org/10.1111/cogs.12525
- Roth, C., Hopp, H. & Thoma, D. (2015). Effekte von Fort- und Weiterbildung auf die Sprachförderkompetenz frühpädagogischer Fachkräfte. Frühe Bildung, 4(4), 218–225. https://doi.org/10.1026/2191-9186/a000230
- Michel, M., Ofner, D. & Thoma, D. (2014). Early childhood educators’ competences for supporting children’s academic language skills: Empirical evidence from a German context. Language Awareness, 23(1/2), 138–156. https://doi.org/10.1080/09658416.2013.863896
- Ofner, D. & Thoma, D. (2014). Early childhood educators’ knowledge and abilities in planning language learning environments. European Journal for Applied Linguistics, 2(1), 121–143. https://doi.org/10.1515/eujal-2014-0001
- Tracy, R., Thoma, D., Michel, M. & Ofner, D. (2014). SprachKoPF: Sprachliche Kompetenzen pädagogischer Fachkräfte. In Bildungsforschung 2020 – Herausforderungen und Perspektiven : Dokumentation der Tagung des Bundesministeriums für Bildung und Forschung vom 29.–30. März 2012 (S. 285–287). Bildungsforschung, BMBF: Berlin ; Bonn.
- Karst, K., Thoma, D., Derkau, J., Seifried, J. & Münzer, S. (eds.) (2021). Lehrer*innenbildung im Kontext leistungsbezogener Heterogenität und Mehrsprachigkeit von Schüler*innen . Münster ; New York: Waxmann.
- Thoma, D. (2022). Cognitive and linguistic profiles in early foreign language vocabulary and grammar. In T. Piske & A. K. Steinien (eds.), Cognition and second language acquisition : studies on pre-school, primary school and secondary school children (S. 162–189). Tübingen: Narr Francke Attempto.
- Thoma, D., Lorette, P. & Krautz, A. E. (2022). Bidirectional language effects: Evidence on the emotionality of bilinguals' autobiographical memories from pupillometry, eye-movements, and self-reports. In I. Mavrou, M. Pérez Serrano & J.-M. Dewaele (eds.), Recent advances in second language emotion research (S. 67–94). Cizur Menor: Civitas Aranzadi ;Thomson Reuters.
- Thoma, D. & Ofner, D. (2021). Bedingungsfaktoren für die Entwicklung von Basiskompetenzen für sprachsensibles Unterrichten bei gymnasialen Lehramtsstudierenden. In K. Karst, D. Thoma, J. Derkau, J. Seifried & S. Münzer (eds.), Lehrer*innenbildung im Kontext leistungsbezogener Heterogenität und Mehrsprachigkeit von Schüler*innen (S. 139–160). Münster ; New York: Waxmann.
- Hopp, H., Kieseier, T., Vogelbacher, M. & Thoma, D. (2018). Einflüsse und Potenziale der Mehrsprachigkeit im Englischerwerb in der Primarstufe. In G. Mehlhorn (eds.), Potenziale von Herkunftssprachen : sprachliche und außersprachliche Einflussfaktoren (S. 57–80). Tübingen: Stauffenburg Verlag.
- Hopp, H., Kieseier, T., Vogelbacher, M. & Thoma, D. (2018). L1 effects in the early L3 acquisition of vocabulary and grammar. In A. Bonnet (eds.), Foreign language education in multilingual classrooms (S. 305–330). Amsterdam [u.a.]: Benjamins. https://doi.org/10.1075/hsld.7.14hop
- Hopp, H., Kieseier, T., Vogelbacher, M., Köser, S. & Thoma, D. (2017). Mehrsprachigkeit und metasprachliche Bewusstheit im Englischerwerb in der Grundschule. In I. Fuchs (eds.), Mehrsprachigkeit: Spracherwerb, Unterrichtsprozesse, Seiteneinstieg : Beiträge aus dem 11. Workshop “Kinder und Jugendliche mit Migrationshintergrund”, 2015 (S. 55–74). Stuttgart: Fillibach bei Klett.
- Ofner, D., Roth, C. & Thoma, D. (2016). Sprachförderkompetenz in der Grundschule messen : Konzeption und Pilotierungsergebnisse. In I. Barkow (eds.), Frühe sprachliche und literale Bildung : Sprache lernen und fördern im Kindergarten und zum Schuleintritt (S. 149–164). Tübingen: Narr Francke Attempto.
- Ofner, D., Roth, C. & Thoma, D. (2015). Sprachförderkompetenz im Elementarbereich : empirische Befunde zum Wissen, Können und Handeln pädagogischer Fachkräfte. In A. Redder (eds.), Forschungsinitiative Sprachdiagnostik und Sprachförderung – Ergebnisse (S. 27–46). Münster ; New York: Waxmann.
Reviewer Activities
- Annals of Tourism Research
- Bilingualism, Language and Cognition
- Brain Sciences
- Cognitive Science
- Dutch Journal of Applied Linguistics
- Empirische Pädagogik
- EuroSLA – European Second Language Association
- Frontiers in Education
- Frühe Bildung
- International Journal of Multilingualism
- Journal of Cognition
- Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development
- Language Learning
- Modern Language Journal
- Sage Open
- Swiss National Science Foundation (SNF)
- Zeitschrift für Grundschulforschung