PD Dr. Dieter Thoma

Senior Researcher and Lecturer with Tenure

University of Mannheim
Anglistik I
Schloss – Room EW 293
68161 Mannheim

Phone: +49 621 181-2350
E-mail: thomauni-mannheim.de
ORCID iD: 0000-0001-6984-623X

Consultation hour(s):
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
Dieter Thoma teaches courses such as the Introduction to Linguistics, Psycholinguistics and Language and Marketing at undergraduate and graduate level. He supervises many thesis projects based on experimental studies.

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., Heilmann, F. & Trotno, M. (2024). Homophone priming in bilingual preference formation. Journal of Experimental Psychology. Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 1–14. https://doi.org/http://doi.org/10.1037/xlm0001380
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

PD Dr. Dieter Thoma

Research

Biographic Information

Teaching

Publications

Reviewer Activities

Anglistisches Seminar

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