Dr Clive W. Earls

German Studies, School of Modern Languages

Programme Director of the MA and PhD programmes in Applied Linguistics & Intercultural Studies
Associate Professor

Rye Hall Building, Block D
Second
C
(01) 474 7512

Biography

Clive Earls is currently Programme Director for MA and PhD Programmes in Applied Linguistics & Intercultural Studies having completed a 3-year term as Head of German Studies at Maynooth University. He graduated with a First Class Honours from his BA in Applied Languages, majoring in German, Spanish and Linguistics, from the University of Limerick in 2006. He then proceeded to spend one year in Eastern Germany teaching English and German as a foreign language at a national language academy. Upon completion of this year, Clive returned to the University of Limerick where he successfully obtained a highly competitive Irish Social Sciences Platform (ISSP) Government of Ireland Scholarship, the largest doctoral and post-doctoral scholarship scheme in the history of the Irish state, to pursue his interdisciplinary doctoral thesis. In 2013, Clive was awarded a PhD in German and Applied Linguistics, under the external examinership of Prof. Dr. Ulrich Ammon of the Universität Duisburg-Essen. Prior to joining Maynooth University, Clive spent one and a half years working as a Senior Research Associate in a professional research firm in the private sector honing his research skills and industry experience. 

Clive's recent monograph published with Palgrave MacMillan in 2016 explores English-medium higher education in Germany, following a high degree of interdisciplinarity by drawing upon methodological and theoretical frameworks from the disciplines of Applied Linguistics, Internationalisation, Sociolinguistics particularly Language Policy and Planning, Intercultural Studies, and Language Pedagogy. This has led to Clive's invitation as an international consultant to the Ministry of Education in Georgia to develop a strategic plan for the roll-out of English-medium higher education in the country. His most recent publications focus on the language-in-education policy context ("Languages Connect") in Ireland, as part of the HELECs (Higher Education Language Educator Competences) project funded by the National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education

Research Interests

Clive Earls’s research interests are manifold, owing to the interdisciplinary orientation of his doctoral research. His primary areas of research interest encompass Teaching German as a foreign language, Sociolinguistics of German and English as international languages, Intercultural Communication, and Language Policy and Planning. His recent monograph published with Palgrave MacMillan in 2016 explores English-medium higher education in Germany, following a high degree of interdisciplinarity by drawing upon methodological and theoretical frameworks from the disciplines of Applied Linguistics, Internationalisation, Sociolinguistics particularly Language Policy and Planning, Intercultural Studies, and Language Pedagogy. His latest publication is an edited volume published in 2016 addressing the relationship between multilingualism and English in 21st-Century Europe.

Research Projects

Title Role Description Start date End date Amount
GENDER EQUALITY IN LANGUAGE STUDIES (GELS) PI The objective is to expand and deepen understanding of institutional and (inter)national commitments to increasing gender equality in HE. We seek to enrich current gender-equality debates (framed predominantly as advancing the participation and promotion of women systemically, particularly within STEM), by conducting research into a discipline area where converse dynamics prevail. Within Language Studies (Irish and Modern Foreign Languages [MFL]), women commonly constitute around 80% of the student and staff bodies in Irish HEIs. Systemic factors at post-primary and HE level that contribute to such ‘converse’ gender representation in Language Studies will be explored, and strategy recommendations for stakeholders developed. 10/10/2022 09/10/2023 31550
Higher Education Language Educator Competences (HELECs) Funded Partner The HELECs (Higher Education Language Educators Competences) project aims to support the necessary increase in teaching capacity by investigating the range of competences that a language teacher needs in the Higher Education context and developing an empirically informed professional development framework for language educators. In consultation with various stakeholders, including learners, teachers, user institutions, domain experts and language experts, this project will develop by means of empirical data collection a profile of skills to provide teachers with a tool with which they can assess their own skills, and language teaching units with a method of evaluating their recruitment needs. 01/04/2019 30/09/2020 150000

Book

Year Publication
2016 Earls C. (2016) Evolving Agendas in European English-Medium Higher Education: Interculturality, Multilingualism and Language Policy. Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan. [DOI]

Peer Reviewed Journal

Year Publication
2022 Dr. Clive W. Earls, Dr. Emma Riordan, Dr. Colin Flynn, Dr. Aine Furlong (2022) 'The Complex and Changing Face of Higher-Education Language Teaching in the Republic of Ireland'. All Ireland Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education (AISHE-J), . [Full-Text]
2020 Dr. Emma Riordan, Dr. Clive W. Earls, Dr. Colin Flynn, Dr. Aine Furlong (2020) 'Higher Education Language Educator Competences (HELECs)'. TEANGA: THE IRISH YEARBOOK OF APPLIED LINGUISTICS, 27 :193-203. [Link] [Full-Text]
2019 Dr. Clive W. Earls (2019) 'Languages Connect: Addressing a missing experiential dimension'. Education and Society Publications, 1 . [Full-Text]
2018 Dr Clive W. Earls (2018) 'Popping the Erasmus Bubble: Perceptions of Intercultural Awareness and Competence of Incoming Erasmus+ Students and the Preparation Challenge'. Higher Education Research, 3 (3):45-54. [Link] [Full-Text]
2015 Dr Clive W. Earls (2015) 'When English just is not enough: ‘Multilingualism with English’ in contemporary European higher education'. International Journal of Applied Linguistics, 25 . [Full-Text]
2014 Dr Clive W. Earls (2014) 'Striking the balance: The role of English and German in a multilingual English-medium degree programme in German higher education'. Current Issues in Language Planning, 15 :153-172. [Full-Text]
2013 Dr Clive W. Earls (2013) 'Setting the Catherine Wheel in motion: An exploration of Englishization in the German higher education system'. Language Problems and Language Planning, 37 :125-150. [Full-Text]

Edited Book

Year Publication
2021 Dr Clive W. Earls (Ed.). (2021) “The Right Blend” – Mischung, Überblendung und Identität in interkulturellen Kontexten. Konstanz: Germanistik in Ireland. Hartung Gorre Verlag,
2016 Dr Clive W. Earls (Ed.). (2016) Multilingualism and English in Twenty-First-Century Europe: Recent Developments and Challenges. Oxford: Peter Lang,

Book Chapter

Year Publication
2021 Clive W. Earls (2021) 'Introduction' In: “The Right Blend” – Mischung, Überblendung und Identität in interkulturellen Kontexten. Konstanz : Hartung-Gorre Verlag.
2016 Dr Clive W. Earls (2016) 'Competing transformative forces and discourses: Multilingualism and English in the 'knowledge economy' of a globalising Ireland' In: Multilingualism and English in Twenty-First-Century Europe: Recent Developments and Challenges. Oxford : Peter Lang.
2016 Dr Clive W. Earls (2016) 'Introduction' In: Multilingualism and English in Twenty-First-Century Europe: Recent Developments and Challenges. Oxford : Peter Lang.

Published Report

Year Publication
2015 Dr Clive W. Earls (2015) Report: English & Multilingualism in 21st-Century Europe, Maynooth University, June 2015. Hartung Gorre Verlag, .

Book Review

Year Publication
2016 Dr Clive W. Earls (2016) Review of Die Stellung der deutschen Sprache in der Welt. BREV

Conference Contribution

Year Publication
2019 Dr Clive W. Earls (2019) Self-reflexivity and higher education language educator competences: Supporting a community of practice German Studies Association of North America Annual Conference Portland, Oregon, .
2019 Dr. Clive W. Earls, Dr. Emma Riordan, Dr. Colin Flynn, Dr. Aine Furlong (2019) Educating the educators : The training and support challenge in higher education language teaching in Ireland Widening Participation in Language Learning University of Dundee, .
2019 Dr. Clive W. Earls, Dr. Emma Riordan, Dr. Colin Flynn, Dr. Aine Furlong (2019) A skills profile for higher education language teaching Crossing Boundaries in Language Teaching & Learning: Northern Ireland and Beyond Queens University Belfast, .
2019 Dr. Clive W. Earls (2019) Walking on eggshells – competing teaching and learning demands and expectations in the EMI environment EMI Practices in Europe University of Copenhagen, Denmark, 03/04/2019-06/04/2019.
2018 Dr. Clive W. Earls (2018) Some reflections on language-in-education policy theory and the Languages Connect Strategy NUI-UCC Symposium on Ireland’s Languages Connect Strategy University College Cork, 30/11/2018-30/11/2018.
2017 Dr. Clive W. Earls (2017) Fostering multilingualism in a hegemonic English-speaking bubble: The tight-rope act in English medium-of-instruction in Europe Study Abroad in research and practice - 30 years of Erasmus in Ireland University College Cork, 10/04/2017-10/04/2017.
2016 Dr Clive W. Earls (2016) Operationalising intercultural teaching and learning in English medium-of-instruction programmes: Challenges and benefits EMI Winter School - Plenary Speaker University of Padova, .
2015 Dr Clive W. Earls (2015) The Ever-Changing Face of English-medium Higher Education in Europe – The necessary Lingua Franca or Lingua Franca Trap? Languages in a Globalised World Leeds Beckett University, .
2015 Dr Clive W. Earls (2015) Addressing the elephant in the room – Global English and the minoritisation of German AGS Annual Conference 2015 Mary Immaculate College, Limerick, .
2015 Dr. Clive W. Earls (2015) English & Multilingualism in 21st-Century Europe English & Multilingualism in 21st-Century Europe Maynooth University, .
2013 Dr Clive W. Earls (2013) Crossing the linguistic Rubicon: English-medium degree programmes as a concomitant challenge to and mechanism of implicit German language policy? Nitobe Symposium: Languages and Internationalisation in Higher Education: Ideologies, Practices, Alternatives - Plenary Speaker National Museum of Iceland, .
2012 Dr Clive W. Earls (2012) This is an English-only programme” - When ‘Internationalisation’ means ‘Englishisation’: Authenticity, Multilingualism and Interculturality Supporting Internationalisation through Languages and Culture in the 21st Century University University of Central Lancashire, .
2012 Dr Clive W. Earls (2012) Voices from the periphery: teacher and student experiences in the brave new world of English-medium international education in Germany Mehrsprachigkeit in Gesellschaft, Arbeitswelt und Politik. Neue Herausforderungen an die universitäre Lehre Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg, .
2011 Dr Clive W. Earls (2011) Striking the balance: the role of English and German in multilingual international degree programmes in German tertiary education Crossing Boundaries: The Impact of Language Studies in Academia and Beyond Queens University Belfast, .
2009 Dr Clive W. Earls (2009) English-medium degree programmes as a driver of language shift in the German higher education system? IRAAL Language Policy and Language Learning University of Limerick, .
2008 Dr Clive W. Earls (2008) Teaching through a foreign medium: What can possibly go wrong? German Studies Association of Ireland Annual Conference University of Limerick, .
Certain data included herein are derived from the © Web of Science (2023) of Clarivate. All rights reserved.

Professional Associations

Description Function From / To
German Studies Association of Ireland Co-Chair 01/06/2016 - 10/11/2019
German Studies Association of North America Member 01/01/2019 - 31/12/2019
Irish Association of Applied Linguistics Member 01/01/2019 - 31/12/2019
Association of German Studies in the UK and Ireland Member 01/01/2016 - 31/12/2019
German Studies Association of Ireland Secretary 10/11/2016 - 01/04/2017

Honors and Awards

Date Title Awarding Body
01/09/2019 Centre for Teaching and Learning Masterclass Fund Centre for Teaching and Learning
01/12/2019 Post-Primary Outreach & Activation Initiative Post-Primary Languages Initiative
01/12/2018 National Teaching & Learning Enhancement Fund National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching & Learning in Higher Education
01/01/2016 Maynooth University Publication Grant
01/01/2015 National University of Ireland Award
01/01/2009 Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences (UL) Bursary Recipient
01/01/2008 Association of German Studies in the UK & Ireland Scholar
01/01/2007 Irish Social Sciences Platform Government of Ireland Scholar

Committees

Committee Function From / To
Faculty Teaching and Learning Committee Member 01/09/2015 - 01/01/2020
Faculty Board Member 01/09/2017 - 31/08/2020
Academic Council Member 01/09/2017 - 31/07/2020

Education

Start date Institution Qualification Subject
University of Limerick Ph.D.
University of Limerick B.A. in Applied Languages

Languages

Language Reading Writing Speaking
English Fluent Fluent Fluent
Gaelige Fluent Basic Basic
Spanish Fluent Fluent Functional
German Fluent Fluent Fluent