Dr Melani Schroeter

Biography

Dr. Melani Schroeter is currently working as a Associate Professor in the Department of Modern Languages and European Studies, University of Reading , United Kingdom. Responsibilities I usually teach a part of the 1st Year "Icons of Modern Germany"and/or "Texts and Genres" module. In Year 2, I teach the optional module "The World of Words: German Lexicology and Word Formation". In the final year, I teach the optional module "Migration in Germany". I also do a small but regular amount of teaching and supervision in the Department of English Language and Applied Linguistics. I am the Modern Languages Director for Teaching and Learning as well as German Studies Programme Director. Research groups / Centres 1. Language, Text and Power www.languagetextpower.tk/ 2. Arbeitsgemeinschaft Sprache in der Politik www.sprache-in-der-politik.de/ 3. Interdisciplinary Network Subcultures, Popular Music and Social Change www.reading.ac.uk/history/research/subcultures/subcultures-About.aspx 4. Centre for Anglo-German Cultural Relation www.qmul.ac.uk/cagcr/ 5. Forum for Germanic Languages www.bris.ac.uk/german/fgls/ 6. Centre for East German Studies www.reading.ac.uk/german/research/eastgerman.htm

Research Interest

Areas of Interest My main area of interest is Critical Discourse Analysis, investigating most of all Geman political discourse and media discourse. A current main area of research relates to key words in public/political discourse. I am particularly interested in comparing the use of discourse key words across different languages, partly following on from an AHRC Developing Research Networking Grant in 2012. Related to this area of research is my interest in the use of German Nazi vocabulary in other languages. After having published a monograph about Silence and Concealment in Political Discourse in 2013, I am still very much interested in phenomena of silence and absence in discourse and communication; see here for the related blog: http://absencediscourse.wordpress.com. I have also done some work on defiant discourses, based on a substantial corpus of German punk lyrics.