Pauline Souleau

I joined the University of St Andrews in January 2019 where I teach French language, literature, and culture and Comparative Literature. I completed my PhD in medieval French literature in 2014 at the University of Oxford where I was a lecturer in French language and literature (2013–2018).

My teaching interests are concerned with translation, comparative stylistics, language and discourse, especially narratology, narrative voices and renewed forms of storytelling: cyclical storytelling (e.g. modern reception and reinterpretation of medieval narratives; francophone bandes dessinées) or collaborative and interactive storytelling (e.g. role-playing games, video-games). I am part of the Creative Writing in French teaching team. I am also interested in the relation between language and culture as well as games and languages. I have designed two Honours modules, in collaboration with Dr David Evans - Francophone Vocal Cultures: Song and Identity and Francophone Screen Cultures: Shaping French Identities - and organised two events with Rebecca Sharp and the Centre for Energy Ethics focused on games and sustainability.  

In my classes, I introduce students to the relationship between language, text, and image; linguistics, phonology, and the history of French; storytelling in French. I also explore various pedagogical approaches, in particular technologically-enhanced and self-access learning.

I am involved in several Outreach activities, Public Engagement events, and Access and Participation workshops: I co-founded the Manuscript Outreach Network in 2016 and published several educational blogposts.

I am currently designing a Digital Education project, the French Digital Library, with a colleague from CEED, Dr Aisling Crean. The FDL is an innovative and open-access digital platform and curated depository of multimedia resources in French (free articles, podcasts, music, videos…) for pupils and undergraduate students to tackle inequalities in language provision and consolidate linguistic skills and cultural knowledge, and to spark or develop interest in modern languages. 

2012–Present Associate Fellow (AFHEA) – Advance HE/Higher Education Academy

My research area is pedagogy, and my philosophy is based on inclusive values and accessible language learning and teaching. 

I investigate students’ engagement and access to language resources as well as educators’ training and access to teaching materials. I draw on my experience of teaching French as a foreign language and I pay particularly close attention to transitional points in education – from school to university, first to second sub-Honours year, sub-Honours to Honours, eventually leading to the postgraduate/professional world.

My pedagogical research has led me to explore the roles and use of games in language-learning and language-teaching, as well as the relation between games and sustainability. I organised two events around those themes, an in-person student workshop and an online roundtable, in collaboration with Rebecca Sharp, writer in residence at the Centre for Energy Ethics:  Games Night: Sustainability, Agency & Risk and Our Ludic Augury: game, story, sustainability.