Since 2014, EuroSLA annually presents a distinguished scholar award to an individual for outstanding scholarship and contribution to the field of second language research, especially in a European context.
In 2024, Professors Folkert Kuiken and Ineke Vedder were jointly honoured with the EuroSLA Distinguished Award, recognising their individual contributions to the field and the significant impact of their long-standing collaboration.
At EuroSLA 2023 in Birmingham, the Distinguished Scholar Award was presented to Professor Paul Meara. Paul’s award recognises his lasting scholarly contribution to SLA research as an inspirational and supportive leader to generations of SLA and vocabulary researchers. Visit Paul’s Lognostics website to access many of the research tools he created and curated.
The recipient of the EuroSLA Distinguished Scholar Award in 2022 was Jean-Marc Dewaele. The award particularly celebrates his influential work on emotional dimensions of second language learning as well as his long association with EuroSLA, including his presidency 2007-2011.
In 2021, a double EuroSLA Distinguished Award was presented to Professors Florence Myles and Rosamond Mitchell, celebrating both their respective contributions to the field and the impact of their long-standing collaborative work.
Watch Florence’s acceptance speech.
Read Rosamond’s thank-you letter.
At EuroSLA 2019 in Lund, the Distinguished Scholar Award was presented to Professor Marianne Gullberg for her groundbreaking work on the cognitive neuroscience of bilingualism, in particularly on gesturing.
The recipient of the 2018 Distinguished Scholar Award was Jan Hulstijn for his contribution to research in Second Language Acquisition.
Read Jan’s acceptance speech.
In 2017, the Distinguished Scholar Award went to Professor Michael Sharwood Smith, an exceptional researcher in bilingual language development and one of the founding members of EuroSLA.
In 2016, the Distinguished Scholar Award was presented to Professor Carmen Munoz, an outstanding researcher in multilingualism and second language learning, and a long-standing member of EuroSLA who has inspired many PhD students and early-career researches.
In 2015, the distinguished scholar award went to David Singleton, past president and long-standing member of the association. The award was presented by former presidents Florence Myles and Jean-Marc Dewaele.
The first EuroSLA distinguished scholar award was unanimously voted to go to Vivian Cook, EuroSLA founder and first president.