Dr Emilia Wilton-Godberfforde

Professional biography

I have specialised in French theatre in the early modern period. My book, 'Mendacity and the Figure of the Liar in Seventeenth-Century French Comedy' was published in 2017 by Routledge. 

https://www.routledge.com/Mendacity-and-the-Figure-of-the-Liar-in-Seventeenth-Century-French-Comedy/Wilton-Godberfforde/p/book/9780367879945

I have published articles on Molière, Racine, Rotrou, Tristan L'Hermite, Bernard Lamy and Pierre Nicole. Previous research has focused on dramatic theory, reception and audience response; theories of the comic, and translation studies.

In 2020 my translation book, English to French Translation: A Practical Manual, co-authored with Christophe Gagne was also published with Routledge.

https://www.routledge.com/English-French-Translation-A-Practical-Manual/Gagne-Wilton-Godberfforde/p/book/9781138841956

My current research has focused on seventeenth-century surgery and politeness in Molière. I am also interested in language learning through drama pedagogy and the Digital Humanities. 

I am always keen to supervise PhD students.

In 2021, I co-ran a conference, with a grant I secured from the Language Acts and Worldmaking Project:

https://languageacts.org/events/falsehood-francophone-writing-and-culture-interdisciplinary-conference/

Having studied, tutored and lectured at a range of institutions, my thinking and pedagogical approach have been enriched by different learning methods, course modules and class dynamics. I have taught language, literature, current affairs and history. My work at The Open University has also led me to focus on Second Language Acquisition and intercultural communication and I endeavour to integrate these different areas of research into my teaching.

My experience teaching and lecturing ranges the all years of undergraduate programmes and includes undergraduates, Masters’ students and agrégatifs in France. I have taught one-to-one sessions, class groups from four to thirty-five students and lectured to the whole student body undergraduates. I have also taught online language classes. My classes have been conducted both in French and in English.

In 2020, I worked with colleagues in LAL on a  multi-lingual creative writing project in response to the pandemic. We collated stories written by students and this was published as A Multilingual Decameron: Stories of a different world.

https://wels.open.ac.uk/news/new-book-published-multilingual-decameron

For the last two years I have liaised with the Ambassade de France so that The Open University is now an official partner of the Choix Goncourt. For this exciting venture, students can select the winning book from the short-listed titles in their reading groups.

https://www.academiegoncourt.com/choix-goncourt-du-royaume-uni

I am also working with the School of Modern Languages and Cultures and The Centre for Foreign Language Study at Durham University to enroll students in a series of creative writing workshops in French and compete in a 'concours' launching in 2021.

https://www.durham.ac.uk/departments/academic/modern-languages-cultures/about-us/events/

For the last ten years I have been actively involved in outreach programmes teaching French for Villiers Park Educational trust, an organisation which helps young people reach their full academic potential. As of 2015, I have also given talks and featured in videos for the London Centre for Languages and Culture, partnered with Pembroke College Oxford and The Open University.

For the last five years I have worked for the Prince's Teaching Institute, presenting my research and teaching to MLF teachers around the country.

I have written online resources in French in conjunction with Villiers Park and The British Academy and produced material for the Cambridge University Language Centre.

In 2021, I developed a learning resource on Molière's Tartuffe for the Cambridge Collaborative A level Resources for Languages project (CCARL).

Research Associate for the Parisian Soundscapes Project

http://www.parisiansoundscapes.org/

I was guest co-editor for a special edition of Early Modern French Studies ('Vile Beings, Bodies and Objects in Early Modern France').

I am currently working with different theatre directors in France and the US for an online resource on Molière.