Professor Crystal, the Stephen Hawking of modern linguistics, visits Andover College

Professor David Crystal OBE, widely heralded as one of the world’s leading figures in the field of modern linguistics and certainly the UK’s foremost language expert today, visited Andover College Sixth Form Academy to deliver a morning of lectures to A-level English Language students.

English lecturer Rob Price who organised the visit said: “To put Professor Crystal into context, he is to modern linguistics and language what Stephen Hawking is to Physics so in our world, you don’t get much bigger or better.”

As a core theorist behind A-level English Language programme, Professor Crystal shared his views on the complex field of ‘Accents and Dialects’, firstly by examining the history of British accents before moving on to discuss the consequences of the global status of English for the future development of the language.

Crystal’s career in Linguistics spans over five decades and he has written and edited over 120 books discussing issues ranging from the language of Twitter to the influences of Shakespeare on English.

Rob Price said “We are one of only a few Further Education colleges that Professor Crystal visits each year, so our English students here at Andover College have benefitted from this golden opportunity of hearing his views on the English Language, as well as getting the chance to ask the man himself questions and get their text books signed after the discussions. Professor Crystal taught me for a time during my degree at Cardiff University, so for me personally it’s also fantastic to meet him again. He’s such an engaging figure and my students were furiously scribbling notes throughout!”

Local schools were also invited to the event, with gifted and talented English students from John Hanson, and Test Valley attending to listen to Professor Crystal’s ideas.

For more information on the College’s excellent A Level programme with over 40 subjects please click here