![Sara Vilar Lluch BA, MA, PhD, FHEA](https://profiles-cardiff.imgix.net/attachments/6643?w=200&h=200&auto=format&crop=faces&fit=crop&q=90")
Dr Sara Vilar Lluch
BA, MA, PhD, FHEA
- Available for postgraduate supervision
Teams and roles for Sara Vilar Lluch
Overview
I am a lecturer in Language and Linguistics with specialisation in discourse analysis in the Centre for Language and Communication Research. My primary area of research is linguistics applied to health communication. In my research I combine qualitative analysis with corpus linguistics methods.
Publication
2025
- Vilar Lluch, S., McClaughlin, E., Adolphs, S., Knight, D. and Nichele, E. 2025. The effects of modal value and imperative mood on self-predicted compliance to health guidance: The case of COVID-19. Text & Talk 45(4), pp. 527-557. (10.1515/text-2023-0125)
- Vilar Lluch, S., Clutterbuck, D., Kranert, M., Smith, D., Nield, S. and Alwan, N. A. 2025. Being “resilient” and achieving “resilience”: From governmental discourses to the national research agenda in the contexts of food insecurity and cost of living. PLoS ONE 20(1), article number: e0316182. (10.1371/journal.pone.0316182)
2024
- Vilar Lluch, S. and Harvey, K. 2024. Language of dementia. In: Reference Module in Social Sciences. Elsevier, (10.1016/B978-0-323-95504-1.00273-8)
- Vilar Lluch, S., Kondo, K. and McClaughlin, E. 2024. Language of pandemic discourses. In: Reference Module in Social Sciences. Elsevier, (10.1016/B978-0-323-95504-1.00272-6)
- Vilar Lluch, S. 2024. The linguistic construal of extreme behaviour: Hyperactivity-impulsivity in family and teaching communities. Language, Context and Text: The Social Semiotics Forum 6(2), pp. 390-417. (10.1075/langct.00076.vil)
- Chałupnik, M., Mackenzie, J., Mullany, L. and Vilar Lluch, S. 2024. ‘Can women have it all?’ Transitions in media representations of Jacinda Ardern’s leadership and identity by a global newsroom. Critical Discourse Studies (10.1080/17405904.2024.2401984)
- Lepoutre, M., Vilar-Lluch, S., Borg, E. and Hansen, N. 2024. What is hate speech? The case for a corpus approach. Criminal Law and Philosophy 18(2), pp. 397–430. (10.1007/s11572-023-09675-7)
- Kotera, Y. et al. 2024. Cross-cultural comparison of Recovery College implementation between Japan and England: Corpus-based discourse analysis. International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction (10.1007/s11469-024-01356-3)
- Vilar-Lluch, S. 2024. Social understanding of inattention. Communication & Medicine 19(1), pp. 26-41. (10.1558/cam.22379)
2023
- Vilar-Lluch, S. 2023. Representing behavioral pathology: the importance of modality in medical descriptions of conduct, ADHD as case study. Health Communication 38(13), pp. 3022-3030. (10.1080/10410236.2022.2129649)
- Vilar-Lluch, S. 2023. Understanding and appraising 'hate speech'. Journal of Language Aggression and Conflict 11(2), pp. 279-306. (10.1075/jlac.00082.vil)
- Vilar Lluch, S., McClaughlin, E., Knight, D., Adolphs, S. and Nichele, E. 2023. The language of vaccination campaigns during COVID-19. Medical Humanities 49(3), pp. 487-496. (10.1136/medhum-2022-012583)
- Adolphs, S. et al. 2023. Communicating health threats: Linguistic evidence for effective public health messaging during the Covid-19 pandemic. University of Nottingham.
2022
- McClaughlin, E. et al. 2022. The reception of public health messages during the COVID-19 pandemic. Applied Corpus Linguistics 3(1), article number: 100037. (10.1016/j.acorp.2022.100037)
- Vilar Lluch, S. 2022. Redefining attitude for studying explicit and indirect evaluations of human behaviour. Functions of Language 29(2), pp. 199-225. (10.1075/fol.21022.vil)
- Musolff, A. et al. eds. 2022. Pandemic and Crisis Discourse. Communicating COVID-19 and Public Health Strategy. [Pandemic and Crisis Discourse. Communicating COVID-19 and Public Health Strategy]. Bloomsbury Academic.
- Vilar-Lluch, S. 2022. Social reaction to a new health threat: the perception of the Covid-19 health crisis by British and Spanish readerships. In: Musolff, A. et al. eds. Pandemic and Crisis Discourse: Communicating COVID-19 and Public Health Strategy. London: Bloomsbury Academic, pp. 185-206., (10.5040/9781350232730.ch-010)
2021
- Vilar-Lluch, S. 2021. Review of Ibarretxe-Antuñano, Cadierno & Castañeda Castro (2019): lingüística cognitiva y español LE/L2. Review of Cognitive Linguistics 19(2), pp. 590-595. (10.1075/rcl.00096.vil)
Articles
- Vilar Lluch, S., McClaughlin, E., Adolphs, S., Knight, D. and Nichele, E. 2025. The effects of modal value and imperative mood on self-predicted compliance to health guidance: The case of COVID-19. Text & Talk 45(4), pp. 527-557. (10.1515/text-2023-0125)
- Vilar Lluch, S., Clutterbuck, D., Kranert, M., Smith, D., Nield, S. and Alwan, N. A. 2025. Being “resilient” and achieving “resilience”: From governmental discourses to the national research agenda in the contexts of food insecurity and cost of living. PLoS ONE 20(1), article number: e0316182. (10.1371/journal.pone.0316182)
- Vilar Lluch, S. 2024. The linguistic construal of extreme behaviour: Hyperactivity-impulsivity in family and teaching communities. Language, Context and Text: The Social Semiotics Forum 6(2), pp. 390-417. (10.1075/langct.00076.vil)
- Chałupnik, M., Mackenzie, J., Mullany, L. and Vilar Lluch, S. 2024. ‘Can women have it all?’ Transitions in media representations of Jacinda Ardern’s leadership and identity by a global newsroom. Critical Discourse Studies (10.1080/17405904.2024.2401984)
- Lepoutre, M., Vilar-Lluch, S., Borg, E. and Hansen, N. 2024. What is hate speech? The case for a corpus approach. Criminal Law and Philosophy 18(2), pp. 397–430. (10.1007/s11572-023-09675-7)
- Kotera, Y. et al. 2024. Cross-cultural comparison of Recovery College implementation between Japan and England: Corpus-based discourse analysis. International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction (10.1007/s11469-024-01356-3)
- Vilar-Lluch, S. 2024. Social understanding of inattention. Communication & Medicine 19(1), pp. 26-41. (10.1558/cam.22379)
- Vilar-Lluch, S. 2023. Representing behavioral pathology: the importance of modality in medical descriptions of conduct, ADHD as case study. Health Communication 38(13), pp. 3022-3030. (10.1080/10410236.2022.2129649)
- Vilar-Lluch, S. 2023. Understanding and appraising 'hate speech'. Journal of Language Aggression and Conflict 11(2), pp. 279-306. (10.1075/jlac.00082.vil)
- Vilar Lluch, S., McClaughlin, E., Knight, D., Adolphs, S. and Nichele, E. 2023. The language of vaccination campaigns during COVID-19. Medical Humanities 49(3), pp. 487-496. (10.1136/medhum-2022-012583)
- McClaughlin, E. et al. 2022. The reception of public health messages during the COVID-19 pandemic. Applied Corpus Linguistics 3(1), article number: 100037. (10.1016/j.acorp.2022.100037)
- Vilar Lluch, S. 2022. Redefining attitude for studying explicit and indirect evaluations of human behaviour. Functions of Language 29(2), pp. 199-225. (10.1075/fol.21022.vil)
- Vilar-Lluch, S. 2021. Review of Ibarretxe-Antuñano, Cadierno & Castañeda Castro (2019): lingüística cognitiva y español LE/L2. Review of Cognitive Linguistics 19(2), pp. 590-595. (10.1075/rcl.00096.vil)
Book sections
- Vilar Lluch, S. and Harvey, K. 2024. Language of dementia. In: Reference Module in Social Sciences. Elsevier, (10.1016/B978-0-323-95504-1.00273-8)
- Vilar Lluch, S., Kondo, K. and McClaughlin, E. 2024. Language of pandemic discourses. In: Reference Module in Social Sciences. Elsevier, (10.1016/B978-0-323-95504-1.00272-6)
- Vilar-Lluch, S. 2022. Social reaction to a new health threat: the perception of the Covid-19 health crisis by British and Spanish readerships. In: Musolff, A. et al. eds. Pandemic and Crisis Discourse: Communicating COVID-19 and Public Health Strategy. London: Bloomsbury Academic, pp. 185-206., (10.5040/9781350232730.ch-010)
Books
- Musolff, A. et al. eds. 2022. Pandemic and Crisis Discourse. Communicating COVID-19 and Public Health Strategy. [Pandemic and Crisis Discourse. Communicating COVID-19 and Public Health Strategy]. Bloomsbury Academic.
Monographs
- Adolphs, S. et al. 2023. Communicating health threats: Linguistic evidence for effective public health messaging during the Covid-19 pandemic. University of Nottingham.
Research
Areas of interest: health communication, discourse analysis, corpus linguistics, expression of evaluation and emotion, figurative language, systemic functional linguistics.
Health communication: ADHD discourses, communications around illness and recovery, communication of health risks and reception of health guidance, vaccination discourses, public and media dissemination of health information.
Funded projects:
- 2025-2026: Co-I (AHRC/UKRI) ‘Enhancing the value and wider benefit of research into Coronavirus Discourses: A Pan-London Immunisation Campaign’, PI Svenja Adolphs, Researcher Emma McClaughlin. [£78,872.80]
Research experience:
- Research Fellow (University of Nottingham, 2022-2024): Coronavirus Discourses, PI: Svenja Adolphs; Wild Swimming and Blue Spaces, PI: Svenja Adolphs
- Postdoctoral Research Associate (University of Reading, 2021-2022): Law and Corpus Linguistics, PI: Nat Hansen.
Teaching
I teach on discourse analysis and languages modules including Discourse and Social Interaction, Language Learning, Language and Gender, Public and Professional Discourse.
In previous appointments I have taught across a variety of linguistics modules (BA and MA levels) including Language and Feminism (UoN), Language and Society (UoN), Discourses of Health and Work (UoN), Language Gender and Sexuality (UoN), Research Methods: Corpus Linguistics (UoN), Studying Language (UoN), Essentials of English (UoN), Core Concepts in Discourse Analysis (UoN, online), Culture and Communication (UoN, online), Discourse Analysis and Language Teaching (Roehampton), Discourse and Pragmatics (Roehampton), Semantics (Roehampton), Philosophy of language (Roehampton), Language and Power (UEA), Language Culture and Society (MLC, King’s).
As a Spanish language teacher, I have taught across levels A1-C1 as part of BA programmes, language-for-all modules, short courses, and Spanish for specific purposes (business and medicine).
Biography
Academic positions
- Lecturer in language and linguistics, Cardiff University (2024 - present)
- Teaching Associate in Applied Linguistics, University of Nottingham (2022-2024)
- Research Fellow, University of Nottingham (2022-2024)
- Postdoctoral Research Assistant, University of Reading (2021-2022)
- Visiting Lecturer in linguistics, University of Roehampton (2021-2022)
- Spanish Language Teacher, King’s College London (Modern Language Centre) (2020-2021)
- Spanish Language Teacher, University of Edinburgh (2020-2021)
- Teaching Assistant in linguistics and Spanish language, University of East Anglia (2018-2021)
Education
- Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education, University of Nottingham (2024)
- MA in Spanish language teaching as a second language (Máster en didáctica del español como lengua extranjera), Universidad Antonio de Nebrija (2019-2021, part-time, distance learning)
- PhD in Linguistics, University of East Anglia (2016-2020) (funded by the faculty scholarship)
- MA in English Language and Applied Linguistics, University of Huddersfield (2014-2016, part-time, distance learning)
- BA in Philosophy, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (2008-2012)
Professional memberships
- Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA), 2024 - present
Committees and reviewing
Peer reviewer for academic journals including Discourse & Communication; Journal of Language Aggression and Conflict; Journal of Medical Humanities; Qualitative Health Communication; International Journal of Language and Culture; Review of Cognitive Linguistics; Revista de Llengua i Dret; Science Advances; Sociological Forum; Communication and the Public; Humanities and Social Sciences Communications.
Supervisions
- Health communication (e.g. communication around diagnoses, (mental health) recovery, lived experience, health risks, public health, media dissemination, identity construction)
- Expression of evaluation (e.g. in first person accounts, news media, institutional and public discourse)
- Metaphor (e.g. uses of lexical and multimodal metaphors as applied to the areas above)
- Discourse analysis
- Corpus linguistics
Current supervision
Yipei Kou
Past projects
In addition to students listed above, I am currently co-supervising:
Pamela Clinton Lloyd (University of Nottingham, Health Sciences), together with Yasuhiro Kotera and Svenja Adolphs
Contact Details
[email protected]
+44 29 2251 5022
John Percival Building, Room 3.34, Colum Drive, Cardiff, CF10 3EU
+44 29 2251 5022
John Percival Building, Room 3.34, Colum Drive, Cardiff, CF10 3EU
Research themes
Specialisms
- Applied linguistics
- Health Communication
- Systemic Functional Linguistics