Ph.D. German (Applied Linguistics) and Language Science, The Pennsylvania State University, 2020
Ph.D. Spanish Linguistics, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, 2015
M.A. Spanish Linguistics, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, 2010
My teaching style is informed by my own experiences in language learning. I have been the most successful in language learning, when my teachers employed a teaching style that combined content-based instruction with enthusiasm, interactive work and the teacher’s visible interest in my progress. I strive to create a classroom that furthers students’ motivation to learn, promotes loss of anxiety to speak (in other languages), and provides space for collaborative learning. Throughout the years, I have implemented this style in different formats (face-to-face, hybrid, and online), different levels of German (from beginner to advanced), as well as in English-taught classes outside the German Department.
My research interests lie in everything related to multilingualism – be it language outcomes, developmental processes, speaker identity, or the effects of society on language maintenance and change. For my dissertation research, I specialized in the language heritage of a Mennonite community in Kansas, and the dynamics of change in the social, cultural, and linguistic settings. I have published my research in different outlets, like book chapters, conference proceedings, or the journals Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism and Frontiers Psychology, and presented at different venues like Germanic Linguistics Annual Conference (GLAC), Workshop on the Immigrant Languages in the Americas (WILA), Deutsche Gesellschaft für Sprachwissenschaft (DGfS), Generative Approaches to Language Acquisition (GALA), or the International Symposium on Bilingualism (ISB).