Applied Linguistics Scholars Among Top 2-Percent of Scientists Worldwide

Four professors from the Department of Linguistics, Languages, and Cultures at Michigan State University are among the top 2% of scientists in the world, according to Stanford University’s latest World’s Top 2% Scientists list, which identifies scholars who are top-cited in their respective fields.

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Faculty Invited to Teach at International Winter School for Language Testing Research

Assistant Professor Koen Van Gorp and Professor Paula Winke from the Department of Linguistics, Languages, and Cultures (LiLaC) at Michigan State University were two of five international professors invited by the European Association of Language Testing and Assessment and the Language Testing Research Group Innsbruck to teach at a Winter School for language testing research that was held in the…

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Doctoral Candidate Receives AAAL Graduate Student Award

J. Dylan Burton, a doctoral candidate in the Second Language Studies (SLS) Ph.D. program at Michigan State University, received a 2023 Graduate Student Award from the American Association for Applied Linguistics (AAAL). Each year, this merit-based award recognizes 20 students from across the country based on the quality of a written proposal for a poster or a paper.  Burton’s primary research interests center around…

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Paula Winke Named Inaugural Arts & Letters Professor

Paula Winke, Professor in the Department of Linguistics, Languages, and Cultures (LiLaC) at Michigan State University, recently was named the inaugural Arts & Letters Professor recognizing her outstanding intellectual leadership and excellence in teaching. “It is a true honor to be the inaugural Arts & Letters Professor in the College of Arts & Letters,” Winke said. “This award is meaningful…

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MSU Faculty Member and Alum Win National Foreign Language Education Award

The highest national research award for foreign language education recently was awarded to the team of Xiaowan Zhang, MSU Ph.D. alumna in Second Language Studies; Paula Winke, Professor in MSU’s Department of Linguistics, Languages, and Cultures; and Shaunna Clark, Associate Professor at Texas A&M University, for their research paper, “Background Characteristics and Oral Proficiency Development Over Time in Lower-Division College…

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Doctoral Graduate Raises the Bar for African Language Instruction

Although specific to African languages, Magdalyne “Maggie” Oguti Akiding’s approach to second language instruction could be adapted to teach most any foreign language and is raising the bar for African language instruction in the United States with a fast-paced, communicatively oriented method that draws from culture, current events, and history. A native of Kenya, Akiding graduates this month with a…

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Raising Proficiency in Critical-Need Languages

For decades, Spanish, French, and German have dominated the landscape of foreign language instruction in most schools, colleges, and universities in the United States. However, as the need grows for proficiency in critical-need languages, Michigan State University is inviting teachers of two non-Western European languages to explore best practices through a synchronous online summer workshop. The Department of Linguistics and…

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Putting Tests to the Test: Assessing High-Stakes Exams for Second Language Learners

While earning undergraduate degrees in French and Philosophy, Paula Winke was inspired to blend her interests in language learning, research, and social justice. Today, she’s an applied linguist, researching the ethics and effectiveness of foreign language testing as Professor in the Department of Linguistics and Germanic, Slavic, Asian, and African Languages and Director of the Second Language Studies Program Winke works in foreign language…

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Paula Winke Named Director of Second Language Studies

Paula Winke, Professor in the Department of Linguistics and Germanic, Slavic, Asian, and African Languages, has been appointed Director of the Second Language Studies Program in the College of Arts & Letters, effective August 16, 2020, through August 15, 2024.   The Second Language Studies (SLS) Program is an interdisciplinary research and pedagogy program whose members investigate the acquisition and teaching…

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LAE Podcast Hosts Associate Professor of Linguistics Paula Winke

Episode two of the Liberal Arts Endeavor Podcast is out! Our host, Dean Christopher P. Long, spoke with Associate Professor of Linguistics Paula Winke in her Wells Hall office about foreign and second language testing, which is Winke's primary area of research. Winke, who is a faculty member in the Department of Linguistics and Germanic, Slavic, Asian, and African Languages, investigates the content and construct validity…

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