Facilitator Bios

Susan Strauss is Associate Professor of Applied Linguistics, Asian Studies, Education, Linguistics in the Department of Applied Linguistics at Penn State. Her research areas are in L2 writing, discourse analysis in a variety of languages, including Korean. Dr. Strauss is co-author of the book Discourse Analysis: Putting our worlds into words (Routledge, 2014).

Gabriela Appel is a Associate Research Professor in the Department of Applied Linguistics at Penn State and the Associate Director of CALPER. She has been teaching German as a foreign language for many years and has been involved in teacher professional development for two decades. Dr. Appel conducts in-service and CALPER seminars and workshops mainly on vocabulary learning, portfolio assessment, including the European Language Portfolio, and project work.

Mary Toulouse is the Director of the Foreign Languages and Literatures Resource Center at Lafayette College in Easton, PA. Since 2007, she has worked closely with colleagues to incorporate national standards and guidelines (ACTFL 5 C’s, IPA’s, and AACU VALUE rubrics) and to develop alternative assessment practices by using digital tools—an electronic portfolio and badge network— as a compliment to traditional testing and evaluations of student achievements. Mary Toulouse is the recipient of the 2017 ACTFL/Cengage Learning Faculty Development Programs Award for Excellence in Foreign Language Instruction Using Technology with IALLT (Postsecondary).

Shijuan Liu is Associate Professor of Chinese in the Department of Foreign Languages at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Liu’s current research interests focus on computer-assisted language learning, Chinese language pedagogy and assessment, and the acquisition of Chinese characters by non-heritage learners and younger heritage learners. Dr. Liu’s scholarly work has appeared as peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters. She is on the editorial board of several journals and serves as the column editor for the Journal of Technology and Chinese Language Teaching.

Jennifer Eddy is a tenured Assistant Professor of World Language Education in the Department of Secondary Education and Youth Services (SEYS) at Queens College of the City University of New York. Her research focuses on performance assessment for transfer and intercultural competence in articulated curriculum design. She is the project director for the New York State Department of Education World Language Professional Development Initiative. Dr. Eddy is author of Sonidos, Sabores, Y Palabras (2006, Heinle/Cengage), the first book using songs and lyrics as culturally authentic material for performance assessment within a backward design framework.

Kevin McManus is Gil Watz Early Career Professor in Language and Linguistics in the Department of Applied Linguistics at Penn State. His research and teaching interests are in second language learning and teaching, especially classroom learning, particularly in language awareness, a core focus of his British Academy project that investigated the learning benefits of raising learners’ awareness about first and second language properties. Dr. McManus also investigates language learning during study abroad and the impact of learners’ social networks and language engagement on development and is co-author of the book Anglophone students abroad: Identity, social relationships and language learning (Routledge, 2017).

 

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