Email:pdpruim@calvin.edu

B.A. with Honors Calvin College, 1988
M.A. with Distinction in Modern German Literature, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1989
Ph.D. in German (German-English Applied Linguistics), University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1995

Background
After completing the first Ph.D. granted in Applied German-English Linguistics at the University of Wisconsin–Madison’s German Department, I ventured off for a noble if not lucrative three years in the Ivy Leagues at Brown University. I have taught and published in a diverse group of settings and on an eclectic or well-rounded set of topics. Judge for yourself below. Currently I’m up to my eyeballs in the Auf geht’s! Project and am spearheading the National AATG (American Association of Teachers of German) Task Force on cultural knowledge and intercultural competence.

The Auf geht’s! Project
What? Auf geht’s! is a content-driven, complete curriculum for Beginning German Culture and Language which adopts an intercultural approach to language teaching and which remodels FL learning in the university context by capitalizing on the readily available computer technologies while employing off-computer time and the class room setting to their best advantages.

How? In addition to undying enthusiasm and hard work, the project is funded by an Ameritech start-up grant and a half million dollar FIPSE grant.

Who? The Auf geht’s! team include: Pennylyn Dykstra-Pruim, Lee Forester (Hope College), David Antoniuk (Live Oak Media), Anne Green (Carnegie Mellon University) and consultant Hartmut Rastalsky (University of Michigan). For more information visit: www.aufgehts.com

Research Interests
Multi-media curriculum and materials development

Second language acquisition processes from the learner’s perspective

Cognitive processing, media interface and language learning

Faculty/teacher development, training and evaluation

Teaching Experience
German language, culture and undergraduate literature (U.Wisconsin-Madison, Hope College, Calvin College, Brown University)

Second language acquisition, applied linguistics, foreign language pedagogy (Brown University Graduate and undergraduate programs, Calvin Graduate education program)

Introductory German and/or English phonetics, contrastive grammar (Brown University)

Introductory Linguistics (Brown University)

English as a Second Language (ESL) (Wust Summer Camp for English Language and Theater)

Kinder lernen Deutsch, Elementary German language education (Calvin Summer Language Camps, Wust Summer Language Camp)

Publications
Article: “Learning a Complex Morphology: L2 Acquisition of German Pluralization.” Unterrichtspraxis: Teaching German, accepted for publication, forthcoming

Article: “Speaking, Writing and Explicit-rule Knowledge: Toward an Understanding of How They Interrelate.” Foreign Language Annals, Spring 2003.

Essay: “Redefining Success.” Windhover, January 2002

Book/Materials Testbank for Deutsch, na klar! 3rd edition, with Jennifer Redmann. McGraw-Hill, 1999

Article: “Independent Reading for Beginners: Using Children’s Books in a Reading Lab.” Unterrichtspraxis: Teaching German, Fall 1998.

Article: “Our Ethical Commitments to the Graduate Students WE tRain: A Modest and a Not-so-modest Proposal.” MLA-ADFL Bulletin, Spring 1998.

Video: “Second Language Teaching in an American University. A Video for Instructors from Abroad.” [Directed and produced video funded by the Ivy League Consortium for Language Teaching and Learning, the Center for Language Studies at Brown University and the Language Resource Center of Brown University. Available from the Center for Language Studies, Brown University] 1997.

Article: “Integrating a Series of Oral Assessments: Quick, Low-stress Options for the Idealist.” Unterrichtspraxis: Teaching German, Spring 1997.

Book/Materials: Testbank for Deutsch, na klar! 2nd edition,, with Jennifer Redmann. McGraw-Hill, 1995.

For a glimpse into life outside the academy, check out her essay in the August 2003 issue of The Banner.