This article examines the intersection of contingent faculty labor and institutional diversity on the student and faculty level of U.S. German Studies. Sara Ahmed's notion of "diversity as phenomenology" (2012, p. 173) provides a conceptual framework to show that active diversity work in the German classroom has a feedback effect and…

Aimed at Ph.D. programs in German, this article offers a broad framework to discuss the urgent issues facing our programs to stem the tide of (possible or even likely) disinvestment in German in times of fiscal hardship. Many conversations on suitable reforms tend to be held separately by different stakeholders -- teaching-focused faculty or…

Globalizing the curriculum in small German programs with a single faculty member consists of different considerations than in larger programs with more faculty and students. In this dialogue, the faculty members in two such programs discuss what globalizing German Studies means within the context of their small programs and the need to maintain a…

In this conversation, two U.S.-trained German language and culture educators discuss their approaches to intercultural communicative competence (ICC). Working in different educational settings -- in a German and Global Studies program at a public university in the U.S., and at the Institute for Intercultural Communication of a German university…

Graduate education in the humanities struggles with weighty traditions, constrained (fiscal) resources, and a legacy of elitism and cultural homogeneity. As the makeup of graduate students becomes ever more diverse in terms of income, ethnicity, sexuality, citizenship, and disability, graduate programs are working through the challenges and…

Both of the participants in this dialogue are professors of German, and both were involved in recent efforts to develop Global Studies programs at their institutions. While one teaches at a small, private, liberal arts college and the other at a large, urban, public research university, both participated in these projects with the pragmatic desire…

In fall 2016, a group of scholars gathered at the 40th German Studies Association convention in San Diego, CA, in a space called the Eaton Room, for a seminar on multilingualism in German Studies. After three days sharing this space of dialogue, members returned home to their various teaching and research settings and, reflecting further on…

Although abundant research studies explore team teaching and co-teaching, research is lacking on apprentice teaching with undergraduates, especially in U.S. world language classes. This article presents a practical apprentice teaching model for teaching beginning German with undergraduate students. The model was successful because the professor…

Language testing is an integral part of teaching and learning, yet most language faculty do not receive adequate training for developing tests (Taylor, [Taylor, L., 2009]). Most have advanced degrees in literary and cultural studies in the target language but often have insufficient training in pedagogy and assessment. This shortcoming is alarming…

This paper is a study of a method for teaching German gender and plural assignment developed by the late Donald Steinmetz. My primary source for classroom material was the unpublished handbook for students that Steinmetz co-authored with Donald Nelson, The Joy of Gender: A Student Handbook made available to me by his son, Erik Steinmetz. In the…

In her recently published book "The Multilingual Subject: What foreign language learners say about their experience and why it matters", UC Berkeley applied-linguist Claire Kramsch approaches language learning from a new, visionary perspective. Foregrounding the interplay of cultural aspects in language learning, Kramsch understands…

This article identifies recent indicators of the state of German Studies in the United States with special attention to postsecondary enrollments in German. It additionally reviews challenges to the postsecondary teaching of German as they manifest themselves both locally and nationally, including the positioning of German Studies in the life of…