Dr. Céline Rose is the recipient of this year’s ACTFL Emma Marie Birkmaier Award for Doctoral Dissertation Research in Foreign Language Education.
Dr. Céline Rose, assistant professor of French in the Department of French and Italian, is the 2019 recipient of the ACTFL Emma Marie Birkmaier Award for Doctoral Dissertation Research in Foreign Language Education. Each year, the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) recognizes an author of doctoral dissertation research in foreign language education who makes significant improvements to the field.
Rose’s dissertation “Maximizing Communication for Learning in an Upper-Division Literature and Culture Course” addresses a lack of speaking opportunities in foreign language literature courses. She proposes a solution to address the “language-literature” divide by incorporating teacher-assigned speaking tasks into curriculum to give students the opportunity to converse in their target language.
Rose joins an exclusive group of dedicated professionals from all over the world as the 34th recipient of the award. She was nominated by her dissertation advisor Dr. Judith Liskin-Gasparro of the University of Iowa, who won the same award in 1994 and was recognized at this year’s ACTFL conference on November 22–24 in Washington D.C.
“I hope that my research will inspire language and literature professors so they can work together to bridge the divide,” Rose commented. “Students should keep working on their proficiency while they are learning about culture and literature. Language and literature paired together can improve language skills.”
—Tori Hamilton (Editing & Publishing, ‘20)
