Anna Rosen awarded State Teaching Prize

The lecturer in English linguistics and trained secondary school teacher, Dr. Anna Rosen, of the University of Freiburg's Department of English, has won the 2017 State Teaching Prize. The state of Baden-Württemberg's Ministry of Education, Research, and Art (MWK) presents the award every two years for outstanding teaching and educating. Rosen has received the 50 thousand euro prize for her seminar "Applying Linguistics in the Foreign Language Classroom," an elective course that she has been offering since the summer semester of 2014 and for which she has already been awarded the University of Freiburg's Teaching Prize.

Anna Rosen's seminar is directed at students well into their studies. It enables prospective English teachers to carry out their own research projects working with the genuine expressions of school-aged language learners. This allows the teachers in training to develop key skills for foreign language teaching with the help of the research-based learning. It also aids in building the bridge between academic education and practical relevance that is so often called for in university teacher education programs.

The students assess audio files – recordings of classes and interviews with students, as well as written texts, such as term papers or homework. Using the linguistic data gathered from four Freiburg secondary schools, the teachers in training investigate and explain the strengths and weaknesses of English learners, for example in terms of their grammar, pronunciation, or vocabulary. From this foundation, the university students are then able to develop strategies and methods with which to improve their evaluation of pupil language skills and provide constructive feedback. As they do this, the university students gain understanding of the complex processes that take place when learning a foreign language. They are also training their analytical and diagnostic skills at the same time. Through these activities, they are preparing themselves for well-considered, empirically-based evaluation of school pupils' language that they will encounter in their future careers.

More information on Anna Rosen

MWK press release on the State Teaching Prize

Magazine article in uni'wissen about Anna Rosen's teaching project