Department ofGermanic and Slavic Languages and Literatures

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Katherine Kerschen

Katherine Kerschen

PHD, GERMAN AND LINGUISTICS, 2022
Lecturer and Pedagogy Specialist, Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures, Washington University in St. Louis

Websites:

Biography:

Katherine Kerschen is a Lecturer and Pedagogy Specialist in the Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures at Washington University in St Louis. Her research focuses on second language learners’ lexical knowledge and the process of vocabulary acquisition in a second language, and also on the impact of instructional methods on adult second language acquisition, generally. Her dissertation research investigated the impact of semantic feature-focused and retrieval-based training activities on intermediate German learners’ productive vocabulary knowledge. She has also published on innovative pedagogical methods such as project-based learning and social justice pedagogy. While at PSU, she not only had the chance to develop research collaborations across various disciplines of language science, but also gained additional professional skills through working as an assistant in the Center for Language Science, mentoring undergraduate RAs, and designing courses. She puts these skills to use in her current position to train graduate student teaching assistants and work on curriculum development focused on antiracist, equitable, and inclusive approaches in the second language classroom.