Overview
Grit Matthias joined the Department of German Studies in 2008, after completing her degree in German as Foreign Language, American and Romance Studies at the Friedrich-Schiller University in Jena, Germany. Her research and teaching interests include interactive use of the Internet in language teaching, cultural communication, foreign language acquisition and teaching, and language competencies for life long learners. Every semester her students work collaboratively via synchronous Computer Mediated Communication with students in Germany. She is the German House Fellow of the German Language House, and the Faculty Advisor of the German Club, and the Pons Babela Cross-Cultural Exchange Forum. She is also a Certified Tester for exams by the Goethe-Institut.
Office Hours:
W 12:30-1:30, F 9:00-10:00, or by appointment
Research Focus
Publications
Selected Presentations
- “How to teach intercultural communication without talking about two cultures”, New Directions in Telecollaborative Research and Practice: The Second Conference on Telecollaboration in University Education, Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland, April 2016.
- “Media Literacy, Explained by Students for Students“, Digital Literacies In and Beyond the L2 Classroom, a hybrid symposium on research and practice, Center for Educational Resources in Culture, Language, and Literacy (CERCLL), University of Arizona, October 2014.
- “Reevaluating the “us and them” Paradigm”, with Andreea Mascan, The Chicago Language Symposium 2014, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, April 2014.
- "Me, My-self and Ger-many", Northeast Association for Language Learning Technology (NEALLT) Conference, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, April 2013.
- "Our Definition of Culture - An Intercultural Project between German and American Students using Synchronous Computer Mediated Communication to Produce Digital Videos", Northeast Association for Language Learning Technology (NEALLT) Conference, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, April 2011.
- Panel "Encouraging Student-Centered Learning with Blogs“, with Tarleton Gillespie, Teaching with Technology Series, in collaboration with Faculty Support Services (CIT), Cornell University, April 2010.
- "Blogs als e-Portfolios", ACTFL 2009 Annual Convention and World Languages Expo, sponsored by Computer Assisted Learning Instruction Consortium (CALICO), San Diego, November 2009.
- "Our Generation – An Intercultural Project with American and German Students Using Computer Mediated Communication", NEALLT/NERALLT Joint Conference, Yale University, October 2009.
- "German Life Style 2.0: Web 2.0-Kultur und Medienkompetenz im DaF-Unterricht”, XIV. Internationale Tagung der Deutschlehrerinnen und Deutschlehrer (IDT), Jena, Germany, August 2009.
- "Generation - an Intercultural Student Project”, Spring Language Resource Center (LRC) Workshop, Cornell, Ithaca, NY, May 2009.
- "Political Subcultures: Short Films from East Germany and West Berlin, 1978 - 1981”, Got Art? Intersections of Art and Polictics in German Culture, DAAD Weekend, Cornell University, Ithacan, NY, September 2008.
- "Podcasts im Fremdsprachenunterricht” (Podcasts in Second Language Education), Bundeskongress Gesamtverband Moderne Fremdsprachen (GMF), Leipzig, Germany, March 2008.
