Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Biography

Prof. Corinne (Cori) Crane, Director of the Basic Language Program, coordinates the first four semesters of German language instruction within the department and mentors new graduate student instructors.

After receiving a B.A. in German and government at Cornell University, Prof. Crane spent two years in Budapest, Hungary, where she taught English and German at a Hungarian public high school. There she developed a passion for teaching and decided to pursue a career in foreign language education. After earning an M.A. in German from the University of Pennsylvania, Prof. Crane went on to study applied linguistics within the German Department at Georgetown University. Her doctoral dissertation deals with evaluative and emotive language in personal letter writing of advanced L2 learners of German.

Prof. Crane’s research interests reflect her concern for the development of L2 learners’ literacy abilities and thus primarily center on questions of (advanced) L2 language use and the role of instruction in learning outcomes. Her research areas include L2 writing development, discourse analysis (especially systemic functional linguistics and appraisal theory), genre theory and its pedagogical applications, foreign language pedagogy, and curriculum development.

Within the Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures at the University of Illinois, Prof. Crane teaches both graduate and undergraduate classes. As the German language program coordinator, she supervises and mentors graduate student TAs. Each fall, she offers a graduate seminar (German 582) on the fundamentals of German language instruction within collegiate teaching environments.

For the 2009-2010 academic year, Prof. Crane won the Academic Professional Award in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. The award recognizes outstanding contributions to the mission of the winner’s home unit, the college, and the campus; the positive impact the winner has had on others, and his or her contributions to the field and profession.

Courses Taught

• German 101: Beginning German I
• German 102: Beginning German II
• German 103: Intermediate German I
• German 104: Intermediate German II: Austria (content-based course)
• German 212: Conversation and Composition II
• German 321: Business German
• German 331: Introduction to German Literature
• German 582: Theories and Methods of German Language Instruction
• German 588: Second Language Writing: Theory, Research and Pedagogy