I am Associate Professor of German/Applied Linguistics at the University of Waterloo, in the Department of Germanic and Slavic Studies. I teach applied linguistics, conversation analysis, and German language courses at all levels, and I train language teachers.
My research interests are in conversation analysis and interactional linguistics. I explore how interaction is organized and how language, embodied conduct, and social action shape each another. This research sheds light on the relationship between the linguistic choices we make in real time and core aspects of human sociality: displaying knowledge, managing understanding and affect, and building relationships. A particular focus of my research is the spectrum of functions of 'little words' (response tokens, discourse markers, modal particles, address and reference terms) in different varieties of German and in cross-linguistic comparison.
I apply findings from research on spoken interaction to teaching/learning contexts, to inform the teaching and testing of interactional competence in second-language classrooms and to guide language teacher training.