Profile
Abstract
Prof. Dr Katrin Wisniewski has been Gerhard-Helbig-Professor of German as a Foreign and Second Language at the Herder Institute of Leipzig University since 1 April 2023. After working at the Justus-Liebig-Universität in Gießen and the Otto-Friedrich-University in Bamberg, among other places, she researches and teaches applied linguistic topics in Leipzig. Her focus is on German grammar acquisition, learner corpus linguistics, language diagnostics, self-regulation, and language-related questions of educational success.
She is currently leading the externally funded project 'DAKODA' (Data Competencies in DaF/DaZ: Exploration of Language Technology Approaches to the Analysis of L2 Acquisitional Stages in Learner Corpora of German, 2022-2025, https://dakoda.org/).
She also directs the bi-national Master's programme 'German as a Foreign Language: Estudios interculturales de lengua, literatura y cultura alemanas' (Leipzig & Guadalajara/Mexico).
Professional career
- 01/2008 - 08/2010
Researcher at the Institute for Applied Linguistics at the European Academy (EURAC) in Bolzano, Italy - 04/2010 - 01/2015
Researcher at the Institute of Romance Studies at Dresden Technical University - since 02/2015
Researcher at the Herder Institute for German as a Foreign/Second Language at Leipzig University - 12/2020 - 11/2021
Temporary professorship (Vertretungsprofessur) at Justus Liebig University, Gießen. - 11/2021 - 03/2023
Professor of German linguistics and German as a Foreign Language, Otto-Friedrich-Universität, Bamberg
Education
- 10/1996 - 06/2004
Magistra artium in Romance Linguistics, Political Sciences and History, Dresden Technical University - 10/2006 - 04/2008
Certificate in German as a Foreign Language, Leipzig University - 01/2008 - 05/2013
Dissertation: "The validity of the Common European Framework of Reference descriptor scales. An empirical investigation of the fluency and vocabulary scales for German and Italian", Dresden Technical University
Katrin Wisniewski's research is situated at the interface of second language acquisition and learner corpus research, educational linguistics, and language assessment. Her work is methodological in nature. Recent activities include:
L2 acquisition research (with learner corpora)
- acquisition and use of grammatical aspects of L2 German
- empirical correlates of the CEFR levels in learner language
- learner corpus development (DISKO; MERLIN)
- learner corpus research with the aid of language technology approaches (DAKODA project, https://dakoda.org/, BMBF, 2022-2025)
Language assessment
- validity issues
- Common European Framework of Reference: scale validity, empirical correlates of CEFR levels
- development of the Dhoch3 module "Testing and assessing German as a Foreign Language (DAAD, 2023-2024) together with Prof. Dr. Gabriele Kniffka (Freiburg)
Language and academic success
- project lead of Sprache und Studienerfolg bei Bildungsausländer/-innen (Language and academic success of international students, SpraStu, 2017-2020, https://home.uni-leipzig.de/sprastu/en/home-2/)
- construction of MIKO (a multimodal, methodologically triangulated educational corpus), available at the Institut für deutsche Sprache (at the Archive for Spoken German)
Language-related self-regulation
- development of the scenario-based strategy questionnaire ScenEx
- mixed-methods-analyses of situated strategy use (in SpraStu project)
- DAKODA: Data literacy in German as a Foreign/Second Language: Exploring computational linguistic approaches to the analysis of German L2 developmental stagesWisniewski, KatrinDuration: 10/2022 – 09/2025Funded by: BMBF Bundesministerium für Bildung und ForschungInvolved organisational units of Leipzig University: Gerhard-Helbig-Professur für Deutsch als Fremd- und Zweitsprache
- Dhoch3 module "Assessing German as a Foreign Language"Wisniewski, KatrinDuration: 04/2023 – 12/2024Funded by: DAAD Deutscher Akademischer AustauschdienstInvolved organisational units of Leipzig University: Gerhard-Helbig-Professur für Deutsch als Fremd- und Zweitsprache
- Wisniewski, K.SLA developmental stages in the CEFR-related learner corpus MERLIN. Inversion and verb-end structures in German A2 and B1 learner textsInternational Journal of Learner Corpus Research. 2020. 6 (1). pp. 1–37.
- Wisniewski, K.; Ide, R.; Schwendemann, M.Zum Einsatz des DSD an Schulen in Deutschland: Ein ProblemaufrissZeitschrift für interkulturellen Fremdsprachenunterricht. 2020. 25 (2).
- Wisniewski, K.; Möhring, J.; Lenhard, W.; Seeger, J.Zum Zusammenhang sprachlicher Kompetenzen mit dem Studienerfolg von Bildungsausländer/-innen im ersten StudiensemesterIn: Drackert, A.; Mainzer-Murrenhoff, M.; Soltyska, A.; Timukova, A. (Eds.)Testen bildungssprachlicher Kompetenzen und akademischer Sprachkompetenzen – Zugänge für Schule und Hochschule. Frankfurt a.M.: Peter Lang. 2020. pp. 279–319.
- Wisniewski, K.Zur Skalierung von Strategien im Gemeinsamen europäischen Referenzrahmen: Eine kritische AuseinandersetzungDeutsch als Fremdsprache. 2019. pp. 142–151.
- Wisniewski, K.Mitschreiben in Vorlesungen. Ein interdisziplinärer Forschungsüberblick mit Fokus Deutsch als L2Wissenschaftssprache(n) kontrastiv. Bulletin suisse de linguistique appliquée. 2019. pp. 153–170.
- Linguistik des Deutschen als FremdspracheGermanistische Institutspartnerschaft, gemeinsames Forschungsprojekt, gemeinsamer MasterstudiengangStart Date of Collaboration: 01/07/2017External participating organisations: Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen (Germany); Universität Hanoi (Hanoi)Involved persons: Fandrych, Christian; Le, Tuyet Nga; Wisniewski, Katrin
- Simposio InternacionalMaestría interinstitucional Deutsch als Fremdsprache / Estudios interculturales de lengua, literatura y cultura alemanas, Guadalajara, MexicoGerhard-Helbig-Professur für Deutsch als Fremd- und ZweitspracheEvent Organiser: Tschirner, Erwin; Díaz, Olivia; Wisniewski, Katrin27/09/2018 – 28/09/2018
- SymposiumSchlüssel zum Bildungserfolg: Sprachliche Kompetenzen fördern und bewertenGerhard-Helbig-Professur für Deutsch als Fremd- und Zweitsprache; SprachenzentrumEvent Organiser: Bordag, Denisa; Bärenfänger, Olaf; Wisniewski, Katrin; Möhring, Jupp; Parker, Maria05/11/2016
- FestaktFestakt anlässlich des 60. Geburtstags von Prof. Dr. Erwin TschirnerGerhard-Helbig-Professur für Deutsch als Fremd- und Zweitsprache; SprachenzentrumEvent Organiser: Bordag, Denisa; Bärenfänger, Olaf; Wisniewski, Katrin; Möhring, Jupp; Parker, Maria04/11/2016