Paula Winke, Associate Professor in the Second Language Studies Program, has been named Co-Editor of the journal Language Testing, effective January 1, 2019. This marks the fourth major editorship position to which faculty in MSU’s Second Language Studies Program recently have been named.

“This is a true honor and a great responsibility for me within the field of foreign and second language assessment,” Winke said. “The journal Language Testing has a long tradition of innovation in international research on language assessment, and it is the flagship journal for a large, robust, and growing field.” 

Winke’s Co-Editor will be Luke Harding, Senior Lecturer at Lancaster University in the UK.

As part of the five-year co-editorship, Winke will advise and mentor an editorial graduate-research assistant, who will assist in editing duties and will participate in a College of Arts & Letters editorial assistant program that will include internship work and mentoring through the Michigan State University Press.

This is a true honor and a great responsibility for me within the field of foreign and second language assessment.

DR. PAULA WINKE 

“It is exciting that the Editorial GA for the journal Language Testing will be part of a College of Arts & Letters cohort of CAL Editorial GAs,” Winke said. “The financial support from both the College of Arts & Letters and the journals, and the mentoring and work experience they will receive, will benefit them in the job market and beyond.”

Winke has been a faculty member of the Second Language Studies and the Master of Arts in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (MATESOL) Program in the Department of Linguistics and Germanic, Slavic, Asian, and African Languages at Michigan State University since August 2005.

She was the Director of the Master of Arts in Foreign Language Teaching Program from fall 2014 through spring 2016 and served on Educational Testing Service’s Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) Committee of Examiners for four years (2014-2018). As a committee member, she oversaw proposed changes to the TOEFL and helped manage and advise Educational Testing Service’s external TOEFL research program.

Winke’s primary area of research is second and foreign language assessment methods, particularly in relation to foreign and second language program use. Currently, she is a co-PI with Susan Gass, University Distinguished Professor in MSU’s Second Language Studies Program, on a $1.2 million Flagship Proficiency Grant from the National Security Education Program. That four-year grant ends in December 2018.

It is exciting that the Editorial GA for the journal Language Testing will be part of a College of Arts & Letters cohort of CAL Editorial GAs.

Winke received a B.A. in French and Philosophy from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, an M.A. in Linguistics from the University of Minnesota, and a Ph.D. from Georgetown University in Washington, DC.

Language Testing is an international peer-reviewed academic journal published by SAGE, London. It publishes original research on language testing and assessment, and promotes methodological innovation and the practical improvement of the educational measurement of foreign and second languages. In addition, the journal publishes research on policy issues, including the use of language tests and assessments for high-stakes decision making in fields as diverse as education, employment, and international mobility.

Besides Winke’s editorship with Language Testing, the other three editorships held by faculty in MSU’s Second Language Studies Program include:

• The Modern Language Journal, edited at the associate level by Shawn Loewen, Professor and Interim Director of the Second Language Studies Program.
• Studies in Second Language Acquisition, edited by Susan Gass, University Distinguished Professor in the Second Language Studies Program.
• TESOL Quarterly, co-edited by Professor Charlene Polio and Assistant Professor Peter De Costa, both in the Department of Linguistics and Germanic, Slavic, Asian, and African Languages. 

“I don’t think any other program in the United States or elsewhere comes close to this level of disciplinary leadership,” Gass said.

The Second Language Studies Ph.D. Program at Michigan State University provides students with a firm foundation in the fields of second language acquisition, applied linguistics, and foreign language studies. It is for researchers and teacher-researchers interested in second language acquisition, applied linguistics, bilingualism, sociolinguistics, psycholinguistics, pragmatics, and language assessment.