PAULA M. WINKE
I am an associate professor at Michigan State University and am part of the core faculty within the Second Language Studies Ph.D. Program, the Master of Arts in TESOL Program, and the Master of Arts in Foreign Language Teaching (MAFLT) Program. I am also the immediate past President of the Midwest Association of Language Testers (MwALT).
My primary area of research is second and foreign language testing, though I research other issues in second language acquisition (SLA). As an applied linguist, I investigate language problems or issues (especially those tied to language assessment), and then I try to solve them, or at least I try to suggest ways in which they can be solved. Most of my work is collaborative in nature because the issues are big, and, well, it takes a team.
Right now I am working on grant-funded assessment projects (through the Language Proficiency Flagship and the National Security Education Program: see our website here) and a book on foreign and second-language placement testing. I am currently a member of the TOEFL Committee of Examiners (serving a 4-year term) and am the Chair of the TOEFL Research Subcommittee at Educational Testing Service (ETS). I am also a co-director (with Drs. Aline Godfroid and Susan Gass) of the Second Language Studies Eye-tracking lab, where we conduct amazingly fun and interesting research using a Tobii TX300 and an EyeLink 1000. I just finished a 3-year term reviewing Fulbright English Language Teaching Assistant applications, and I will miss that work!
You will find me mostly in my office, writing. If I am not there, I might be outside running (my mental escape). There are some really nice, tree-lined paths along the Red Cedar River that runs through campus… Otherwise, I am with my two elementary-school-aged daughters and my husband. You might see us out and about doing things in East Lansing, Michigan!