Germanist Katrin Kleinschmidt-Schinke appointed

Prof. Dr. Katrin Kleinschmidt-Schinke has been made Professor of German Language Education at the Institute of German Studies, where she previously held the position of Junior Professor.

Kleinschmidt-Schinke studied German and biology for Gymnasium teaching at Oldenburg University. In 2017, she earned her doctorate at the University of Cologne with an empirical thesis on student directed speech used by teachers. Before coming to Oldenburg, she held a deputy professorship for applied linguistics at the Leuphana University Lüneburg.

Kleinschmidt-Schinke’s research looks at how teachers can best promote their students’ oral and written language skills. For example, in a project funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) she studies adaptive language behaviour – the phenomenon of teachers adapting their language in the classroom to their students’ developmental levels.