As she grew in her L2 proficiency through coursework and work/study abroad, she was introduced to the field of sociolinguistics. She still finds it fascinating that we can measure and describe the patterns of factors, conscious and subconscious, that shape the way we communicate in our native and additional languages. This fascination has led her to pursue research at the intersection of second language acquisition and sociolinguistics.

Erin’s research looks at the acquisition of stylistic (sometimes called ‘register’) variation in L2 French. She is interested in how adult learners of French come to associate linguistic forms with formal and informal situations, and how they then perceive and produce them in context. Her dissertation examines the effects of explicit instruction on the development of this type of stylistic competence.

Her 2021 article in the “Focus on the Classroom” section of the French Review promotes the incorporation of target-language media, specifically television series, in language courses with the goal of building stylistic proficiency. It also provides teaching materials and guidance for implementing such a unit using the contemporary television series Dix pour cent. This publication was inspired by the curricular development she undertook in 2020-2021 for FRIT’s F316 (Conversational Practice) course, where students watched the series and used its plot, themes, and dialogue as a basis for communicative oral practice.

So far, Erin has taught each of the courses in the French Basic Language Sequence (from F100 to F250), as well as some graduate courses: Elementary French for Graduate Students and Methods of College French Teaching. She is also responsible for organizing the orientation week for the new French instructors joining our department and for overseeing their teaching. In addition to teaching and directing the French Language Program, Erin serves as the French liaison for IU’s Advance College Project: she oversees the second-year French curriculum as it is taught by high school instructors at various sites across the state of Indiana.

Erin has ambitious plans and creative ideas for transforming the French Language Program at IU. In the coming semesters, she plans to develop a new variant of our FRIT-F115 accelerated first-year French course to better serve our large population of students from the Jacobs School of Music. This new “French Through Music” course will target the same foundation of core skills with an emphasis on pronunciation and themes related to musical genres, history, and performance. In the coming years, she is also looking forward to the possibility of proposing a French course for medical purposes.

Erin wears many hats and carries different responsibilities in our department, but what she loves the most about her work at IU is working with new and experienced language instructors. Erin embodies the most important trait of an excellent language instructor: she never stops learning new things and improving her teaching. In her words, “it is always gratifying to share in the growth opportunities and successes of beginner instructors. I also love completing classroom observations, because I continue to learn new teaching strategies and techniques from Associate Instructors from diverse backgrounds.”

Outside of the department, she enjoys spending time with her husband, Paul and their dog, Dooley. They are big fans of University of Georgia football (we have been doing our best to convert her to an IU football fan, but it doesn’t seem to be working) and try to attend at least one game each year. She also enjoys learning new languages for fun and as a result, getting to enjoy film, TV, and radio from different countries around the world.