Research Interests and Specialties
Second language acquisition (SLA) and pedagogy
- the use of a portfolio to customize SLA, to define and document progress
- the development of writing skills in the second language
- metaphors of language learning
- Issues of identity for SL learners
- learner motivation
- the role of technologies
- language-learning for specific purposes
Research Projects
I have conducted research into second language acquisition, in particular the development of writing skills in the second language, the metaphors of language learning and the use of a portfolio for language learning. This research and my language teaching have dovetailed with my past work as academic coordinator of York’s Multimedia Language Centre. Most recently, I have been involved with language colleagues in an exploration of service learning in the Department of French Studies and in an initiative to offer a third-year language course with an experience abroad (e.g. in France) as a component of the course.
Publications
Beelen-Woody, Diane. (2006). L’apprenant du français langue seconde face aux outils et ressources de l’Internet: le cas de l’étudiant au niveau avancé dans le contexte universitaire, La Revue de l’AQEFLS (Revue de l’Association québécoise de l’enseignement du français langue seconde), vol. 26, no. 1, 9-23, special issue, Internet et multimédia en classe de français langue seconde. Bilans et perspectives edited by Marilyn Lambert-Drache.
Beelen-Woody, Diane. (2004). Language Program Articulation from the Perspective of the Learner: Constructing Coherence through the Use of a Language-Learning Portfolio, in Language Program Articulation: Developing a Theoretical Foundation, edited by Cathy Barrette and Kate Paesani, Heinle and Heinle, 131-148.
Beelen-Woody, Diane. (2003) An Academic Coordinator’s Dream for the Language Lab: Ideals of Pedagogical /Technological Literacy in L2 Instructors.? The IALLT Journal of Language Learning Technologies (International Association for Language Learning Technology), 35, 2: 31-64.
Beelen-Woody, Diane. (2000). Language for Special Purposes: Rewards and Frustrations.? In Perspectives in Foreign Language Teaching: Proceedings of the 23rd Annual Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages and Literatures, Youngstown, Ohio: Youngstown State Press, 77-87.
