Innovation in Language Learning

Edition 17

Speaker Profile

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Serafima Gettys

Institution: Lewis University

Address: 6412 Hidden River Circle

Postal Code: 60586

Country: United States

Dr. Serafima Gettys is the Director of the Foreign Language Program at Lewis University, Illinois, USA

Serafima Gettys was born and educated in Russia, at that time still the USSR. She received her PhD from A.I. Herzen University of Education in 1980 in Second Language Acquisition and taught English, American Area Studies, and Foreign Language Methodology at the Department of Foreign Languages at the same institution to future teachers. In 1990 she and her family moved to USA. From 1990 till 2004, Serafima taught Russian, Russian Methodology courses and Russian Culture courses at Stanford University and University of California at Berkeley. In 2004 she moved to Illinois to become the director of the Lewis University new Foreign Language Program which currently offers instruction in such traditional languages as Spanish, French, German, and Italian and such less commonly taught languages as Chinese, Russian, Japanese, Arabic, and Polish. At Lewis University Serafima teaches Russian at all levels in both on-line and face-face-formats. .

Serafima is an expert in Second Language Acquisition and Education in particular in such areas as teaching speaking and reading and has more than 30 published articles and books. She also developed and coordinates Spanish Language and Culture major and minors in Chinese and East-European languages. One of Serafima’s major professional accomplishments is the STARATALK federal grant with which she has been awarded since 2009 which provides funds for instruction in such critical languages as Chinese, Russian, and Arabic for local high school students and university undergraduates. She is currently working on the development of Usage-Based instruction – an innovative approach to teaching students to orally communicate in a foreign language

Major publications:
Russian for Dummies” (co-authored with Andy Kaufman and Nina Weide), Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 2006
Russian for Dummies, Wiley Publishing Inc., 2nd edition, 2012, co-authored with Andy Kaufman, translated into Polish, Spanish, and Dutch
English Reader for Beginners. Moscow: Prosveshenie Publishers, 1991. (edited by B. A. Lapidus, co-authored with N. V. Bagramova and G. S. Chernyshova), pp. 142.
Translating from English into Russian: Reference Grammar for Students of Russian. Lanham: University Press of America, 1988, pp. 456.
Learning to Teach Russian: Effective Classroom Techniques. A guide-book for beginning teachers. Berkeley: Berkeley Slavic Specialties, 1998, pp. 189.
“Usage-Based Instruction: Enhancing Interpersonal Communication in Foreign Languages (2014). In Joan E. Aitken(Ed), Communication Technology for Second Language Acquisition and Cultural Learning (pp. 412-433), Hershey, PA: IGI Global.
“Common Grammatical Difficulties Encountered in Reading Foreign Language Texts”. Teaching Reading in Teacher Training Colleges and Universities, Leningrad: A.I. Hetzen State Pedagogical University Press, 1980, pp. 66-72, in Russian.
“Computers in Teaching Foreign Languages.” Functional-Content Approach to Teaching Foreign Languages at Teacher-Training Colleges, Leningrad: A. I. Hertzen State Pedagogical University Press, Leningrad, 1986, pp.115-125, co-authored with Piotrovskaya, K.G., in Russian.
“Automatic System of Error Detection.” Proc. of the conference Computers in Teaching and Learning, Cheliabinsk: Chelabinsk Politechnical University Press, 1987, in Russian.
“Common Difficulties Encountered by Students in Reading Foreign Language Texts”. Specialized Text Analysis. Ufa: Baskir State University Press, 1987, pp.128-136, in Russian.
“English-Russian Translation Support. Text: Structure and Analysis, Moscow: USSR Academy of Sciences Press, Applied Linguistics, 1989, pp. 107-117, in Russian.
“Language Learning through Language Teaching..” English Teaching Forum, Volume XXIX, Number 1, 1991, pp.47-49.
“Foreign Language Education and Teacher Preparation in Russia and the United States: The Etic Perspective”, ADFL Bulletin, vol. 31, #3, spring 2000, 33-38.
“Computer-Assisted Reading: The Effect of a Glossing Format on Comprehension and Vocabulary Retention," (2001), co-authored with Joseph Kautz and Lorense Imhof, “Foreign Language Annals”, vol. 34, 2 (March/April)
Cognitive Perspective in SLA: Pedagogical Implications for Enhancing Oral Proficiency in Foreign Languages”, co-authored with Iwona Lech, in the Journal of the National Council of Less Commonly Taught Languages, vol.13, spring 2013

Areas of expertise: teaching foreign languages, foreign language acquisition and education, teaching reading in foreign languages, teaching speaking

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