Professor Dr. Barbara Schmenk

Biography

Barbara Schmenk is a professor in the Department of Germanic and Slavic Studies at the University of Waterloo, where she has been teaching since 2004. She specializes in applied linguistics, with a robust background in language education and cultural studies. Dr. Schmenk received her PhD in Applied Linguistics from Ruhr-Universität Bochum. Her academic journey has included teaching positions at various institutions, including high schools in Germany, Clemson University in South Carolina, Trinity College in Dublin, and her alma mater, Ruhr-Universität Bochum. Her research interests encompass topics of language education, including language gender, cultural autonomy, drama pedagogy, and multilingualism. She has explored the educational value of inflatable toys in language classrooms and has conducted extensive research on teacher cognition, contributing significantly to the field of applied linguistics. Schmenk is actively engaged in creating awareness around the complexities of language education and has published a variety of works, including collaborative studies on the concept of the native speaker and critiques of language educational philosophies.

Research Interests

Courses