Carnegie Mellon University
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Bonnie Youngs

Bonnie Youngs

Teaching Professor of French & Francophone Studies
Director, Advisor, and Faculty, M.A. In Applied Linguistics and Second Language Acquisition
Director of Undergraduate Studies, Modern Languages

Address
341 Posner Hall
Department of Modern Languages
Carnegie Mellon University
Pittsburgh, PA 15213

Education: Ph.D. University of Pennsylvania, M.A. University of Albany, M.A. University of Pennsylvania

A Full Teaching Professor in French & Francophone Studies (FFS) working for the past 28 years at CMU, the focus of my work is teaching and course development and revision. I take pride in my abilities as an educator and I am constantly looking for ways to improve in order to maximize student learning. Applied Linguistics and teaching with technology are thus important aspects of my research agenda, blending perfectly with my educational goals.

I am also the Director of Undergraduate Studies for our department which allows me to work with amazing colleagues who care deeply about the education as well as the health and well-being of our students. In my work with and for undergraduate students, I have served as the FFS group coordinator, and the major, minor, and transfer credit advisor. College and university level service are very important, and I participate when I can. I am privileged to be part of the Master’s in Applied Second Language Acquisition (SLA), welcoming our first class in fall 2011. This one-year program is designed to develop the students’ skills in teaching, online and in the classroom, as well as the methodologies of teaching target languages and cultures based on SLA theories and research.

In my research, I work to determine how the data from online courses can be made available to instructors in a well-purposed learning dashboard, and how instructors can be included in decisions regarding how to update online courses in real-time based on course data.

  •  French and Francophone culture and language (beginning - advanced)
  • Comparative cultures courses in English
  • French Literature (Medieval through Modern)
  • Methodology/Pedagogy for the Foreign Language Classroom
  • 82-286 The French in the Middle East 82-286: Political and Social Institutions - Islam in France
  • 82-416: Decoloniality and Environmental (In)justice in the Francophone World
  • 82-793: Teaching Methodologies for the Foreign Language Classroom
  • 82-893/82-894: Teaching Modern Languages and Cultures Practicum I & II
  • Barbara Lazarus Award, Carnegie Mellon University, 2019
  • Dietrich College Elliot Dunlap Smith Award for Distinguished Teaching and Educational Service, Dietrich College, Carnegie Mellon University, 2012
  • Contest Administrator of the Year, Grand Concours (National French Contest) for a small chapter, 2011
  • Carnegie Mellon Panhellenic and Interfraternity Council, Role Model Award; Recognized by the Carnegie Mellon Sisters of Kappa Alpha Theta for Outstanding Dedication as Professor, 2009
  • Esperanto Award for Excellence in opening access for learning foreign languages for French Online, with Chris Jones, Sophie Queuniet, and Marc Siskin (Carnegie Mellon); CALICO, 2007.
  • General Education Steering Committee, Dietrich College, 2019-present. 
  • General Education Program Assessment committee, Dietrich College, 2017-present.
  • Member, University Disciplinary Committee, 2012-present.
  • Member, University Education Council, 2010- present.
  • Member, University Academic Review Board, 2005-present.

Youngs, B. (2021) "Item-level Learning Analytics: Ensuring Quality in an Online French Course." Language Learning & Technology; Special Issue, to be published February 1, 2021.

Youngs, B. (2019) "SLA Theories and Practices in CALL." In N. Arnold & L. Ducate (Eds.), Engaging Language Learners through CALL: From Theory and Research to Informed Practice (pp. 7-50). Advances in CALL Research and Practice. Bristol, CT: Equinox Publishing, Ltd.

Youngs, B., Prakash, A., & Nugent, R. (2017) "Statistically-driven visualizations of student interactions with a French online course video." Computer Assisted Language Learning, special issue. DOI: 10.1080/09588221.2017.1367311

Youngs, B., Moss-Horwitz, S., & Snyder, E. (2015) "Educational Data Mining for Elementary French Online: A Descriptive Study." In E. Dixon & M. Thomas (Eds.), Researching Language Learner Interactions Online: From Social Media to MOOCs (pp. 347-368). CALICO Book Series Volume 13. Available online 

Bayle, A. & Youngs, B. (2013) Patterns of Interaction Between Moderators and Learners During Synchronous Oral Discussions Online. In P. Hubbard, B. Smith, M. Schulze (Eds.), Learner-Computer Interaction in Language Education: A Festschrift in Honor of Robert Fischer (pp. 66-91). San Marcos, TX: CALICO.

Department Member Since 1993