
Dr. Meike Wernicke
Biography
I am Assistant Professor in the Department of Language and Literacy Education at the University of British Columbia. Building on an extensive background in modern language teaching (German and French), German heritage language education, and French Linguistics, my research focuses on French-as-a-second language (FSL) teacher education, teacher professional development and teacher identity. Within second language education, these interests extend to English as an additional language teaching, intercultural education, bi-/multilingual language policy and pedagogies, decolonizing approaches in language education, and discourse analytic research methodologies.
Collaboration in international research includes projects that have focused on the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages at the Centre for Modern Language in Graz, Austria, as well as an international project on “Multilingualism and Teacher Education” with the Coordination Office for Multilingualism and Language Education (KoMBi) at the Universität Hamburg, Germany.
Within the Canadian context, projects include initiatives supporting the integration of Indigenous knowledges and ways of learning in K-12 and postsecondary education, decolonizing approaches in French language curriculum implementation, second language teacher professional development, and intercultural learning among FSL teachers in British Columbia, Canada.
For the past decade I have taught in the French Master of Education in Modern Languages and currently coordinate this program as well as the Institut de Français – UBC à Québec, a summer institute for French language teachers in Quebec City. Courses I teach in English and/or French include:
LLED 353: Teaching and Learning English as an Additional Language – Elementary | L’enseignement et l’apprentissage de l’anglais langue additionnelle à l’élémentaire
LLED 489: La linguistique appliquée dans l’enseignement du français
LLED 520: Théorie et recherche reliées à l’enseignement des langues secondes
LLED 521: Interculturality in Language Education : Theory, research and practice | Enseignement interculturel : théorie, recherche, et pratique
Projects
A study with pre-service and in-service FSL teachers in British Columbia that explores critical and decolonizing approaches to engaging with intercultural learning.
A pan-Canadian collaboration with the University of Ottawa and the University of New Brunswick.
A study examining internationalization as it relates to linguistic diversity in the university context, specifically the documented constraints faced by linguistically and culturally diverse populations in English-medium higher education settings.
Selected Publications











