Frau Dr. Patricia Skorge

CURRICULUM VITAE

Education and Qualifications

September 2006: PhD, Bielefeld University. Dissertation: The Affordances of Visuals in Materials for Foreign Language Learning and Teaching.
January 1994: Magister Deutsch als Fremdsprache'', Bielefeld University, minor subjects Anglistik and Sociology; grade “sehr gut” for thesis and all components of final examination.

1987-1993: Studies for Magister Deutsch als Fremdsprache, Bielefeld University. Major foci: visual information in language teaching and learning; language testing (particularly testing speaking skills)

April 1980: Degree of Bachelor of Arts with First Class Honours in English, Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa.

April 1979: Degree of Bachelor of Arts in English (with distinction) and French, Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa.

1976-1979: BA and BA (Honours) degree studies, Rhodes University.

December 1975: Examination for the Matriculation Certificate of the Joint Matriculation Board of South Africa (school leaving examination), first class pass with distinction in English.

Teaching

2004-present
Lehrkraft für besondere Aufgaben, Anglistik: British and American Studies, Bielefeld University. Regular seminars in TESOL (Fachdidaktik): Language teaching methods, assessment and evaluation of language learners; social and psychological aspects of language learning/teaching; media, inclusion, intercultural learning; second language acquisition,using visual media in language learning and teaching, English.language children’s literature. Formerly taught seminar to support students writing their BA theses.
Regular seminars, taught multiple times, in Sprachpraxis: General Writing seminars in the basic modules; Creative Writing; Academic English; Classroom English; Grammar; Speaking; Lexis; Presentation and Research skills.
Seminars on South Africa (society, culture).

WS 2001-2004:
Lehbeauftrage in Anglistik: British and American Studies. Sprachpraxis seminars for Bachelor and Master students, British and American Studies and Magister/Lehramt students of Anglistik/Englisch in the Faculty of Linguistics and Literary Studies, University of Bielefeld. Basic Writing, Grammar, Pronunciation; English for Primary School Teachers for student teachers.

2000-2003: Seminar “Reading Academic Texts” for foreign students, University of Bielefeld; English for Foreign Beginners, University of Bielefeld.

2001-2002: Teacher, “First Class” language programme (conceived by Landesverband der Volkshochschulen NRW) to qualify primary school teachers to teach English.

1987-2003: Courses in preparation for the University of Cambridge ESOL examinations Certificate of Proficiency in English, Certificate in Advanced English, First Certificate in English, Volkshochschule Bielefeld; numerous other English courses at all levels and in a wide range of formats at the VHS Bielefeld and TANDEM Bielefeld.

January 1980-December 1982: English teacher, Moshoeshoe II High School, Matsieng, Lesotho (southern Africa); school years 9 and 11. Preparation for the Cambridge Overseas School Certificate.

Examining, Workshops, Presentations, Conferences

2006-present: examiner for Speaking exams levels B1-C2 for a globally recognised assessment organisation; regular training and examining.
2004-present: Conceptualisation, preparation, execution and grading of the Language Proficiency Test (four times a year) and the Entrance Test. (three times a year).

September 2007: Conference paper Visual representations as effective instructional media in foreign language teaching, 38th Poznań Linguistic Meeting - PLM2007, Poland

September 2003: Two presentations (visuals, pronunciation) at the Special Interest Group Conference on Teaching English to Young Learners (IATEFL/VHS Bielefeld).

October 2002: Workshop (teaching pronunciation) for course leaders from the region involved in the “First Class“ language programme for primary school teachers, VHS Herford.

August 1998: Paper (pedagogic visuals): 6th international NELLE conference, VHS Bielefeld.

1988-1994: Workshops on classroom drawings for language teachers at various language schools and VHS’s, and as guest lecturer within the framework of seminars at the University of Bielefeld (Köster, Voss).

2002-present: Co-examiner in “Speaking” examination for all VHS Bielefeld candidates in “First Class” programme (English for primary school teachers); approx. 65 candidates examined to date.

Translating, Proofreading, Illustrating, Website Maintenance

Webmistress, Anglistik Homepage, Creative Writing Website.

1988-2006
and ongoing: Extensive freelance translating (German to English), copy-editing and proofreading of books, articles and dissertations in English by non-native speakers, notably for sociologist and author Professor Karin Knorr, the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology and the publishers Transcript.

1987-1992: Student assistant, Sprachpraxis Anglistik section, Faculty of Linguistics and Literary Studies, University of Bielefeld; tutorials (Fachdidaktik, British Literature).

1985-1995: Freelance illustrator of schoolbooks for language teaching (German and English) for publishers Maskew Miller Longman, South Africa, and other teaching materials (e.g. Bernd Voss’s Coursebook in Classroom English).

Languages

English: Native speaker
German: Fully proficient, both written and spoken
French: Fluent, proficient reader
Afrikaans: Fluent, excellent passive skills
Xhosa: Sub-A1
Spanish: Sub-A1

Awards

1979: Kendall Bursary (best final result, English Honours, Rhodes University).
1978: Kendall Bursary, Royal Society of St George Prize (best result, final year BA English, Rhodes University).
1976: Francis and Jessica Brett Young Memorial Prize (best mark for English Composition nationwide, Joint Matriculation Board school-leaving examinations).

Publications

Skorge, P. N. (forthcoming). Early British migration to South Africa, the ‘Settler Story’, and Coetzee’s "Disgrace". In M. Hartner and M. Schulte (eds.), Migration in Context: Literature, Culture and Language. Bielefeld: Aisthesis.

Skorge, P.N. (2012). A different point of you: A corpus-based study of peer editing in a university-level EFL writing seminar. In P. Lennon. (ed.), Learner Autonomy in the English Classroom. Empirical Studies and Ideas for Teachers (331-357). Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang.

Skorge, P. N. (2008). Visual representations as effective instructional media in foreign language teaching. Poznan Studies in Contemporary Linguistics 44/2: 265–281. DOI10.2478/v10010-008-0011-1

Skorge, P.N. (2008). Visual information in language learning and teaching. In S. Gramley and V. Gramley (eds.), Bielefeld Introduction to Applied Linguistics. A Course Book (27-38). Bielefeld: Aisthesis.

Skorge, P. N. (2006). The Affordances of Visuals in Materials for Foreign Language Learning and Teaching. Perspectives from Theory and Research. Bielefeld (Germany): Bielefeld University.

Skorge, P.N. (2005). Lost kites. Authentische Kommunikationssituation schaffen. Grundschulmagazin Englisch 5, 27-29.