October 1951 Born in Emden, Germany.
1970 Abitur at the grammar school for boys, Emden.
1970–1976 Studied German, media studies and political science at the Freie Universität Berlin. Degree: Magister (M.A.).
1977–1980 Lektor of the German Academic Exchange Service at the German Department, University College Dublin.
1981–1986 Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter (Junior Lecturer) in the German Department at the Freie Universität Berlin. Duringthat time:
1983 awarded a PhD.
1984-1986 Project leader of and spokesperson for the research group ‚Development of Concepts and Materials for the Promotion of Foreign Children and Adolescents in Schools and Extracurricular Activities‘, funded by the FU Berlin.
1983–2007 Authored, together with Emer O’Sullivan, eight genuinely bilingual children’s books, published in the rotfuchs series by Rowohlt Verlag.
1986–1996 Lecturer (1990–1996), then Reader (1990–1996) in the German Department, King’s College, University of London. During that time:
coordinator of the intercollegiate M.A. in Germanic Linguistics,
Erasmus coordinator,
member of the Advisory Board of the Language Centre of King’s College,
external examiner for B.A., M.A. Ph.D and departmental reviews,
1988 leader of the project ‚Database of Teaching Materials for Business Language‘ funded by the King’s College Research Grant and
1992-1993 British Academy/Leverhulme Trust Senior Research Fellow.
1996–2017 Professor of German as a Second and Foreign Language at the Justus Liebig University, Giessen. During that time:
member of advisory boards (German Academic Exchange Service, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Fremdsprachenforschung, Fachverband Deutsch als Fremdsprache),
Dean of the German Department, Director of the Institute of German Studies,
Erasmus coordinator,
long-serving member of the doctoral committee,
initiator of the interdisciplinary Master degree course Language Technology and Foreign Language Didactics,
initiator of the Master degree course German as a Foreign Language,
member of the Board of Directors of the Center for Media and Interactivity,
co-applicant and principal investigator of the ‚International Graduate Centre for the Study of Culture‘,
spokesperson for the research network ‚Educational Linguistics‘.
1996–1999 Member of the Steering Committee of the graduate school ‚Didaktik des Fremdverstehens‘.
2000–2014 Several projects with Michael Legutke in cooperation with the Goethe-Institut on the development and evaluation of multimedia learning environments, including ‚jetzt deutsch lernen‘.
2008–2012 Project ‚Electronic literacy in history and foreign language teaching‘ with Vadim Oswalt in the LOEWE research network ‚Cultural techniques and their medialization‘.
2015–2018 Intensive further training programme with Tamara Zeyer for teachers in the field of German as a second language in Hessia for the Hessian Teachers‘ Academy
2017–2020 Otto Behaghel Senior Professor at the Center for Media and Interactivity at the Justus Liebig University, Giessen.During that time:
2018–2023 Hessian Ministry of Higher Education, Research, Science and the Arts-funded research project with Tamara Zeyer on digital media in the acquisition of German by refugees interested in studying.
Editorial boards and memberships
Co-editor of the Giessener Beiträge zur Fremdsprachendidaktik, Tübingen, Narr
Co-editor of the online journal ForumSprache (2009-2011)
Co-editor of the journal Informationen Deutsch als Fremdsprache
Member of the advisory board of the journal Deutsch als Fremdsprache
Member (2020-2024 Chair) of the German Studies Advisory Board of the German Academic Exchange Service.
Degree course evaluations in Ireland, Hong Kong and Germany.