Lyris Wiedemann

Bio

I have been the director of the Portuguese language program at Stanford since 1996. I earned a B.A. in Romance Languages, a specialization in Linguistics, and an M.A. in the teaching of languages and literature in my native Brazil (PUC-RS and UFRGS). I received an M.A. in Linguistics and a Ph.D.in Education from Stanford. Before joining the Language Center at Stanford, I was a professor of Linguistics and Education at two major universities in Brazil (UFRGS and PUC-RS) for several years, and the associate director of the UC-Berkeley Portuguese Program for nine years. I am a certified ACTFL OPI. OPIC and WPT tester, a SOPI rater by CAL, and a translator by the American Translators Association. In 2005, I was awarded the prestigious Baker Fellowship by Middlebury College, and in 2009, the AATSP Maria Isabel Abreu prize for the best research article on the teaching of Portuguese. My research interests include sociolinguistics, discourse analysis, acquisition of cognate languages, development of cultural competence, and translation. I am one of the creators of the international symposium on Portuguese for Spanish Speakers: Acquisition and Teaching, which had its fifth edition in 2014, and an author and editor of several scholarly articles and books.

Academic Appointments

• Senior Lecturer, Stanford Language Center

Administrative Appointments

• Senior Lecturer, Stanford Language Center for Latin American Studies, Stanford University (1996 - Present)
• Lecturer, University of California, Berkeley, Department of Spanish and Portuguese (1987 - 1996)
• Visiting Lecturer, Stanford University, Department of Spanish and Portuguese (1995 - 1995)
• Research Associate, Stanford University, Department of Spanish and Portuguese (1986 - 1988)
• Associate Professor of Education, School of Education, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (1983 - 1983)
• Assistant Professor of Education, Department of Curriculum and Instruction Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (1975 - 1982)
• Lecturer, School of Education, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (1974 - 1974)
• Assistant Professor of Linguistics and Education, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Su (1971 - 1976)
• Lecturer, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul (1969 - 1970)
• Teacher of Portuguese and Literature, Middle and High Schools Levels, Public Education System of the Rio Grande do Sul State (1966 - 1976)
• Teacher of Portuguese and Literature, Colégio Americano (1965 - 1970)
• Director of the Portuguese Language Program, Stanford University (1996 - Present)
• Assistant Director for Portuguese Lower Division Courses, Department of Spanish and Portuguese, Stanfoed University (1991 - 1996)
• Coordinator for Teaching, Portuguese, Department of Spanish and Portuguese, University of California, Berkeley (1989 - 1991)
• Supervisor for the Graduate Strident Instructors teaching Portuguese, University of California, Berkeley (1989 - 1991)
• Assistant Coordinator of the Centro de Estudos de Língua Portuguesa, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul (1970 - 1974)
• Coordinator of the Pilot (Experimental) Classes, Colégio Americano (1967 - 1969)
• Chairperson of the Portuguese Department, Colégio Americano (1967 - 1969)
• Chairperson of the Department of Portuguese, Ginásio Estadual Sousa Lobo (1968 - 1968)
• Responsible for Quality Assurance of Applied Linguistics Software, The Xerox Company (1995 - 1995)
• Responsible for Quality Assurance of Applied Linguistics Software, The Xerox Company (1997 - 1997)
• Responsible for Quality Assurance of Applied Linguistics Software, The Xerox Company (1998 - 1998)
• Visiting Scholar (by invitation) and Associate Researcher, Department of Spanish in Portuguese, Stanford University (1986 - 1987)
• Visiting Scholar (by invitation), Department of Linguistics, Stanford University (1985 - 1986)
• Senior Research Assistant, Santa Clara County Office of Education, Department of Research and Evaluation (1983 - 1984)
• Research Assistant, School of Education, Stanford University (1978 - 1979)
• Teacher in a state-wide in-service training program for native and foreign language teachers, Centro de Estudos de Língua Portuguesa, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul (1967 - 1972)
• Quality Assurance Team Member, Adobe Systems (1998 - 1998)
• Quality Assurance Team Member, Palm, Inc. (1999 - 1999)
• Quality Assurance Team Member, Macromedia (2000 - 2000)

Honors & Awards

• Recipient of the Robert L. Baker Residential Summer Research Fellowship, Middlebury College (2004)
• National Endowment for the Humanities, Learning Language Through Cultural Texts: Brazilian Portuguese (2003 - 2006)
• Scholarship for doctoral studies, The Brazilian Ministry of Education (1976 - 1980)
• AATSP Prize, Maria Isabel Abreu (2009)

Boards, Advisory Committees, Professional Organizations

• Editoral Board Member, Tópicos em Lingüística Aplicada/Topics in Applied Linguistics, Universidade Federal de Brasília, Brasília, Brazil (2001)
• Editoral Board Member, Revista Eletrônica Sobre Português Como Língua Estrangeira (Portuguese Language Journal), University of Florida, Gainsville (2005)
• Editorial Board Member, Trabalhos em Lingüística Aplicada, Instituto de Estudos da Linguagem, Universidade Estadual de Campinas (2007)
• ACTFL-MLJ Paul Pimsleur Award for Research in Foreign Language Education Committee Member (by invitation), The American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) (2012 - 2012)
• Advisory Committee Member, Portuguese Special Interest Group (SIG), The American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) (2011 - 2014)
• Oral Presentation Interview (OPI)Evlauator, The American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) (2002)
• Writing Proficiency Test (WPT) Evlauator, The American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) (2008)
• Oral Proficiency Interview Evaluator, The Lauder Institute (2001 - 2003)
• Member Accreditation Committee for Portuguese, American Translator Association
• Member, Editorial Board of the FIPSE EUnet Project, National Foreign Language Center (2000 - 2001)
• Member, American Association of Applied Linguists (AAAL)
• Member, American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese (AATSP)
• Member, American Council of Teachers of Foreign Languages (ACTFL)
• Member, American Translators Association (ATA)
• Member, Brazilian Studies Association (BRASA)
• Member, Modern Languages Association (MLA)
• Liaison with the National Office of Phi Lambda Beta, Portuguese Honor Society of the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese (1993 - 1996)

Program Affiliations

• Center for Latin American Studies

Professional Education

• B.A., Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul, Romance Languages (Major in Portuguese and Brazilian/Portuguese Language and Literature) (1965)
• M.A., Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Education (Teaching) (1976)
• M.A., Stanford University, Linguistics (1982)
• Ph.D., Stanford University, Education (Curriculum and Teacher Education - Language Arts and Foreign Language Teaching) (1983)