We are back with our series of interviews with course instructors this summer semester. This time, we are pleased to feature Katharina Pabst (PhD candidate) for our series of interviews. In this interview, she shared her study on language variation and change, especially in lifespan change. She also gave some great advice to our UofT linguistics students! Check this out!
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| Katharina Pabst and her rescue dog Cabbie |
What are you working on in the summer?
I am teaching LIN251 (Introduction to Sociolinguistics) and working on my dissertation, which I hope to finish this year. My dissertation looks at language variation and change in Aroostook County, Maine, which is an area that has not received much attention in dialectological work. Specifically, my project examines how Aroostook County English fits into the surrounding dialect regions and how speakers use linguistic features to show their alignment or disalignment with local values
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| The location of Aroostook County, Main |
What makes you interested in this unique topic?
I have a family connection in the area. When I first started visiting, I was fascinated by the dialect that I encountered. I had never seen it described anywhere, so I did a little it digging and discovered that Aroostook County had not received very much attention in the past. While the Linguistic Atlas of New England did interview a handful of speakers from northern Maine, the region isn’t even pictured on its maps. Instead, the speakers’ results can be found in the corner. The few sources that do discuss northern Maine variably associate it with three different dialect regions (Eastern New England, Western New England, and Atlantic Canada), but these claims have never been tested empirically. My goal was to do just that and put this variety ‘on the map.’
On top of dialectology, I am very interested in language variation across the lifespan and how people change the way they speak as they get older. Aroostook County has undergone drastic socio-economic change in the past few decades, which often leads to linguistic change. I am interested in documenting how life and language in the area have changed and how speakers experience this, so I hope that my dissertation will be the starting point of a long-term collaboration with the communities I have been working with.
What attracted you to UofT to continue your study in Linguistics?
In 2015, I took Professor Sali Tagliamonte’s course on Variationist Sociolinguistics at the LSA Summer Institute. During that time, we started working on a research project together, which I really enjoyed, so I applied to U of T to continue working with her. Another reason that made U of T very attractive is that there were actually several experts in my area of study, which is not very common and made U of T the perfect place to pursue my Ph.D.
What makes UofT different from your previous experience in other institutions? What makes UofT special?
Before coming to Canada, I studied linguistics in the US, where I also worked as a TA. In the departments I worked in, being a TA meant being a course instructor, but here at U of T, TAs teach tutorials instead. I am really grateful that I got to work with students in both of these capacities.
One thing that makes U of T special is that there are three campuses, with lots of linguists working on different areas. I really like this because we have experts specializing in many sub-disciplines of linguistics, which makes U of T an excellent place for collaborative work! There is a very active research culture as well. During the semester, we regularly have research groups, which folks from all three campuses attend. We also have members from other schools in the area, so there is a vibrant intellectual community.
Last but not least, there is a strong sense of community among the graduate students, which I greatly appreciate.
What do you gain from the teaching experience in teaching a course in the summer? Did you need to adjust anything due to the online environment?
It is my second time teaching LIN251 online. Last year, I taught the course asynchronously, this year, both lectures and tutorials were delivered synchronously. Before last year, I had never taught online, so that was a big transition for me. I took advantage of the training offered by the Centre of Teaching Support & Innovation (CTSI) and the Teaching Assistants' Training Program (TATP) of UofT, whose webinars on online teaching were incredibly helpful. The biggest lesson I learned is how important it is to be very organized from the beginning, so students always know what they are expected to do. I am very deliberate about that. I always make an effort to combine short lectures with active learning activities that keep people engaged. I know it’s easy to get distracted when sitting at home in front of your computer, so I try to make things interesting. In my asynchronous course, I made frequent use of discussion boards to give students a chance to reflect on how the course material relates to their own lived experience, analyze data, and test their understanding. In my synchronous course this summer, we did all of this live. Students also got a chance to discuss questions in small groups, giving them an opportunity to get to know their peers and learn from each other. I have always valued hands-on activities and lots of interaction and will continue to do so, regardless of the mode of delivery.
There are several other things that I also hope to continue doing in the future. For example, creating course tour videos or short modules introducing students to the course website and important policies. This ensures that every student has all the information they need to succeed. I am also committed to continuing to build flexibility into my course policies, especially my late work policy. It is important to recognize that students have lives outside of the university and that there are often legitimate reasons for having to shift things around.
Do you see any trends in your students?
In general, I notice that everyone is much more used to online learning by now. Both the students and I are more familiar with how videoconferencing platforms like Zoom or MS Teams work, so there are way fewer technical issues. My students this semester were very active so we had lots of exciting discussions. Generally, I find that the more everyone participates, the more they learn from the experience. That’s why I try to create an accessible classroom environment where everyone can participate in a way that feels most comfortable to them – that includes polls, practice quizzes, discussion boards, breakout rooms, and games in which students solve an issue of sociolinguistic relevance. I think that active participation is important to keep students motivated, as is showing them how the course material is relevant in their everyday lives.
Any advice to undergrad or fellow grad students?
Try to find ways to get involved in your program! For example, becoming a member of a research lab really helped me to feel like being a part of the community and helped to solidify what I was learning in my courses because I was applying it in my research. I realize that depending on students’ circumstances, it might be difficult to find the time to get involved, but it doesn’t have to be a long-term commitment – some of the activities I have been involved in, such as designing outreach activities for Linguistics Rendezvous, only took a few afternoons of my time.
Personally, I have benefitted the most from study abroad, which is how I first came to North America. I realize that the pandemic has made it more difficult to pursue this at the moment, but if you get a chance to go abroad, I highly encourage you to do it. Meeting new people and studying in other places has definitely helped me reflect on my own positionality and appreciate different approaches to the study of language and linguistics.
After COVID, what do you hope to do or accomplish?
I hope to go see my family and friends in Germany! I haven't seen them in one and a half years, so that will be the first thing I do once I feel like it is safe to do so.
Thank you Katharina for taking her time to be interviewed by us to share her experience at UofT and giving out such great advice to our fellow linguistics students. Stay tuned for more interviews in the future with our UofT linguists!
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