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Faculty of Education and Language Studies > People Profiles > Christine Pleines

Christine Pleines

Head of German, Lecturer in German

The Open University Faculty of Education and Language Studies Department of Languages


Profile

As a Lecturer within the German section at the Department of Languages with a background in Applied Linguistics, I design distance language learning materials and have an interest in how our learners study with these materials and how they develop their language competence using both more traditional learning resources as well as interacting in online environments.

I've recently been involved in setting up LORO  - a repository of language teaching resources inspired by the Open Educational Resources movement.

 

 

 

Teaching Interests

I enjoy developing multimedia language learning materials, and am particularly interested in developing students' spoken linguistic competence in a distance learning environment and in raising cultural awareness.

I've contributed to teaching at the OU in the following roles:

  • member of LB160 module team (Professional communication skills) from September 2012
  • Head of German section 2009 -2011
  • module team chair (presentation) for L203 Motive from February 2009
  • joint course team chair (production) for L203r Motive (2006 - 2009)
  • member of L130r Auftakt course team, Dvd-Rom development (2005-2006)
  • member of Spanish course team (2004 – 2005)
  • staff tutor overseeing Open University language provision in London ( 2003 - 2004)
  • joint course team chair (production) for German beginner’s course Rundblick (2001-2002, 2004)
  • tutor and course director at residential school and on the ‘Alternative Learning Experience’ (online) (from 1998)
  • Award board chair, L130 Auftakt (1998), L203 Motive (from 2010)
  • course team chair for L130 Auftakt (May 1997 - June 1999)
  • book co-ordinator for second level courses L203 Motive and L213 Variationen (1996-1999)
  • author and co-ordinator of preparatory study pack Café Einklang and first level German course L130 Auftakt (1995-1997)

 

Research Interests

second language acquisition

online learning

Open Educational Resources

Current Research

Approach, design and implementation of online activities in a distance learning course

Collaborative writing of Open Educational resources for language learning

Publications

Book Chapter
Stickler, Ursula and Pleines, Christine (2006). Glaube und Gesellschaft. In: Duensing, Annette and Baumann, Uwe eds. Developing Writing Skills in German. London: Routledge, pp. 127–144.
Lewis, Timothy; Pleines, Christine and Hurd, Stella (2005). Language learning and language learners. In: Hurd, Stella and Murphy, Linda eds. Success with languages. Routledge Study Guides. London, UK: Routledge, pp. 1–20.
Adinolfi, Lina; Pleines, Christine; Harper, Felicity; Beaven, Tita; Smith, Pete; Hassan, Xaviere; Adams, Helga and Nicolson, Margaret (2005). Developing competence in the language (2): Writing and speaking skills. In: Not Set ed. Success wtih Languages. Routledge Study Guides. Abingdon, UK: Routledge, pp. 110–139.
Journal Article
Comas-Quinn, Anna; Beaven, Mary; Pleines, Christine; Pulker, Helene and de los Arcos, Beatriz (2011). Languages Open Resources Online (LORO): fostering a culture of collaboration and sharing. The EuroCALL Review (18),