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Dr. Janna O. Schaeffer
Dr. Schaeffer has worked in the field of second language acquisition and teaching and international education since 2000. Over the course of her professional career, she has developed extensive experience conceptualizing, designing and developing foreign language, regional expertise and culture learning products in various contexts. She also conceptualized and designed courses that she then taught when working with international undergraduate and graduate students at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and at the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University. Dr. Schaeffer also worked in the private sector, where she managed the design of foreign language proficiency materials and assessments that were administered as a measurement in scientific, academic and professional second/foreign language contexts.
As part of a team, Dr. Schaeffer conceptualized the methodology for monitoring and evaluation of the acquisition process while considering skills and needs of the learner and oversaw product design and development process. Dr. Schaffer is ACTFL and IELTS British Council certified to conduct language proficiency testing used for academic and general purposes.
In the recent years, Dr. Schaeffer has been affiliated with English for Heritage Language Speakers program at Georgetown University sponsored by the National Security Educational Program (NSEP). In position as the academic coordinator, she worked closely with the Georgetown University faculty, led curriculum and materials implementation efforts and ensured accurate implementation of the program curriculum.
Dr. Schaeffer presently serves as a member of the project management team and is actively engaged in product development projects at the National Foreign Language Center at the University of Maryland.
Dr. Schaeffer is fluent in Russian and German and conversant in Brazilian Portuguese. She holds two master’s degrees – in German Studies and in Second Language Acquisition and Teaching, and a doctoral degree in Second Language Pedagogy and Program Administration with a minor in Comparative Higher Education from the University of Arizona. Dr. Schaeffer has presented at conferences and conducted training of the second/foreign language instructors on the topic of cross-cultural competence in a language classroom. Her specialized area of research pertains to the development of cross-cultural competence in foreign language learners.