Speaker: Lauren Hetrovicz

Lauren Hetrovicz received her B.A. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2008, where she studied Spanish and Linguistics. She then earned an M.A. in Spanish Linguistics in 2011 and an M.A. in Teaching English as a Second Language in 2014, both from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She is currently completing her Ph.D. in Spanish Linguistics with a graduate certificate in SLATE (Second Language Acquisition and Teaching Education) from the same institution. Her dissertation investigates the role of telecollaboration among heritage and second language learners on the development of second language confidence.

As a teaching assistant for six years (2009-2015) at the University of Illinois, in both the Department of Spanish and Portuguese and the Department of Linguistics (for ESL academic writing at the undergraduate and graduate levels), Lauren taught a variety of beginner through advanced courses while pursuing her degrees. In the fall of 2015, she then began working as an adjunct lecturer of Spanish and Linguistics at the College of Charleston in South Carolina, where she taught elementary, intermediate, and advanced content courses such as Grammar Skills Review, Spanish Conversation, Spanish Composition, and Linguistics 101. At the College of Charleston, Lauren won a number of teaching and service awards highlighting her dedication and ability as an educator and faculty member. In 2019, Lauren joined Northwestern University and currently teaches elementary and intermediate Spanish courses. During this same year, she earned the certification of Assessment of Performance toward Proficiency in Languages (AAPPL) from the American Council of Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL). In 2020, she obtained certification as a tester of the Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI) in Spanish also from ACTFL. She is dedicated to disseminating her research both in published works on second language acquisition and pedagogy and in presentations at academic conferences.