About

Janice McGregor is an Associate Professor of German Studies and a faculty member in the Interdisciplinary PhD program in Second Language Acquisition and Teaching (SLAT) at the University of Arizona. She completed her PhD in German Applied Linguistics at Penn State and previously held the position of Assistant Professor of German at Kansas State University from 2012 to 2018. Her research focuses on identity, authenticity, and multilingualism, with particular attention to the construction of ideologies and beliefs around language learning and teaching, discourses surrounding language and intercultural learning—especially in study abroad contexts—and qualitative research methods in German applied linguistics. Her work emphasizes the importance of understanding social interactions, the concept of 'authentic' language within communities, and the examination of beliefs about intercultural learning to better articulate and assess these phenomena.

Research topics

• Sociology
• Social Science
• Political Science
• Pedagogy
• Linguistics
• Computer Science
• Law
• Psychology
• Physics
• Communication
• Philosophy

Selected publications

• Three myths about ungrading

  Die Unterrichtspraxis/Teaching German · 2025-03-01 · 1 citations

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• Ungrading in Language Programs

  2025-06-06

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding

  In this chapter, we discuss reasons for moving away from traditional forms of grading in language programs and review the literature on ungrading, or the intentional act of going gradeless. We then offer two concrete ways in which educators and language program directors can rethink assessment in language programs and train future instructors to implement ungrading practices. The first example integrates and models ungrading practices in language teaching methods and/or language assessment courses in graduate programs. The second example applies specific ungrading practices in language programs (minimal and specifications grading) and shows how language program directors can do this while also navigating the needs of learners, their broader instructional team, and the affordances of our programs. Both examples allowed instructors and students to shift their focus away from grades to learning while making it possible for a variety of instructors (e.g., TAs, lecturers) to work together in their implementation. The chapter concludes with several context-specific reflections and recommendations for language program administrators.

  PublisherDOI

• Designing Second Language Study Abroad Research

  2022-01-01 · 7 citations

  book1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• A Critical Appraisal of Research Interviews as a Qualitative Method of Data Generation in Study Abroad Research

  2022-01-01 · 2 citations

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Introduction: Inviting Critical Reflections on Methodology from Our Own Field

  2022-01-01

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• SECTION II: Introducing the Special Issue

  2021-08-04

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  Publisher

• Statement in Support of Trans and Non-Binary People

  2021-08-04

  article1st authorCorresponding
  Publisher

• Discursive Enactment of Agency in Study‐Abroad Interviews

  Modern Language Journal · 2021 · 6 citations

  • Sociology
  • Sociology
  • Pedagogy

  Abstract In this article, we examine how meta‐agentive discourse was enacted and linguistically encoded with constructed dialog. We analyze interviews with 4 American undergraduate students who expressed their interest in study abroad (SA) and submitted applications but later withdrew them. The analysis centers on the ways agency was assigned to different actors in participants’ decision‐making processes as mediated by discourses of SA. We demonstrate that in their interviews, the participants primarily assigned agency to (a) themselves by way of self‐reports, (b) a ‘collective’ author by way of vague referents, and (c) SA programs and leadership by way of hypothetical constructed dialog. Notably, discourses about SA were often repurposed in divergent ways within the same interview by multiple participants. We urge scholars examining agency to closely consider the trajectorial and situated nature of meta‐agentive discourse in applied linguistics research.

  PublisherDOI

• Decolonizing German Studies Curricula: A Report from the 2019 GSA Seminar

  German Studies Review · 2021-01-01 · 3 citations

  articleOpen access
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• 3 An Investigation of L2 Learning Peer Interactions in Short-Term Study Abroad

  Multilingual Matters eBooks · 2021 · 8 citations

  1st authorCorresponding
  • Computer Science
  • Political Science
  • Psychology
  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Julieta Fernández

  University of Arizona

  3 shared

• Rémi A. van Compernolle

  3 shared

• John L. Plews

  University of Alberta

  2 shared

• Emma Trentman

  University of Colorado System

  2 shared

• Nichole Neuman

  Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis

  1 shared

• Nicole Coleman

  Wayne State University

  1 shared

• A. Kh. Yuldashev

  1 shared

• Regine Criser

  University of North Carolina at Asheville

  1 shared

Education

• PhD, Germanic and Slavic Languages and Literatures

  The Pennsylvania State University

  2012

• MA, Germanic and Slavic Studies

  University of Waterloo

  2006

• BA, Languages and Literatures

  Wilfrid Laurier University

  2004