Rate My Professor: Jessica Lesjak | Monash University

Jessica Lesjak joined Monash University in February 2024 as a DAAD Lecturer in the School of Languages, Literatures, Cultures and Linguistics within the Faculty of Arts. She serves as the DAAD contact person for all students and researchers at Monash University regarding studying, teaching, and research opportunities in Germany. Additionally, she is the contact for the onSET German Language Test Center and Statement of Equivalence in German language at Monash. In the European Languages program, Lesjak teaches German language and culture tutorials from introductory to advanced levels, contributes to curriculum development, and organizes outreach events such as German Careers Days and science slams.

Lesjak holds a Master of Arts in Applied Linguistics (German/English) from TU Dortmund University and has studied teaching German as a foreign and second language (GFL/GSL). She has been teaching GFL/GSL since 2007 across multiple countries, including Germany, the United States, Malaysia, Japan, Vietnam, and now Australia. Her research specializations include applied linguistics with a focus on the pragmatics of spoken language, teaching German as a foreign language, and multilingualism. Ongoing research encompasses her PhD thesis on the grammar (pragmatics) of the German lexeme "so"; didactisation of German post-colonial topics for the L2 classroom, such as the creole language Unserdeutsch; scientific language and interdisciplinarity in the German L2 classroom; and linguistic landscaping projects in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi, Vietnam.

Notable publications include "Comics as Additional Lesson Material in the Vietnamese GFL Classroom" co-authored with T. M. T. Nguyen (ASEAN Journal of Applied Linguistics, 2024); "Slam Poetry: Performte Texte zwischen Wirklichkeit und Fiktion" (Sprache - Denken - Wirklichkeit, 2024); "Mehrsprachigkeit in familiärer und politischer Institution im Dokumentarfilm Alles gut - Ankommen in Deutschland" (Mehrsprachigkeit und Mehrkulturalität im Konflikt, 2022); "Die zwischenmenschliche Syntax" (Von Anapher bis Zweitsprache, 2021); and she co-edited "Von Anapher bis Zweitsprache - Facetten kommunikativer Welten" (2021). In 2024, she received LLCL Education Funding alongside colleagues for recruiting and retaining students in European Languages, recognizing her contributions to the program.