Lisa-Christine Altendorf, M.A.
Research Assistant
Supervised by Prof. Dr. Fuchs in the area of second language acquisition
PhD Student
My research centers on Second Language Acquisition, with a particular focus on informal language exposure and its role in lexical development among young learners. My dissertation examines the relationship between out-of-school contact with English (through media, digital platforms, and everyday environments) and the lexical competence of young German learners. This work sits within broader debates on incidental vocabulary acquisition, input-rich environments, and the increasingly blurred boundary between formal instruction and naturalistic exposure in instructed SLA contexts.
My wider research interests extend to Computer-Mediated Communication and language on social media, which intersect with my core focus insofar as digital environments represent a primary source of informal L2 input for contemporary learners. I also draw on Critical Discourse Analysis to interrogate how language use is shaped by context and power, and on Audiovisual Translation Studies, particularly where subtitled or dubbed media functions as an informal exposure channel.
For office hours, please email me at altendorf[@]uni-bonn.de
Dissertation abstract:
My dissertation investigates the relationship between informal, out-of-school exposure to English, referred to as extramural English activities (EEA), and the lexical competence of young German learners. Drawing on the Young German Learner English (YGLE) corpus, which includes spoken and written data from students in grades 5 to 11 across three German federal states, the study examines whether and to what extent participation in informal English activities (such as gaming, streaming, social media use, and music listening) predicts lexical complexity in learner production. Lexical complexity is operationalized through measures of lexical diversity (MTLD, HD-D) and lexical sophistication (via the Lexical Complexity Analyzer), and the analysis extends to phrasal complexity and, in the spoken data, automated pronunciation assessment. The study also includes a diachronic dimension, comparing current learner writing against an earlier corpus to test whether increased digital exposure has raised lexical complexity over time.
Curriculum Vitae
Since 2022:
PhD student, Anglistik/Amerikanistik: Sprachwissenschaft, University of Bonn, Germany
Working title: Informal exposure and its connection to the lexical competence of young German learners of English.
2019 - 2022:
M.A. Applied Linguistics, University of Bonn, Germany
Thesis: "Exploring the connection between extramural online activities, lexical diversity, and errors in German upper grade students"
2016 - 2019:
B.A. English Studies and German Studies, Bonn University, Germany
Teaching:
SoSe 26: Übung for the lecture "Language in Culture and Cognition"
WiSe 25/26: Methods in Applied Linguistics - Übung (MA module)
SoSe 25: Issues in language and communication, "Second Language Learning and the Media" & "Word Formation on the Internet"; Übung for the lecture "Language in Culture and Cognition"
WiSe 24/25: Methods in Applied Linguistics - Übung (MA module)
SoSe 23: Issues in language and communication, "Second Language Learning and the Media"
WiSe 22/23: Applied Linguistics: An Overview - Übung (MA module)
Research Interests:
Audiovisual Translation Studies
Critical Discourse Analysis
Language on Social Media
Computer Mediated Communication
Second Language Acquisition
Anéla/VIOT Poster Prize
Year:
2023
Prize for:
Best academic poster, "Extramural activities and their relationship with English as a foreign language – Internetese versus standard English?
Publications
Altendorf, L.C. (in press). Pronouns of power and solidarity in audiovisual translation in the case of Grey’s Anatomy. World Englishes.
Gagua, M., Altendorf, L.C., Meer, P., Nelson, C., & Fuchs, R. (in press). Diachronic change in vocatives in British English. World Englishes.
Altendorf, L.-C. (2023). Extramural Activities and their relationship with English as a foreign language: – Internetese versus standard English?. Dutch Journal of Applied Linguistics, 12, Anéla/VIOT junior conference. https://doi.org/10.51751/dujal15536
Presentations
Stoddard, B., Altendorf, L.C., & Bracke, L. (2026). "Modelling coherence in L2 English at German schools: The role of cohesion and complexity" Talk at CASLL in Valencia, Spain. May 15th and 16th, 2026.
Altendorf, L.C. (2026). "Lexical, phrasal and grammatical complexity in German learner writing." Talk at ICAME47 in Koblenz, Germany. May 18th - May 22nd, 2026.
Stoddard, B., Altendorf, L.C., & Bracke, L. (2026). "Fluency across modes: The case of German learners of English." Talk at ICAME47 in Koblenz, Germany. May 18th - May 22nd, 2026.
Altendorf, L.C. (2025). "Speaking or Writing? Examining the role of informal English activities in developing lexical competence." Poster at 5. Nachwuchstagung Englische Linguistik (NEL5), JLU Gießen, March 2025.
Stoddard, B., Altendorf, L.C., Fuchs, R., & Werner, V. (2025). "Using Large Language Models for Proficiency Assessment of EFL Learner Writing". Talk at ICAME46 in Vilnius, Lithuania. June 18th - June 21st, 2025.
Altendorf, L.C. (2025). "The role of informal exposure to English in lexical complexity among young German learners of English." Talk at 34th Conference of the European Association of Second Language Acquistion (EuroSLA34), at UiT Tromso, Norway. 25 - 28 June, 2025.
Altendorf, L.C., Stoddard, B., Bracke, L., Werner, V., Rosen, A., & Fuchs, R. (2025). "Register and task variation in Young German Learner English: A quasi-longitudinal look at complexity." Talk at Register and Task Variation in Learner Corpus Research, at UCLouvain, Belgium. 7 - 8 July 2025.
"Extramural activities and vocabulary in young German learners of English: A regression & correlation analysis." Presented at the SIG Writing, Paris, 26 Jun 2024 - 28 Jun 2024.
"Extramural activities and their relationship with English as a foreign language: Internetese and standard English?" An investigation into lexical richness in German learners' writing. Talk at the Language Learning and Teaching in Digital Transformation Conference at PH Luzern, September 2023.
"Extramural activities and their relationship with English as a foreign language – Internetese versus standard English?" Poster at the 12th Bonn Applied English Linguistics Conference in Bonn, July 2023.
"Extramural activities and their relationship with English as a foreign language – Internetese versus standard English?" Poster at the Anela/ VIOT Juniorendag 2023, April 2023. Awarded with the poster prize.
"Extramural activities and their relationship with English as a foreign language – Internetese versus standard English?" Talk at the 4th Nachwuchstagung Englische Linguistik in Bonn, March 2023.
"Extramural Activities And German Students’ Proneness to Errors." Poster presentation at the 72. Studentische Tagung Sprachwissenschaft (StuTS), November 2022.
"Extramural activities and German students' lexical diversity in written texts: A case study." Talk at the "International Virtual Conference on Language and Literature (IVICOLL) held by The Language Centre of State Polytechnic of Malang, October 2022.
"Exploring the connection between extramural online activities and English competence in German upper grade students". Talk at the "11th Bonn Applied English Linguistics Conference", July 2022.
"The protest paradigm and Black Lives Matter movements in 2020: how do US American and German news differ in their reports on the events?". Talk at the 34th Conference of the Canadian Association for Translation Studies (CATS), May 2022 (online conference).
"Inivitation or offer? - Speech act recognition by German and American language users". Talk at the 10th Bonn Applied English Linguistics Conference, July 2021 (online conference).
"Collocational competence at university level - a case study of crosslinguistic influence between German and English". Talk at the Nachwuchstagung für Englische Linguistik (NEL3), February 2021 (online conference).
"'Sed Lex, Dura Lex' - Of Law Making and Breaking in The Shadowhunter Chronicles". Talk at Understanding Imaginary World": A students' conference on world-building in Fantasy, Science Fiction, and Beyond, June 2019.
BA/MA Thesis Supervision
I am interested in second language acquisition, especially in connection with media use. This then ties in with a general interest in discourse and corpus studies on different media (social media, news media, literature). Furthermore, I work on translation studies, especially dubbing and subtitling of video material. However, I am open to many different fields and topics.
A few examples of theses I have supervised in the past:
- "How to Sell Things with Words: A Cross-Cultural Analysis of Speech Acts and Their Effects in Print and Social Media Advertisements within the Automobile Industry of South Korea and the United States"
- "Can we tell the difference? Human accuracy in detecting AI vs. human-written texts across academic and creative contexts"
- “I’m sorry”- „Es tut mir Leid“- “对不起”(duǐ bu qǐ): A Study on Apologies in Literary Texts Harry Potter and their Translations in German and Chinese
- Conversation analysis of dinner recordings in multilingual households
If you would like to discuss thesis supervision, just email me at altendorf[@]uni-bonn.de.