University at Buffalo - The State University of New York

Published: February 16, 2006

By JESSICA KELTZ
Reporter Contributor

Janina Brutt-Griffler says she's always been interested in the interaction of different cultures and languages.

Janina Brutt-Griffler says she "grew up in a bicultural context." A native of Poland, she studied English, German, Spanish and Russian in high school before moving to the United States to attend college and then to England to take a position at the University of York.
PHOTO: NANCY J. PARISI

"I grew up in a bicultural context," says Brutt-Griffler who joined the UB faculty in August as an associate professor in the Department of Learning and Instruction, Graduate School of Education. "I have always been interested in languages," she says.

A native of Poland with Polish and German heritage, she studied English, German, Spanish and Russian in high school before moving to the United States to attend college and then on to England to take a faculty position.

Brutt-Griffler's research focuses on English studies and second language acquisition—the study of social and cognitive processes of learning second languages, including cultural adaptations to a new language.

She says former British colonies such as Kenya, India and Singapore have developed their own forms of English, and that the language has become more than a vestige of colonialism all over the world. Her interest, she says, is in "the social and political reasons for why language spreads."

"English is taking on an identity of its own," she says. "People are very comfortable speaking English. It's not an imposed language, but part of a multicultural identity."

Brutt-Griffler earned bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees from the Ohio State University, with both a M.A. and Ph.D. in applied linguistics. After finishing school in 1998, she taught at the University of Cincinnati for two years, then at the University of Alabama for four years before moving to England for a year. There, Brutt-Griffler designed and directed the University of York's TESOL (teaching English to speakers of other languages) program.

UB, she says, has a long, rich tradition of graduate-level bilingual and foreign language education, which few universities offer, and a high concentration of international students at the university. UB ranks 11th among U.S. colleges and universities in enrollment of international students.

More generally, Brutt-Griffler notes that it's a good time to be studying and teaching foreign languages in the United States because of a new emphasis on learning languages in addition to English. She points out that President Bush recently announced an initiative to spend $114 million on foreign language programs—an announcement made during a summit on international higher education that was attended by President John B. Simpson.

Many Americans are aware that American students lag behind their Western counterparts in foreign language learning, she says, adding that a similar problem exists in England. Despite the dominance of English as a world language, the lack of knowledge of additional languages diminishes the global competitiveness of students from the U.S. and U.K., she says.

"The U.S. has to invest and invest fast," she says. "American students really need to catch up in that area."

As with her research, Brutt-Griffler's teaching blends theoretical studies with the more practical aspects of language learning and evolution. Last semester, she taught a course in academic writing, as well as "Introduction to Linguistics" for second-language teachers. This semester, she's teaching "Pragmatics and Language Learning," which looks at how language is used in social interactions, and "Second Language Acquisition," which examines the variables that determine foreign-language learning and the pragmatics of language and learning.

She says adjusting to a new university has been easier than she expected.

"It has been really good," she says. "My colleagues in the department have made the transition very smooth for me."

In 2002, Brutt-Griffler published her first book, World English: A Study of Its Development, which won the Modern Language Association (MLA)'s Kenneth W. Mildenberger Prize for the outstanding research publication in the fields of teaching foreign languages and literatures. She describes the book as providing a new framework for understanding new varieties of English.

She also has served as co-editor for two books, "English and Ethnicity" and "Bilingualism and Language Pedagogy"; has written a series of book chapters and journal articles; and chairs the executive committee of the general linguistics discussion group of the MLA.

Brutt-Griffler lives in Amherst with her husband, Keith Griffler, an associate professor in the Department of African-American Studies, College of Arts and Sciences. She says she has enjoyed getting to know Buffalo and learning more about its diverse cultural history, and hopes to spend more time exploring its arts and cultural offerings.

"I've been waiting for (Buffalo's) incredible winter, but it hasn't happened yet," she says.