Keynote Speaker
Dr. Martha Nyikos
(School of Education at Indiana University, Department of Curriculum and Instruction)
Dr. Martha Nyikos is associate professor of Literacy, Culture and Language Education and Director of world languages and ESL education in the School of Education. She teaches methods courses leading to teacher certification for kindergarten through high school teaching for eight languages (English, Chinese, French, German, Japanese, Latin, Russian, Spanish). Here at IU, she also serves as Pedagogical Director for Bridges: Children, Languages, World. Prof. Nyikos’ teaching excellence has been recognized with several awards. To name one: in 2021 the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) named her the National Language Teacher Educator of the Year. She regularly provides professional development workshops in the U.S. and abroad.
She is a heritage language speaker of Hungarian and taught German and ESL for many years. Her research in language learning strategies and pedagogy focuses on oral proficiency, strategies students formulate, and learner self-efficacy—including how students develop their strategic language learning through multisensory approaches.