Felix Kronenberg
B135 Wells Hall
619 Red Cedar Rd
East Lansing, MI 48824
FacultyLinguistics, Languages, and CulturesCenter for Language Teaching AdvancementSecond Language Studies
Director, Center for Language Teaching Advancement (CeLTA)
Director, National Less Commonly Languages Resource Center (NLRC)
Associate Professor
German
Biography
Ph.D., University of Regensburg (Germany), 2008
Dr. Felix Kronenberg is the Director of the Center for Language Teaching Advancement (CeLTA) and an Associate Professor of German in the Department of Linguistics, Languages, and Cultures at Michigan State University. Dr. Kronenberg is also the PI and founding Director of the National Less Commonly Taught Languages Resource Center (NLRC). The center is funded by a Title VI Grant by the U.S. Department of Education.
Dr. Kronenberg’s research interests include materiality in (language) education, program administration, learning space design, innovation in language education, and technology. Recent publications include his 2024 monograph “Physical Language Learning Spaces in the Digital Age” was published in February of 2024 with Bloomsbury Academic and his 2023 co-edited book “Language Program Vitality in the United States: From Surviving to Thriving in Higher Education”. Dr. Kronenberg has given numerous keynotes internationally and nationally and has been an invited speaker, consultant, and reviewer at dozens of institutions and conferences.
Dr. Kronenberg served as president of the International Association for Language Learning Technology (IALLT) 2015-2017, and as president of the South West Association for Language Learning Technology. He served as an advisory board member of the Learning Spaces Collaboratory, as a fellow for the National Institute for Technology in Liberal Education, on the editorial board of the TASK Journal and on the council of the International Association for Language Learning Technology (IALLT). He has received several major grants, incl. a Arthur Vining Davis Foundations grant (PI), the 2.5 million Andrew W. Mellon Foundation LCTL and Indigenous Languages Partnership grant (Co-PI), and the Title VI LRC Grant by the U.S. Department of Education (PI). Currently, he is also serving a 3-year term on the Modern Language Association’s (MLA) Association of Language Departments (ALD) Executive Committee.
Current projects include a monograph project (“Place and Language Education: Materiality, Meaning, and Practices”), establishing the new Big Ten Language Center Alliance, an asymmetrical language course sharing project, and the supply and demand of language courses research project. He is also deeply involved in several projects on enrollments in language programs with several colleagues. More info on that emerging work can be found here. They are currently working with several universities to offer workshops and consulting services to language programs, and are currently offering a professional learning community.
Media Mentions
TEDx Talk: Felix Kronenberg – Beyond Normalized Teaching Boxes: Rethinking Learning Spaces
April 2, 2023
Transforming a dinosaur on campus: From language lab to language center and beyond
University Business
December 12, 2017
Publications
Kronenberg, F.A., Physical Language Learning Spaces in the Digital Age, London, UK: Bloomsbury Academic, 2024.
Heidrich Uebel, E., Kronenberg, F.A., and Sterling, S., eds. Language Program Vitality in the United States: From Surviving to Thriving in Higher Education, Cham, Switzerland: Springer, 2023.
Kronenberg, F.A., ed. From Language Lab to Language Center and Beyond: The Past, Present, and Future of Language Center Design. Auburn, AL: International Association for Language Learning and Technology, 2017.
Kronenberg, F.A., ed., and assoc. ed. U. S. Lahaie. Language Center Design. Moorhead, MN: International Association for Language Learning and Technology, 2011.
Refereed Articles and Book Chapters (Post-Doctorate)
Van Gorp, K., Uebel, E. H., Kronenberg, F. A., & Murphy, D. (2024). How important is studying languages for undergraduate students and why (not) study languages? Foreign Language Annals, 1–21. https://doi.org/10.1111/flan.12783 [article won the 2025 Stephen A. Freeman Award for Best Published Article]
Kronenberg, F. A., & Case, V. (2024). Why Should College Leaders Consider the Power of Their Place? Journal of Higher Education Management, 39(2), 27–36.
Giupponi, L, Heidrich Uebel, E., and Kronenberg, F.A., “Technology Integration and Online Language Learning: From Commonly Taught Languages to Less Commonly Taught and Indigenous Languages” (forthcoming – The Routledge Taylor & Francis Handbook of Research on World Language Instruction, edited by Victoria Russell, Kathryn Murphy-Judy, Francis Troyan, Ali Moeller, and Krishauna Hines-Gaither).
Kronenberg, F.A. (2022). “Language Learning Spaces in the Digital Age: Investigating the Normalization of the Built Language Classroom.” Sprachen.Politik.Sprachenpolitik. (pp. 389-406) Arbeitskreis der Sprachenzentren.
Kronenberg, F.A. & Schwienhorst, K. (2021). Building for Sustainable Change: Co-Designing Language Centers in Germany and the United States. In E. Lavolette & A. Kraemer, A. (Eds), Language center handbook 2021 (pp. 217-242). Auburn, AL: International Association for Language Learning Technology.
Kronenberg, F.A. (2020). Embracing Hybridity: Virtual Spaces in Foreign Language Housing. In J. Bown, W. Baker Smemoe, & D. P. Dewey (Eds.), Language Learning in Foreign Language Houses (pp. 321–334). International Association for Language Learning Technology.
Ramey, Neville, Kronenberg, et. al. “Revisioning the Global Middle Ages: Immersive Environments for Teaching Medieval Languages and Culture” Digital Philology: A Journal of Medieval Cultures, vol. 8, no. 1, Spring 2019, pp. 86-104.
Kronenberg, F.A. (2018). The language center design process. In E. Lavolette & E. Simon (Eds.), Language center handbook (pp. 53–66). Auburn, AL: International Association for Language Learning Technology.
Kronenberg, F.A. (2017). From Language Lab to Language Center and Beyond: The Past, Present, and Future of Language Learning Center Design. Alsic Journal, 20(3).
Simon, Kraemer, Kronenberg, Lavolette, Sartiaux. (2017) “Language Center Evaluation Toolkit.” International Association for Language Learning and Technology.
Kronenberg, F.A. “Curated language learning spaces: Design principles of physical 21st century language centers.” IALLT Journal 46.1 (2016): 63–91.
Kronenberg, F.A. “Language Center Design and Management in the Post-Language Laboratory Era.” IALLT Journal 44.1 (2014): 1–16.
Kronenberg, F.A. “Extending the Classroom: Digital Micro-Narratives for Novice Language Learners.” Dimensions (2014): 124-134. [journal has no volume or issue numbers]
Kronenberg, F.A. “The LLC and Public Relations: Promoting the Language Learning Center.” IALLT Management Manual. Ed. A. Ross. International Association for Language Learning and Technology, 2013. 121-132.
Kronenberg, F.A. “Computer Games as Agentive and Immersive Spaces for Language Learners.” Playing with Virtuality, Theories and Methods of Computer Game Studies. Ed. Benjamin Bigl & Sebastian Stoppe. Peter Lang, 2013. 313–331.
Kronenberg, F.A. “Technology and the Changing Nature of Narrative in L2 Learning and Teaching.” Increasing Student Engagement and Retention Using Multimedia Technologies: Video Annotation, Multimedia Applications, Videoconferencing and Transmedia Storytelling. Ed. Laura A. Wankel & Patrick Blessinger. Emerald Group Publishing Limited, 2013. 95–119.
Kronenberg, F.A. “Selection Criteria for Commercial Off-the-Shelf (COTS) Video Games for Language Learning.” IALLT Journal 42.2 (2012): 52–78.
Kronenberg, F.A.“Language Centers at Small Institutions.” Language Center Design. Ed. F.A. Kronenberg. Assoc. Ed. U. S. Lahaie. International Association for Language Learning and Technology, 2011. 83–94.
Shorter Publications (not Peer-Reviewed)
Kronenberg, F. A. et. al. (2023) Take Your Students to the Stars in the Target Language https://fltmag.com/planetarium-target-language/
Fritzsche, S. , Giupponi, L., Heidrich Uebel, E., Kronenberg, F.A., Long, C.P. and van Gorp, K. (2022) Languages as Drivers of Institutional Diversity: The Case of Less Commonly Taught Languages. The Language Educator. (pp.45-47)
Kronenberg, F. A. & Case, V. (2022). Today’s Colleges and the Power of Place. Academe Blog (AAUP)https://academeblog.org/2022/08/12/todays-colleges-and-the-power-of-place/
Kronenberg, F.A. and Poole, F. (2022). From Buzzword to the Classroom – Exploring VR Gaming for Language Learning. FLTMAG. Retrieved from https://fltmag.com/from-buzzword-to-the-classroom-exploring-vr-gaming-for-language-learning/
Kronenberg, F. A., et al. “The Road to the Lost City of ‘C’: From Simulation to Reality.” Language Educator, vol. 13, no. 4, Oct./Nov. 2018, pp. 44–47.
Kronenberg, F.A. (2018). Gamified Imagined Community Simulations (ImSims) for Language Learning. FLTMAG. Retrieved from http://fltmag.com/gamified-imagined-community-simulations-imsims-language-learning/
Transforming a dinosaur on campus: From language lab to language center and beyond (December 12, 2017) – UB (University Business)
Adapting Classrooms for Student-centered, Individualized, and Technologically-supported Pedagogies. Learning Spaces Collaboratory (2015) – http://www.pkallsc.org/assets/files/LSC_Webinar_Snapshot-Rhodes_Classrooms_Technology-Supported_Pedagogies.pdf
Kronenberg, F.A. (2015). A Language Center Design Primer. FLTMAG. Retrieved from http://fltmag.com/a-language-center-design-primer/
Digital Storytelling Video Series 2015 (Associated Colleges of the South)
