Giessen TEFL Prize 2025
From the Archives to the Spotlight
Every semester, amidst silent libraries and tight deadlines, numerous papers are written: read, evaluated... and all too often forgotten in the maze of university archives. A rather ungenerous epilogue for works that, in many cases, offer valuable insights, profound reflections and original perspectives.
In the field of Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL), where the quality of academic research can directly translate into didactic innovation, we believe these contributions should no longer go unnoticed. It is time to give space and voice to excellence. This is how the Giessen TEFL Prize originated last year: an award created to recognise the best papers of the semester, enhancing the commitment, creativity and critical thinking of students who, with passion and rigour, contribute to academic dialogue.
The event began with the institutional greetings from Prof. Steininger and Dr. Will, followed by a brief presentation of the winners and their papers. The most exciting moment was certainly the award ceremony itself which honoured outstanding students from TEFL 2 and 3 as winners.
This year’s winners inclued:
• Stefanie Katharina Seyfert, awarded 1st place for the paper “Fostering the Awareness of Sound Modifications in Connected Speech in the EFLC with the Rap Song Changes by 2Pac”
• Sina Chiara Wintzer, awarded 2nd place for the paper “Using Virtual Reality in the EFLC for Auditory Learning”
• Mikail Kan, awarded 3rd place, for the paper “Easing LTI Tensions through the Use of the L2 Motivational Self System: an Autobiographical Approach”.
The ceremony concluded with heartfelt congratulations and a renewed sense of enthusiasm for the dedication shown in making language and cultural-literary education modern, creative, and innovative. The joyful moment was fittingly captured in a group photo with the winners!
Dr. Leo Will, Mikail Kan, Sina Chiara Wintzer, Stefanie Katharina Seyfert, and Prof. Dr. Ivo Steininger / Photo: Nancy Mezzio
