Nancy Holden-Avard

Senior Lecturer in French

Specializations
Pedagogy; foreign language acquisition; curriculum development

Nancy Holden-Avard has numerous professional interests, which include stylistics and translation, error analysis, technology-enhanced instruction, French cultural studies, and learning styles. In 1999, she and a student received a Mellon Web Grant to create a curriculum Web site, which Holden-Avard intends to develop further during her next sabbatical leave.

Holden-Avard’s book Le Français sans peur gives students and instructors a creative, challenging, and upbeat approach to learning and teaching French. It offers a broad range of materials to accommodate students of varying levels in the same class and includes readings from several French-speaking countries around the world to help students better formulate cross-cultural comparisons.

Holden-Avard specializes in teaching elementary French courses. Her students consistently speak highly of her caring and friendly nature as well as her creative approach to teaching and dedication to their learning.