Magda Tigchelaar

Prof. Tigchelaar received her M.A. in French Studies from the University of Guelph and her Ph.D. in Second Language Studies from Michigan State University. She specializes in second language writing, second language assessment, and second language teaching methods. In her French writing courses, she works with students to develop texts that can be published for diverse purposes, including applying for jobs and summarizing academic articles. Some of these student summaries have been published in the OASIS database (e.g., Alkhayara et al, 2025; Paes et al, 2025). Prof. Tigchelaar’s current research focuses on identifying relevant language tasks for writing and French as a second language programs and using GenAI for corrective feedback.

Current Courses

Summer 2025:

• FRE282 (Intermediate Language Practice: Written French)

Fall/Winter 2025-26:

• FRE282 (Intermediate Language Practice: Written French)
• FRE382 (Advanced Language Practice: Written French)
• FSL467 (Sights, Sounds, and Tastes of the Francophone World)

Education

• PhD, Second Language Studies, Michigan State University
• MA, French Studies, University of Guelph
• BA Hons, French Studies, University of Guelph

Areas of Teaching and Research Interests  

• Genre-based second language pedagogy
• Second language writing development, assessment and instruction
  • Corpus-assisted second language writing and teaching
• Task-based language teaching, assessment, and needs analysis
• Second language proficiency standards and their intersection with language instruction and assessment
• Self-assessment of functional language skills

Selected Publications

• Sivasubramaniam, T., Tigchelaar, M., Maynard, C. & Armand, F. (2025). Comment stimuler l’engagement dans l’écriture d’élèves immigrants en situation de retard scolaire? Le cas de textes identitaires en différentes langues maternelles au secondaire. OASIS Summary of Maynard & Armand (2021) in Canadian Modern Language Review. https://www.oasis-database.org/details/fazl45ysu
• Tigchelaar, M. & Forget, G. (2024). French writing tasks for undergraduate learners: A task-based needs analysis. TASK Journal on Task-Based Language Teaching and Learning, 4(1), 49–77. https://doi.org/10.1075/task.00027.tig
• Tigchelaar, M. et al. (2023). K–12 content teachers designing language tasks: A follow-up to Erlam (2016). Language Teaching Research, 0(0), 0-0. https://doi.org/10.1177/13621688221148449
• Tigchelaar, M. (2021). “I do the peer review by myself”: A Chinese international student’s approach to process writing. Writing and Pedagogy, 12(2–3), 395–422. https://doi.org/10.1558/wap.20355
• Tigchelaar, M. (2019). Exploring the relationship between self-assessments and OPIc ratings of oral proficiency in French. In P. Winke & S. Gass (Eds.), Foreign language proficiency in higher education. New York: Springer
• Tigchelaar, M. & Polio, C. (2017). Language-focused peer corrective feedback in second language writing. In H. Nassaji & E. Kartchava (Eds.), Corrective feedback in second language teaching and learning (97–113). New York: Routledge.
• Tigchelaar, M. (2016). The impact of peer and self review on writing development in French as a foreign language. Journal of Response to Writing, 2(2), 6–36.

Selected Grants, Fellowships and Awards

• Writing Development Initiative, Robert Gillespie Academic Skills Centre, University of Toronto Mississauga, 2022–2023, 2024–2025, 2025–2026, French Writing Course Development
• University of Toronto Work Study Program (Principal investigator), 2022–present, French (FSL) Program Evaluation
• Global Classrooms Funding Initiative, Office of the Vice-President International, University of Toronto, 2022, Liaisons Canada-Brésil