Phone:

(812) 855-2099

Email:

tlegden@indiana.edu

Department:

Current Faculty

Campus:

IU Bloomington

• Certificate, ACTFL/ILR OPI Tester Certification (Mongolian), 2016
• M.A., University of Humanities (Comparative Linguistics), Mongolia, 1996
• A.B., Irkutsk University of Education (Russian Language and Literature), 1980

Biography

Tserenchunt Legden was born and grew up in a nomad family in the Mongolian steppes, tending livestock during her school vacations. She learned riding horses and milking sheep and goats at 6-7 years and was a good jokey, participating in Mongolian Naadam horse races.

Tserenchunt joined IU as a visiting lecturer in 2004 and is currently a senior lecturer of Mongolian language at the Department of Central Eurasian Studies at Indiana University, Bloomington. She also started teaching the first at IU summer intensive Mongolian course in 2007 and this course is being taught annually since then.  

Before joining IU, Tserenchunt was the Director of Bridge International College, which was the first private college in Mongolia to teach Mongolian language and culture programs to foreigners. Tserenchunt developed proficiency-oriented programs of Mongolian language for foreigners in collaboration with Sharon Luethy, an American English language specialist.

After coming to IU, Tserenchunt standardized Mongolian language program at IU based on current advances and trends in foreign language teaching. In addition to teaching three or four courses every semester, Tserenhunt has been working on developing new Mongolian language textbooks and online courses.

Research Interests:

1. Language Pedagogy
2. Second Language Acquisition
3. Teaching Mongolian as a Foreign Language
4. The Phonology of Mongolian
5. Bilingual Dictionary

Current Projects

• Developing Intermediate Mongolian Textbook
• Developing Elementary Mongolian Textbook (currently in design)
• Online Intermediate Mongolian

Courses Recently Taught

• Introductory Mongolian
• Intermediate Mongolian
• Advanced Mongolian
• Summer Introductory Intensive Mongolian at SWSEEL
• Post-Advanced Mongolian

Publication Highlights

• A series of three Mongolian Language Textbooks for Foreigners: “Сайн байна уу” One, Two, Three, co-authored with Sharon Luethy, (Ulaanbaatar,1999, 2000, 2002, each of the book reprinted for 3-4 times).
• English-Mongolian and Mongolian-English Mini-Dictionary, co-authored with Uvsh Purev (Ulaanbaatar Mongolia; three editions in 2001, 2004, 2016).
• Survival Mongolian Course, co-authored with Sharon Luethy. (Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, 2001, 2002, 2007, 2011, 2014)

Selected articles and conference presentations:

Articles:

1. “Book Review of Colloquial Mongolian: An Introductory Intensive Course by Lubsangdorj and Jaroslab Vacek.” Mongolian Studies, Journal of The Mongolia Society, vol. XXXI, Bloomington, IN, 2009, pp.118-121
2. “Pursuing the Historical Traces of the Mongol Empire’s Ancient Capital Qara Qorum: Is Its name “Kharkhorin” or “Qara Qorom?” The Scientific Journal of the Academy of Science, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, 2006
3. “Proficiency Oriented Program of Mongolian for Foreigners,” The Proceedings of the Bridge International College, Volume 1, pp.83-87, 2004
4. “Mongolian Verb Voice Suffixes: Meaning and Use,” Theoretical and Methodological Issues of Teaching a Foreign Language to Asian Natives,1999, pp. 23-31.

Recent Conference Presentations

1. “Phono Semantics in Mongolian,” Conference on Central Asian Languages and Linguistics (ConCALL), Bloomington, IN, March 3-4, 2018.
2. “Teaching Mongolian at Indiana University and in the USA”, Fall Annual Conference of Japanese Association for Mongolian Studies, University of Shiga Prefecture, Hikone, Japan, 2017.
3. “The Mongol Language on the Silk Roads,” Workshop: Silk Road between Central Asia and China” hosted by Department of History, Peking University and Department of Central Eurasian Studies, Indiana University, May 13-14, 2017.
4. “Teaching Mongolian Pronunciation: Word and Sentence Stress,” 24th Annual Conference of the Association of Central Eurasian Students (ACES), Bloomington, IN, March 3, 2017.
5. "Exploring the Effectiveness of the Distance Language Classroom," the 14th Annual Conference of National Council of Less Commonly Taught Languages (NCOLCTL), Madison, WI, April 6-9, 2011 (co-presenter).
6. “Advantages and Disadvantages of Distance Learning and Class Management,” 13th Annual Conference of National Council of Less Commonly Taught Languages (NCOLCTL), Madison, WI, April 24, 2010.
7. “Sound Symbolism in Mongolian,” 17th Annual ACES Conference, Bloomington, IN, March 6, 2010.
8. “Modal Particles Common in Spoken Mongolian,” Mongolia Society Annual Meeting in conjunction with the Association for Asian Studies (AAS), Chicago, IL, 2009.
9. “Developing Mongolian Language Proficiency Guidelines and Proficiency Tests,” Mongolia Society Annual Meeting in conjunction with the Association for Asian Studies (AAS), Atlanta, GA, 2008.

Honors and Awards

• Order of the Polar Star of the Republic of Mongolia, 2011
• Excellence in Education National Award, Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, Mongolia, 2000