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| Fall 2009
News about Second Language Education and Research Activities at the Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition. |
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A New “Look” for the CARLA Website!! |
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We hope that you like the new website. If you see something that we missed, please let us know by emailing johnshoy@umn.edu.
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| CARLA Summer Institutes 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
CARLA summer institute participants—more than 3,100 to date—have come from all over the world. They have included foreign language and ESL teachers at all levels of instruction, as well as program administrators, curriculum specialists, and language teacher educators. The institutes that will be offered during summer 2010 are: Immersion 101: An Introduction to Immersion Teaching for Character-Based Languages This institute provides novice immersion teachers in character-based languages with the tools and information they need to survive and thrive in the immersion classroom. The institute also includes a two-day session for administrators of immersion education programs for character-based languages. Using Technology in Second Language Teaching Participants in this institute will learn how to use a wide range of technology resources and evaluate their uses in enhancing language instruction. Two sections are offered for teachers at different levels of ability/comfort with technology. Focusing on Learner Language:
Second Language Acquisition Basics for Teachers
Participants will learn to analyze learner language in light of research on second language acquisition and will then consider implications for language teaching. Meeting the Challenges of Immersion Education: Language and Learning Disorders and the Struggling Immersion Learner
Veteran immersion teachers will examine research and practice in addressing the needs of struggling immersion learners in immersion settings. Immersion 101: An Introduction to Immersion Teaching
This institute provides novice immersion teachers with the tools and information they need to survive and thrive in the immersion classroom. The institute also includes a two-day session for administrators of immersion education programs. Developing Materials for Less Commonly Taught Languages (LCTLs)
This summer institute will provide LCTL teachers with practical tools and hands-on experience in designing a wide range of materials that will improve their students’ abilities to use the language for communicative purposes. A special rebate of $150 will be available to teachers who submit satisfactory curricular material to the LCTL website. Improving Language Learning:
Styles- and Strategies-Based Instruction
This summer institute is designed to help language teachers maximize students’ ability to learn a foreign/second language through styles- and strategies-based instruction. Developing Assessments for the Second Language Classroom
Focusing on the alignment of standards-based curriculum and assessment, this institute includes an overview of the wide range of purposes in assessment, and step-by-step guidance in creating integrated performance assessments for classroom use. Culture as the Core in the Second Language Classroom
Weaving together theory and practice, this interactive institute will help teachers develop instructional strategies and practical tools for integrating language learning with a systematic culture curriculum. Language and Culture in Sync:
Teaching the Pragmatics of a Second Language
Participants will gain both theoretical and practical insights on teaching students how to use functional language appropriately in different socio-cultural contexts. Content-Based Language Instruction and Curriculum Development
This institute will provide foreign language teachers with the background and tools needed to implement content-based instruction (CBI) in their second language classroom. Registration Information The institutes have been developed and are offered with the support, in part, of the U.S. Department of Education’s Title VI Language Resource Center program. The summer institutes are co-sponsored by the University of Minnesota’s College of Education and Human Development and College of Liberal Arts. |
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| Advanced Practices in Second Language Teaching Certificate | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The new Advanced Practices in Second Language Teaching Certificate provides teachers with tangible recognition of their successful completion of a set of CARLA summer institutes. The institutes may be taken in any sequence, and institutes taken for credit previously can be applied to the certificate. Teachers seeking the certificate must complete at least 12 credits of the following coursework:
More Information
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| CARLA Seeks Teachers to Pilot Online Speaking Test | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
For more information see: http://www.carla.umn.edu/assessment/MLPA.html or email Ursula Lentz at: lentz003@umn.edu.
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CARLA Begins New Grant from the U.S. Department of Education |
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This fall CARLA director Elaine Tarone received a grant to provide professional development support for teachers of four critical Asian languages: Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Farsi (Persian) from the U.S. Department of Education’s International Research and Studies Program. The Asian Learner Language: Tools for Teachers project builds on the work done by Professor Tarone and Dr. Bonnie Swierzbin using an innovative approach to language teacher education, which was recently published in a book and DVD set for English as a Second Language teachers entitled Exploring Learner Language. Asian Learner Language: Tools for Teachers While more and more materials are being developed to teach important critical languages, there has been very little investment in the skills and knowledge of those who teach these critical languages. Without appropriate preparation of and support for critical languages instructors, even the most brilliant materials will be underutilized or even misused. The Asian Learner Language: Tools for Teachers project uses the theoretical framework of Exploratory Practice in an innovative approach to critical foreign language teacher education. Using this approach, the proposed project will produce multimedia materials on learner language for teachers of Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Persian. Why Focus on Learner Language? Second language acquisition research has shown that no matter what materials are used, learners of all languages have their own “built-in syllabus,” a common cognitive sequence of learner language development. Well-prepared, successful language teachers know how to fine-tune their use of teaching materials to maximize the development of this evolving learner language, but teachers of the less-commonly-taught critical languages typically do not receive the same level of professional preparation as their counterparts who teach other languages. Without this preparation, beginning language teachers tend to just “teach the materials” without monitoring learning results. Designed for use in self-study as well as in teacher development and second language acquisition courses, the Asian Learner Language: Tools for Teachers materials will include professionally-produced and edited video clips of eight learners performing a set of speaking tasks. Accompanying transcripts and activities will guide teachers through the process of identifying key elements of each learner’s language, and relating those insights to their pedagogical practice. The Asian Learner Language: Tools for Teachers materials will help teachers of Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Persian understand the developmental processes and sequences of learner language likely to occur in their classrooms and develop the hands-on skills they need to monitor the growth of learner language in their own classrooms so they can tailor their instruction to the needs of their students.
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| Spanish Grammar Strategies Website Goes Live! | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
After collecting a host of lively video and audio clips, along with graphics, drawings, “mind maps,” and other examples that demonstrate the strategies that students use to support their learning of Spanish grammar, they created a website that is attractive and easy to use. The website went live in June 2009 and reactions have been very positive. Check out this unique resource at: http://www.carla.umn.edu/strategies/sp_grammar/ An evaluation study of the site was conducted by two undergraduates at the University of Minnesota under the guidance of Professor Cohen. He and Ms. Pinilla-Herrera will present information about the website and the evaluation study at ACTFL. See details below.
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| American Council on Immersion Education (ACIE) Newsletter | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The ACIE Newsletter is in its 13th year of publication and the first issue for this year has just been published. The issue features articles by immersion teachers on best practices used in their classrooms and schools, a follow-up article from last year’s international immersion conference on immersion programs in New Zealand, and a tribute to the “father of immersion,” Wally Lambert, who passed away in August.
JOIN ACIE! ACIE members will receive the November issue and two other issues that will be published during this academic year. For details on membership, visit http://www.carla.umn.edu/immersion/ACIE.html And don’t forget the ACIE Archives: Over 150 archived ACIE articles are available at: http://www.carla.umn.edu/immersion/acie/index.html.
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| American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages Annual Conference | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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CARLA will be at booth #2147. Visit us and register for a drawing for a free CARLA Summer Institute. You can also get a copy of the just released CARLA Summer Institute brochure, the fall ACIE Newsletter, and CARLA Post-Its! CARLA Presentations at ACTFL Several faculty and staff members within the CARLA network will be participating at the following sessions at ACTFL this year. We invite ACTFL participants to attend these sessions! Communicating Grammatically: Evaluating a Learner Strategies Website for Spanish Grammar This presentation reports on the evaluation of a website providing strategies for learning problematic grammatical structures. While focused on Spanish grammar, the website uses English to convey grammar strategy information, and is intended to serve as a template for the construction of a similar website for learners of any language. Promoting and Supporting Hmong Students’ Heritage Language: Credit by Assessment Heritage languages of English language learners are a valuable resource for the students and their communities. Credit by examination is evidence of value placed on students’ heritage languages. This session presents development of a Hmong proficiency assessment for students to earn credit and earn the Minnesota world language proficiency certificate. Oral Proficiency Development of K-8 Spanish Immersion Students This presentation describes a multi-year assessment project, which culminated in a research study of K-8 students’ oral proficiency development involving four Spanish immersion programs. Researchers will present the study design and discuss findings. Session participants will be invited to discuss and problem-solve issues related to immersion language assessment. Feedback to Improve Proficiency: What to Say? Timely, high-quality feedback is essential for improving students’ speaking levels. This session presents video clips of performances at various ACTFL levels with samples of feedback to students. Participants will learn principles of effective feedback based on SLA research and apply them to speaking samples we will rate in this session.
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The CARLA Update is an electronic newsletter designed to give second language teachers and researchers current information on the programs and projects currently operating under the auspices of CARLA. You are also invited to visit the CARLA website at http://www.carla.umn.edu/. For more information about all the Title VI Language Resource Centers, visit our joint site at http://nflrc.msu.edu/. We hope that you enjoy receiving the CARLA Update on a quarterly basis. We encourage you to share this issue of the CARLA Update with colleagues who may be interested. Anyone can sign up to receive the newsletter at http://www.carla.umn.edu/about/mlist.html. If you would like us to take you off the list, please e-mail the center at carla@umn.edu. Elaine Tarone, CARLA Director |
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CARLA just went live with its new website (
The Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition (CARLA) at the University of Minnesota has sponsored a summer institute program for second language teachers since 1996. This internationally-known program reflects CARLA's commitment to link research and theory with practical applications for the classroom. Each institute is highly interactive and includes discussion, theory-building, hands-on activities, and plenty of networking opportunities.
The Department of Curriculum and Instruction in the College of Education and Human Development at the University of Minnesota announces an exciting opportunity for teachers of foreign languages and English as a second/foreign language to showcase their professional development work through the CARLA summer institute program. 
Project director Andrew Cohen and graduate student Angela Pinilla-Herrera led this initiative to create an engaging website for students of Spanish to learn how strategies can help them master tricky grammar forms. They interviewed many students and nonnative teachers to find out which grammar forms pose the greatest challenge for learners and what strategies the more successful learners employ to learn them. 