A Language Resource Center

The Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition at the University of Minnesota is one of several Language Resource Centers (LRC), whose role is to improve the nation's capacity to teach and learn foreign languages effectively. Through United States Department of Education (USDE) Title VI Language Resource Center program funding, CARLA has sponsored a number of research and action initiatives designed to advance the quality of second language teaching, learning, and assessment.

Projects funded by the LRC

In 1993, CARLA was established as a Language Resource Center at the University of Minnesota with funding from the USDE. Since that time, CARLA has received a total of six LRC grants and is currently funded through 2014.

Current LRC Projects

Projects under development during the sixth cycle of LRC funding (2010-2014) include:

Technology Project: To promote the use by K-16 language teachers of new technologies for more effective instruction, CARLA will develop a unique online course on how to teach languages online; coordinate technology workshops as a collaboration between the International Association of Language Learning Technology (IALLT) and ACTFL; offer symposia on teaching languages online at the annual conferences of IALLT and the Computer Assisted Language Instruction Consortium; and annually teach beginning and advanced summer institutes on using technology in language teaching.

Less Commonly Taught Languages Project: To better assess and meet the nation’s strategic needs for expertise in LCTLs, CARLA will survey users of its regularly maintained database to identify national LCTL trends; deliver an online course for LCTL teachers on the fundamentals of teaching for proficiency; and each summer offer its popular summer institute for LCTL teachers on materials development.

Language Assessment Project: To meet the need for improved language proficiency assessment in K-16 contexts and expand professional development in classroom-based language assessment, CARLA will create and pilot online modules for teachers on how to rate student speaking and writing; update and pilot new items on the Minnesota Language Proficiency Assessment battery (MLPA); undertake a multi-year professional development project in reflective practice on the relationship between students’ measured proficiency test scores and their teachers’ specific classroom practices; carry out a research study comparing K-12 student performance on four commonly-used assessments: the MLPA, OPI, STAMP and Linguafolio; and teach the popular summer institute on assessment.

Language Immersion Education Project: To deepen CARLA’s support for language immersion educators, CARLA will offer three popular summer institutes for immersion educators and administrators; host the Fourth International Immersion Education Conference in 2012, and plan for offer more frequent immersion conferences; and create video vignettes for the CARLA immersion website to showcase best practices in immersion teaching for on-demand professional development.

Languages Across the Curriculum Project: To advance the internationalization of postsecondary education through languages across the curriculum, CARLA will host the annual meeting of the Consortium on Cultures and Languages Across the Curriculum in October 2011; and develop and pilot a model third year “Green German” course that imparts advanced language skills through environmental and sustainability content.

Language Teacher Education Conference: To foster the exchange of research in language teacher education across the nation, CARLA will offer the 7th Biennial Language Teacher Education Conference, which it founded in 1999; and assist the National Capital Language Resource Center in hosting the conference in spring 2013 in Washington D.C.

Past LRC Projects

The CARLA projects funded as part of the LRC for the periods between 1993–1996, 1996–1999, 1999–2002, 2002–2006 and 2006–2010 are:

Immersion Education and Research (1993-2010)

Less Commonly Taught Language (1993-2010)

Language Teacher Education Conference (1999, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009)

Second Language Assessment (1993-2010)

Web-Based Grammar Strategy Instruction for Spanish (2006–2010)

Pragmatics/Speech Acts (2002-2006)

Content-Based Language Teaching with Technology  (1999-2006)

Culture and Language Learning (1993-2002)

Second Language Learning Strategies (1993-1996, 1999-2002)

Technology Training for Language Teaching and Learning (1996-2010)