U of M language resource center receives new grant to improve Asian language instruction

Contacts: Jennifer Schulz, Office of International Programs, (612) 624-0557, schul160@umn.edu

MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL (08/13/2009) — The Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition (CARLA) at the University of Minnesota has received a grant from the U.S. Department of Education's International Research and Studies Program that will provide professional development for teachers of four critical Asian languages. The grant, Asian Learner Language: Tools for Teachers, will total over $440,000 over the next three years and will begin in September 2009. CARLA director Elaine Tarone is the principal investigator of the grant.

“We believe that the Asian Learner Language: Tools for Teachers project will improve the overall quality of language instruction and learning by investing in the development of the skills of teachers of these critical languages, helping them realign their teaching to better meet the learner language development needs of their students,” said Tarone, who is also a professor of English as a second language.

The grant will fund CARLA to develop multimedia materials for teachers to better understand and support their students' developing language skills in Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Farsi (Persian). The 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.

CARLA is one of 15 Language Resource Centers funded by the U.S. Department of Education and works to improve language teaching to benefit learners of all languages. CARLA also has a special interest in supporting improved teaching in languages that the U.S. deems "critical" for the future, such as Chinese, Korean, Japanese and Farsi (Persian). CARLA is a unit of the Office of International Programs at the University of Minnesota.