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Category: Language Education at CUNY

ILETC Receives U.S. Department of Education Grant

October 13th, 2020

We are pleased to announce that the Institute for Language Education in Transcultural Context (ILETC) at the Graduate Center, City University of New York, has been awarded a Title VI grant from the U.S. Department of Education’s International Research and Studies program.

The $169,450 grant will fund the Investigating Pedagogies for Advanced Proficiency (IPAP) project. With the aim to better serve heritage language learners enrolled in college-level language courses, the IPAP project will deliver new knowledge on: how different pedagogical approaches support proficiency development in heritage language learners; how proficiency in English relates to proficiency in the heritage language; and what language-using patterns look like in advanced writing of heritage language learners. From the findings, recommendations for instruction will be developed and made available on the ILETC website. While the core of the project will be conducted with Spanish heritage language learners, the project will conclude with an investigation of how to adapt its curricular model for Japanese language instruction, extending its research findings to the field of less commonly taught languages.

The IPAP project will be directed by Alberta Gatti (ILETC and Linguistics) and assisted by Syelle Graves (ILETC); its full team will include several CUNY faculty members and GC graduate students, along with specialists from outside CUNY. Central to the project is a collaboration with the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures at John Jay College.

To follow the progress of this project, visit the IPAP page (currently under construction) on the ILETC site.

 

LaGuardia Community College Receives UISFL Grant for 2020-2022

September 23rd, 2020

LaGuardia Community College has been awarded a United States Department of Education’s Undergraduate International Studies and Foreign Language (UISFL) program grant. 

The $170,915 grant will fund the Internationalization at Home: Redesigning Foreign Language Instruction and Forging Overseas Institutional Partnerships at LaGuardia Community College program, which intends to revamp the college’s modern language and international studies curricula while building international partnerships on both classroom and institutional levels. 

Founded in Long Island City of Queens in 1971, LaGuardia Community College serves highly diverse, low-income immigrant communities, with students representing 153 different countries of origin and over 100 distinct home/heritage languages. To better serve its students and the shifting demographics of its student body, the Internationalization at Home grant will provide professional development for faculty of Less Commonly Taught Languages (LCTLs). Professional development will include (modified) Oral Proficiency Interview certification, and training in how to recruit heritage students in LCTLs such as Arabic, Mandarin, Korean, Bengali, Nepali, Russian, Tibetan, Urdu/Hindi, Uzbek, and Haitian Creole, in collaboration with local organizations. Other grant-sponsored activities will include establishing an overseas institutional partnership with an analogous International Studies Program, introducing Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) to targeted courses, and designing and implementing co-curricular and experiential international programming. 

 A team of four LaGuardia faculty will execute the project: principal investigator Arthur Lau, Professor and Chair of Education and Language Acquisition; Tomonori Nagano, Associate Professor of Japanese and Coordinator of the Modern Languages and Literatures Program; Maria Savva, Associate Professor and Program Director of International Studies; and Olga Aksakalova, Associate Professor of English and Coordinator of the LaGuardia COIL global learning initiative. 

ACTFL Convention and Expo 2019

Presentations by CUNY Faculty

 

Professors

Eckhard Kuhn-Osius and Yoko Sakurai, (Hunter College), Jennifer Eddy, (Queens College), Evelyn Duran Urrea, (Lehman College), and Alberta Gatti (The Graduate Center) will be presenting in DC next week.

For details on their presentations, see below.

 

PROMOTING LITERACY THROUGH RESEARCH-DRIVEN GRAMMAR INSTRUCTION

The research on L2 grammar teaching, learning, and acquisition is vast. This panel will present how-to approaches to implementing the practical and theoretical research in classroom teaching, focusing heavily on the link between the development of grammar abilities and the development of literacy.

Session Presenter

Scott Windham, Elon University

Co-Presenter(s)

Eckhard Kuhn-Osius, Hunter College, CUNY
Marianna Ryshina-Pankova, Georgetown University

View Proposal

 

CONSTRUCTING EDTPA COMMENTARIES: HOW DO WE USE RESEARCH FOR PRACTICE?

This session focuses on EdTPA Commentaries, in which teacher candidates must justify planning, instruction, and assessment decisions using SLA and educational theory. Research data from all stakeholders on research and practice as well as strategies for preparing and mentoring candidates for the edTPA will be shared.

Session Presenter

Jennifer Eddy, Queens College CUNY

Co-Presenter

Dr. Mary Curran, Rutgers University

View Proposal

 

WRITING PROFICIENCY DEVELOPMENT OF SPANISH HERITAGE LEARNERS

This paper presents results of a pilot study intended to gauge the writing proficiency development of Spanish heritage learners through a four-semester heritage Spanish college course sequence. The study used an assessment tool modeled after the ACTFL Writing Proficiency Test, and had the goal of delineating recommendations for curriculum design.

Researcher(s)

Alberta Gatti, CUNY Graduate Center
Evelyn Duran Urrea, Lehman College

View Proposal

 

CAN-DO CRASH COURSE:  MAKE YOUR CLASSROOM MORE COMMUNICATIVE!

Have you tried to use Can-Do Statements, but can’t figure out where to start or how to implement them effectively in your class? This session will help you explore the possibility of redesigning activities based on real life situations and with an authentic and meaningful communicative purpose.

Session Presenter

Yoko Sakurai, CUNY, Hunter College

Co-Presenter(s)

Takami Taylor, University of West Florida
Mrs. Eiko Williams, University of Miami
Naoko Komura, Florida International University

View Proposal

CUNY Language Maps

Click on a Campus to See What Languages Are Taught There!

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Borough of Manhattan Community College: 40.718352, -74.011926
College of Staten Island: 40.601510, -74.150100
Kingsborough Community College: 40.578295, -73.935596
Brooklyn College: 40.630995, -73.954412
Medgar Evers College: 40.666205, -73.957372
New York City College of Technology: 40.695534, -73.987459
Baruch College: 40.740294, -73.983568
John Jay College of Criminal Justice: 40.770257, -73.988284
LaGuardia Community College: 40.744257, -73.937931
Hunter College: 40.768702, -73.964876
City College of New York: 40.820047, -73.949272
Hostos Community College: 40.817915, -73.926770
Bronx Community College: 40.857927, -73.912602
Lehman College: 40.873318, -73.894140
Queens College: 40.736290, -73.820286
York College: 40.700751, -73.797058
Queensborough Community College: 40.755758, -73.756360
The Graduate Center: 40.748649, -73.984007

MAP 1: This map lists the languages each college is registered to teach according to the the new CUNYfirst system.
Languages highlighted in orange are currently being taught (updated Spring 2017)

Click on a Campus to See Where Heritage Language Tracks Are Available to CUNY Language Students!

loading map - please wait...

Baruch College: 40.740294, -73.983568
Bronx Community College: 40.857927, -73.912602
Brooklyn College: 40.630995, -73.954412
City College New York: 40.820047, -73.949272
College of Staten Island: 40.601510, -74.150100
Hostos Community College: 40.817915, -73.926770
John Jay College of Criminal Justice: 40.770257, -73.988284
Kingsborough Community College: 40.578295, -73.935596
LaGuardia Community College: 40.744257, -73.937931
Lehman College: 40.873318, -73.894140
Medgar Evers College: 40.666205, -73.957372
Queens College: 40.736290, -73.820286
York College: 40.700751, -73.797058
Queensborough Community College: 40.755758, -73.756360
Hunter College: 40.768702, -73.964876
Borough of Manhattan Community College: 40.717875, -74.014227

MAP 2: This map lists where heritage speaker course tracks are available for specific languages in the CUNY system.
Languages highlighted in orange are currently being taught (updated Spring 2017).

Notice an error in one of these maps? Please tell us! Send an email to ILETC@gc.cuny.edu.