Language Learning supports Scholarship

Language Learning supports scholarship and research in language studies by means of a variety of grant programs:

• The Language Learning Dissertation Grant Program
• The Language Learning Roundtable Conference Program
• The Language Learning Distinguished Scholar-in-Residence Program
• The Language Learning Small Grants Research Program
• The Language Learning Visiting Research Assistant Professorship

 

The Language Learning Dissertation Grant Program

The Language Learning Dissertation Grant Program provides support for the research work of doctoral candidates in the language sciences. The grant is designed to cover actual expenses, up to $2,000 per grant, e.g. travel for data collection, essential equipment etc., connected with the research component of the dissertation. Applicants should be at the level of “advanced candidacy” and have a dissertation proposal approved by the relevant departmental authorities. Applications are invited worldwide and should consist of the abstract of the dissertation proposal, a detailed research budget, and letters of endorsement by the thesis supervisor and a university official agreeing to administer the grant if awarded. The names of recipients are published, once a year, in the September issue of the journal. Twenty Dissertation Grants were made in 2012.

The Language Learning Roundtable Conference Program

The conference program is intended to fund small roundtable conferences, worldwide, organized around a topic of significant current interest and resulting in a position or “state of the art” paper worthy of publication in an appropriate forum. The Board of Directors encourages small groups of senior investigators to get together for a day or two to discuss in depth a topic currently central to their field and to chart the course for its immediate future. Applications, in free form, are to be submitted by a Convener who assumes responsibility for organizing the conference and for the subsequent submission of a final summary report. Applications are to include a description of the proposed project, its rationale, a brief review of the relevant recent literature, a detailed budget, the names of the participants, their c.v.'s, and their agreement to attend the conference. Recipients for 2013 are Professor Jan Hulstijn, University of Amsterdam and Professor Aneta Pavlenko, Temple University. The biennial Alexander Guiora Conference on the Cognitive Neuroscience of Language Learning and Processing, established in 2005 in cooperation with the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen, continues this year under the coordination of Professor Núria Sebastián Gallés of the University of Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona..

The Language Learning Distinguished Scholar-in-Residence Program

This program is designed to enable university departments worldwide, representing the broadly defined area of applied linguistics, to host a distinguished scholar of their choosing for a week on their campus. Several fellowships are offered annually. The DSiR Fellow for 2012 was Professor Suresh Canagarajah, Pennsylvania State University, USA who visited the National University of La Plata, Argentina.

The Language Learning Small Grants Research Program

This program provides research support of up to $10,000, in direct cost only, for new research projects relevant to the language sciences. No overhead, indirect cost, or faculty stipends by the applicant's institution can be approved. Applications may be submitted by any academic institution worldwide such as a university or college. Applications are peer reviewed for scientific and technical merit. Recipients for 2013 are Professors Sudha Arunachalam, Boston University; Eva Kartchava, College Ahuntsic; Cristina Sanz, Georgetown University; Christine Shea, University of Iowa; and Natsuko Shintani, National Institute of Education, Singapore.

The Language Learning Visiting Research Assistant Professorship

In 1985 Language Learning, in a matching arrangement with the College of Literature, Science and the Arts of the University of Michigan, endowed a Language Visiting Research Assistant Professorship in Linguistics at the University of Michigan. The position is held for 2011-13 by Dr. Anne-Michelle Tessier.