ACTFL is pleased to announce the 2025 awardees of its Research Priorities grants. Each grant project either initiates a new research study, supports or expands a study underway, or explores an emerging research area connected to one or more Research Priority areas. Projects were selected after a thorough review by an expert review panel. The selected projects will each receive a grant up to $3,800 – with $2500 payable upon acceptance and the remaining $1300 upon receipt of a final report and article submission to Foreign Language Annals (FLA).
“The empirical research projects that ACTFL has funded will further our mission and support world language teaching and learning. We appreciate the time and effort put forth by all applicants for these outstanding proposals; we also thank the dedicated Research and Assessment Committee for their careful reviews,” said Dr. Lawrence Paska, ACTFL Executive Director.
The purpose of the ACTFL Research Priorities Project is to support empirical research on six priority areas that are currently critical to improving World Language education. Priority areas include Assessing Learning Outcomes in P-16 Settings, Equity and Access in Language Learning, Equity and Access in Language Teaching, Immersion/Dual Language and Heritage Programs, Intercultural Teaching and Learning, and P-16 Language Educator Development. The recipients, their institutions, and project titles follow. Results will be shared with the ACTFL membership through presentations at future ACTFL Conventions and publications in Foreign Language Annals.
Assessing Learning Outcomes in P-16 Settings
- Kwangmin Lee, with Cynthia L. Korsmo, Western Michigan University: Reimagining True/False Tasks to Support Learner Reasoning and Peer Assessment: A Longitudinal Study of AI-Supported Assessment in L2 Spanish
- Tianyu Qin, University of North Georgia, with Rémi A. van Compernolle, Carnegie Mellon University: Developing Pragmatic Competence in Digital Interaction: A Computerized Dynamic Assessment of L2 Chinese Learners
Equity and Access in Language Learning
- Sharon Lai-LaGrotteria, Montclair State University, with Minkyung Choi, Montclair State University, and Zhongfeng Tian, Rutgers - The State University of New Jersey: Translanguaging for Belonging: Sustaining Cantonese Heritage Learners in the U.S.
Equity and Access in Language Teaching
- Lillie Padilla, with Miriam Akoto, Sam Houston State University: Afro-Latinx Representation in Spanish Language Education: Insights from Afro-Latinx Educators
Immersion/Dual Language and Heritage Language Programs
- Laura Solano-Escobar, with Valentino Rahming, University of North Carolina Wilmington: Curriculum, Identity, and Investment in Heritage Language Programs
Intercultural Teaching and Learning
- Elizabeth Carter, University of Arizona: Examining the long-term effects of short-term study abroad
- Jin Kyeong Jung, Texas Tech University: Global Connections: Cultivating Intercultural Communicative Competence in Virtual Language Classrooms
- Kiley Specht, University of Wisconsin-Madison: Analyzing Dialectal Awareness, Attitudes, and Listening Comprehension of Caribbean Varieties in L2 Learners
P-16 Language Educator Development
- Matt Coss, University of Alabama, with Caitlyn Pineault, Georgetown University: Trading Spaces: Expanding Researcher-Practitioner Communities of Practice Through Conference Participation
- Cori Crane, University of Alabama, with Melanie Mello, Gilbert Public Schools: Sustainable Professional Learning for K-16 German Teachers through Exploratory Practice
- Li Yang, Kansas State University: Professional Development in Pragmatics: A Training Program for Post-Secondary Foreign Language Teachers