Second languages and cultures (SLC) education

SLC graduate programs focus on language teaching, learning and use in a range of contexts and settings, including:

• World (foreign) language education
• English as a second or foreign language (ESL/EFL)
• Immersion and bilingual (dual language) education.

The coursework includes instruction for teachers and others who work with language minority and language majority students. By incorporating attention to all second language teaching and learning contexts within one program, we provide graduate students with the academic preparation and experience to work with students in a wide range of school and community contexts. SLC graduate programs provide preparation for those who are or will be teaching in K-12 schools, as well as for those who work with adult learners, teach at the university level, or conduct research in second languages and cultures.

Student profiles

Jason Martel

Joining the SLC track within C&I’s Ph.D. program after five years of teaching high school French has reshaped my career path in exciting ways. I am benefitting as a future foreign language teacher educator by studying other second language instructional contexts, such as ESL and immersion education. Working with student teachers allows me to make important theory-to-practice connections and cultivates my desire to study relationships among student teachers, classroom teachers, and university supervisors and how those relationships impact novice language teachers’ practice. I truly appreciate the example that the SLC professors set as both academics and people; they not only contribute significantly to the field of language teaching and learning, they are also committed to seeing all their students succeed by giving us the tools to have a meaningful impact in the field, whether in the academy or in the classroom.

Sachiko Horii

As a Russian and Japanese teacher, I joined the SLC track within C&I’s Ph.D. program to become a specialist in language teacher education and development. The program has provided me with a number of opportunities to explore and expand my research interests and develop my research skills to pursue them. The SLC faculty is a group of dedicated researchers who are constantly challenging and advancing their fields. The quality education that I am receiving is preparing me to become a specialist in my field and further expanding the future possibilities for my career path.

Faculty

Martha Bigelow
My primary research focus is on the language learning, academic progress, and cultural adaptation of adolescent immigrant/refugee youth, including the education policies and pedagogical practices that serve as barriers to their success.

Tara Fortune (affiliate member)
My research, teaching and professional outreach targets the program design and implementation needs of dual language and immersion educators. Current interests include struggling learners and character-based literacy development in immersion classrooms.

Kendall King
My research encompasses ideological, interactional and policy perspectives on second language learning and bilingualism, with particular attention to educational practices impacting language use among minority populations in Latin America and Spanish speakers in the U.S.

Susan Ranney
My teaching and research interests include questions regarding what second language learners require in order to become competent speakers of the target language and how teachers can promote language learning through contextualized and engaging classroom practices.

Elaine Tarone (affiliate member)
My variationist research on second language acquisition focuses on the description of the forms and functions of learner language, and the way learner language forms shift in relationship to social contextual factors such as interlocutor role and identity, task and topic.

Diane Tedick
My research interests focus on student language development and the pedagogy required for the successful integration of language and content instruction, particularly in dual language and immersion contexts.

Constance Walker
I have a longstanding interest in the schooling experiences of second language learners. My research interests include the identification of collaborative practices among school personnel that can best enhance students’ language development and academic content learning.

Revised October 2009