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Weekly UpdatesThe Center for Applied Linguistics is a private, nonprofit organization that promotes and improves the teaching and learning of languages, identifies and solves problems related to language and culture, and serves as a resource for information about language and culture. CAL carries out a wide range of activities in the fields of English as a second language, foreign languages, cultural education, and linguistics. These activities include research, teacher education, information dissemination, instructional design, conference planning, technical assistance, program evaluation, and policy analysis. Publications include books on language education, online databases of language programs and assessments, curricula, research reports, teacher training materials, and print and online newsletters.
Major CAL projects include the following:
* ERIC Clearinghouse on Languages and Linguistics
* National Clearinghouse for ESL Literacy Education
* The Cultural Orientation Resource Center
* Pre-K-12 School Services
CAL collaborates with other language education organizations on the following projects:
* Center for Research on Education, Diversity & Excellence
* Improving Foreign Languages in the Schools Project of the Northeast and Island Regional Laboratory at Brown University
* The National Capital Language Resource Center
* National K-12 Foreign Language Resource Center
* National Network for Early Language Learning
News from the ERIC Clearinghouse on Languages and Linguistics
* ERIC/CLL Resource Guides Online provide links to relevant resources on various topics in second language teaching and learning. Two new Resource Guides Online have recently been added to the ERIC/CLL Web site: American Sign Language and TESOL Certification.
* ERIC/CLL Digests cover a range of topics in ESL, foreign language, and bilingual education. Our most recent Digests include Using Call-and-Response to Facilitate Language Mastery and Literacy Acquisition Among African American Students, Using Cognitive Strategies to Develop English Language and Literacy, Heritage Spanish Speakers' Language Learning Strategies, English Language Learners and High-Stakes Tests: An Overview of the Issues, Thematic Literature and Curriculum for English Language Learners in Early Childhood Education, Nonnative-English-Speaking Teachers in the English Teaching Profession, Textbook Selection for the ESL Classroom, Interactive Language Learning on the Web, and Model Early Foreign Language Programs: Key Elements.
* The newest book in ERIC/CLL's Professional Practice series is English Language Learners With Special Education Needs: Identification, Placement, and Instruction, edited by Alfredo J. Artiles and Alba Ortiz. This book describes the challenges involved in identifying and placing English language learners with special needs and describes model programs and instructional methods that have been successful in helping English language learners with special needs meet their full potential.
* What Teachers Need to Know About Language, edited by Carolyn Temple Adger, Catherine E. Snow, and Donna Christian is the latest in ERIC/CLL's Language in Education series. Intended primarily for those involved in teacher education and professional development, this book addresses a crucial but heretofore undiscussed issue: the knowledge about language that teachers need in order to be effective educators in a linguistically and culturally diverse society.
News from the National Center for ESL Literacy Education
* New NCLE publications on reading and adult English language learners are now available. Reading and Adult English Language Learners: The Role of the First Language is an ERIC Q&A that looks at the relevant research and discusses how literacy in the first language can affect the acquisition of reading skills in English and the ways that instruction should be delivered. The book, Reading and Adult English Language Learners: A Review of the Research, addresses factors influencing adult literacy development in English and the process of learning to read in a second language as well as implications for practice and research.
* New NCLE publications on adult English language learners in the workforce and community include: Preparing for Success: A Guide for Teaching Adult English Language Learners, a book that addresses employment issues and related languages skills; and, English that Works: Preparing Adult English Language Learners for Success in the Workforce and Community, an ERIC Q&A that discusses how adult ESL educators can integrate workforce and civic life skills into their curricula and then convey these skills to their students through learner-centered instructional strategies and classroom management techniques.
* The current edition of NCLE's newsletter, NCLENotes, focuses on assisting adults learning English for the workplace and community.
* Also now available is the NCLE publication Adult English Language Instruction in the 21st Century, which describes trend and issues in program design and instructional practices, assessment, and integration of research and practice.
* NCLE has created an annotated list of online resources that teachers can use as they work to promote cultural understanding in the adult ESL classroom. Resources include NCLE publications, lesson plans and instructional materials, background on specific cultures and cultural groups, and information on topics such as intercultural communication, tolerance, and trauma.
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