LANGUAGE RESOURCE CENTER

                             Workshops and Information Sessions for Faculty

Building on the momentum of the Immersion Week on GAI in Language Instruction in December 2024, the Media and Design Studio (MADS) and the LRC co-hosted a series of workshops in winter and spring quarters: Hands-on with Copilot, Copilot for Student Assignments, and Student Perspectives and Futures. These sessions offered opportunities to explore and discuss effective use of AI tools in language instruction. 

The LRC also organized two information sessions: SESP Teacher Certification Program in World Language Concentration (Rebekah Stathakis and Gaby Langendorf) gave an overview of Northwestern’s Teacher Certification Program with a focus on its world language concentration; and Doing Research on Your Teaching: Resources, Tips, and Support at Northwestern (Denise Drane) showcased resources available to support research in language teaching.

Academic Support for Undergraduate Students and Advisers

To help facilitate support for students language study experience, the LRC deepened its engagement with college and first-year advisers through two Lunch and Learn Series presentations hosted by the Office of Undergraduate Education: Leveraging Language Learning on Campus and Beyond: Unlocking Career and Global Opportunities for Students and Navigating Language Pathways: Placement, Progression, and Proficiency at Northwestern.  

The LRC also maintained regular communication with the Weinberg Office of Undergraduate Studies and Advising, offering tailored support related to BTAA-CourseShare inquiries and enrollments, language placement tests, and general language study guidance. This collaboration has also resulted in the launch this upcoming summer of the Language Use Survey for new students of all undergraduate schools. This survey will help collect data on incoming students’ language speaking and language study backgrounds, as well as their plans to enroll in language courses on campus, in order to better understand their goals and needs.  

In addition, this year again the LRC will help promote language placement test deadlines through the Language Placement Summer Campaign on Instagram (#weinberg2029), and at the Academic Directions Fair during Wildcat Welcome 2025. 

Lastly, the LRC maintained a presence in the Learning and Technology Advisory Committee (NUIT), contributing to the Learning Technologies Portfolio Review and the Active Learning Spaces working groups.  

Faculty and staff can access resources and information related to advising on language study through the LRC’s webpage For Advisors.

Academic Support for Graduate Students

Graduate students can explore language learning opportunities and funding resources through the LRC’s For Graduate Students webpage. The LRC can also help students identify an appropriate institution where a language not taught on campus may be offered.

The LRC strengthened its partnership with the Academic & Professional Reading Institute at the University of Chicago to connect Northwestern graduate students with its APRI summer seminars, supporting those aiming to develop reading proficiency in world languages for research purposes.  

Additionally, Weinberg’s Decoster Grant for Language Study, launched in fall 2024, celebrates its first cohort of recipients: Klaudia Cierluk (Comparative Literary Studies/Slavic Languages and Literatures), Hannah Kadin (Comparative Literary Studies/English), Keegan Krause (Anthropology) and Barbara Polster (Comparative Literary Studies/Spanish and Portuguese). Congratulations!

Big Ten Academic Alliance – CourseShare and Language Center Alliance

2025 marks the 20th anniversary of CourseShare, a program launched by the Big Ten Academic Alliance Deans of Arts and Sciences to offer distance-learning courses to students at Big Ten Academic Alliance campuses. CourseShare allows students to take less commonly taught language courses offered at other Big Ten Academic Alliance institutions.  For more information on this academic initiative, read CourseShare at 20. 

Northwestern language learners continued to benefit from CourseShare offerings.  This academic year, a total of nineteen students - six undergraduate and thirteen graduate - were supported in Dakota, Ojibwe, Portuguese (Advanced), Quechua, Swedish, Tibetan, and Ukrainian. 

Furthermore, LRC continued to actively serve in the Big Ten Language Center Alliance, co-chairing the Executive and Steering Committees, as well as the Proficiency Working Group.

Event Support and Funding

LRC supported several enriching events organized by faculty from various language departments. These activities offered learners and educators a unique opportunity to engage with language and culture beyond the classroom: Brazilian Movie Night (Portuguese Language Program), Afro-Puerto Rican Bomba Workshop (Spanish Language Program), In Between: Performance by Ibrahim Miari and Language Learning in Context (MENA Languages Program); Field Trip to a Community Neighborhood (Arabic Language Program);  Workshop by Students in Japanese III for Students in Japanese I and II (Japanese Language Program); Festival of Languages and Cultures (Council on Language Instruction); and the 12th National Symposium on Spanish as a Heritage Language (Department of Spanish and Portuguese). 
 
If you are interested in organizing an event in your language program, please visit the LRC’s webpage Event Sponsorship for more information.

Faculty Highlights

Faculty in language departments have remained at the forefront in different areas and capacities, receiving grants to develop innovative curricular projects, publishing transformative research, and being recognized for their excellence on campus and beyond: 

Hewlett Grants:  

• Elisa Baena, María Barros, Irene Finestrat, and Julia Oliver Rajan: “Adapting the New Spanish Placement Test to the 21st Century: Making it More Accessible, Effective and Inclusive” 

• Denise Bouras and Marta Agüero Guerra: “Using Social Comics and Graphic Novels to Foster Critical Thinking and Intercultural Competence in Spanish Language Courses” 

• Irene Finestrat: “En Perspectiva: El español a través de sus comunidades 2.0” 

• Dominique Licops: “Creating Digital and Interactive Materials for Learning Grammar in the French 200-Level Courses” 

• Daniela Pozzi Pavan, Paola Morgavi, Massimiliano Delfino and Daniele Biffanti: “Intermediate Italian Language and Culture” 

Baker Faculty Grant:  

• Rana Raddawi: “Elementary Arabic Textbook”  

University Library OER Faculty Grants:  

• Eun Hee Kim and Ihnhee Kim: KOREAN 211 

• Dominique Licops: FRENCH 201-204 

• Rana Raddawi: ARABIC 111 

Awards: 

• Chin-Hung Chang ~ Weinberg Arts and Sciences Alumni Award 

• Heather Colburn ~ Council on Language Instruction Excellence in Language Teaching Award 

• Shannon Millikin ~ AATSP Distinguished Teaching Certificate 

• Claudia Quevedo-Webb, César Hoyos Álvarez, María Jesús Barros García ~ The Alumnae Award for Curricular Innovation 

• Yumi Shiohima ~ Charles Deering McCormick Distinguished Professor of Instruction 

• Ingrid Zeller ~ T. William Heyck Award 

Publications: 

• Biffanti, Daniele, and Daniela Pozzi Pavan. “Introducing Immigration and Integration in the Italian Language Curriculum: An Approach Based on ACTFL Standards.” Italica, vol. 101, no. 1, 2024, pp. 108–129. (link) 

• Pozzi Pavan, Daniela. “Il testo filmico nei corsi d’italiano: diversità e inclusione.” Quaderni del Master MITAL L2, 2024. 

• Thomé Williams, Ana C. “Teaching Portuguese as Planting Trees: Cultivating Roots, Bearing Fruit, and Sowing New Seeds.” Voices of Leadership: Women in Portuguese Language Education in U.S. Universities, edited by Nilma Dominique and Celia Bianconi, Portuguese Language Journal, Special Issue, 2024, pp. 69–74. (link) 

• Thomé Williams, Ana C. “A bênção, vó.” Avós e Netos, Uma Viagem de Afetos.  Aida Baptista e Manuela Marujo (orgs). Alma e Letra, Viseu. 2024, pp. 137-139. 

• Delfino, Massimiliano. “Preparing the Ground for Intercultural Communicative Competence through Stereotypes.” Second Language Research & Practice, vol. 5, no. 1, 2025, pp. 89–100. (link) 

• Radawi, Rana. “Empowering Voices: Nurturing Gender Equity through Intercultural Communication Education in the Arab World.” Intercultural Communication Education and Research in the Middle East and North Africa, edited by Hamza R'boul, Routledge, 2024, New York. (link) 

• Zeller, Ingrid, et al. Interkulturell: Intermediate German. Wayside, 2025 (link)

Council on Language Instruction Updates

The CLI began the academic year with a fall orientation workshop led by Professor Tom Garza, University of Texas at Austin, focusing on Gen Z learner identities in language instruction. Throughout Fall 2024 and Winter 2025, breakfast meetings showcased diverse faculty projects, including integrating Arabic poetry and popular Turkish TV shows into curriculum, Asian film series, and German international internships. A special talk by Mark Presnell, Director of Northwestern Career Advancement, emphasized the value of language skills in career development. The outreach committee organized the student poster event Africans and People of African Descent Across Languages, in collaboration with the Herskovitz Library and the Study of Islamic Thought in Africa. Spring highlights included the Chicago Language Symposium on AI and the Festival of Languages and Cultures, featuring interactive activities and student performances. The year concluded with a celebration honoring faculty achievements and CLI Award winners. Please read more about the CLI activities here.

Looking Back, Looking Ahead

As this spring quarter comes to an end, the LRC is grateful for the many opportunities to connect and innovate with colleagues and units on campus and beyond. We’re especially thankful to our close partners - Media and Design Studio, Council on Language Instruction, the Searle Center for Advancing Learning and Teaching, Teaching Learning and Technologies and the Office of Undergraduate Education - for their invaluable support. It has also been a pleasure deepening our collaboration with the School of Education and Social Policy, the School of Communication, The Graduate School, and the Associated Student Government.  

Special thanks to the LRC Advisory Board for their wisdom and guidance; the Language Proficiency Committee for its diligence and assistance; Weinberg Dean’s Office for their commitment to language learning; faculty and instructors for their excellence and dedication; and to all the students who took a language this year for their curiosity and motivation. You all drive our mission forward.