Potential Research Topics for 2024

DEADLINE: July 1, 2024

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. Proposals can initiate a new research study, support/expand a study under way, or explore an emerging research area that is connected to one or more Research Priority areas. The Research Priorities are listed in alphabetical order and are of equal importance. The research grants are funded by ACTFL. Below each priority area is a list of sample research topics; research studies need not be limited to these topics.

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Topics may include but are not limited to:
- Articulation and learning outcomes within and across K-16 programmatic and curricular sequences
- Assessment of learning outcomes in relation to an instructional practice
- Study of learning processes and interactions
- Learner voices and experiences
- Influences of class size and course offerings
Topics may include but are not limited to:
- Heritage language learners
- Language preservation
- Disability and access in language education
- Underrepresented/historically underserved populations in language learning
- Multiculturalism, multilingualism and translanguaging
- Social justice, anti-racism, critical and culturally sustaining pedagogies in the world language classroom
Topics may include but are not limited to:
- Access, recruitment and retention of teachers
- Mentoring
- Underrepresented/historically underserved populations in language teaching
- Preparing language teachers for diverse settings (e.g., online, urban, mixed level classrooms) and populations
- Barriers to the language teaching profession
Topics may include but are not limited to:
- Content-based instruction
- Sustaining student enrollment
- Articulation to secondary and post-secondary
- Bi/Multilingualism and bi/multiliteracy
- Building and sustaining administrator capacity
Topics may include but are not limited to:
- Content and pedagogies
- Development of intercultural and global competence
- Learning contexts (service learning/study abroad)
- Intercultural Can-do Statements
Topics may include but are not limited to:
- Teacher education and certification programs
- Post-secondary language faculty development
- Professional development and continuing education (e.g., target language use in the classroom, pedagogical content knowledge, core practices)
- Mentoring
- Practitioner research (e.g., action research, exploratory practice)

When is the deadline?

The deadline for proposals is Monday, July 1, 2024 at 5:00 p.m. ET.

Who can apply?

ACTFL members may submit one application as a first author and be listed as a second or third author on one additional application. Priority will be given to applicants who have not received an award within the past three years.

What will happen next?

The Research and Assessment Committee will review proposals and select projects. Applicants will be informed of the selections in September, 2024. Selected studies will receive a grant of up to $3,800 from ACTFL to help defray some of the research costs. Recipients are expected to apply to present their research at the 2025 ACTFL Convention and agree to grant Foreign Language Annals right of first refusal of any articles that emerge from the research. Recipients will have one year after the award to finish their research and complete their submission to FLA. If a project is not finished within one year, recipients can apply for up to a one-year extension to finish the project.

Awardees will receive an initial grant of $2,500 and the remainder upon submission of the research article to Foreign Language Annals and the completion of a short report.

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Research Priorities & Grants

Potential Research Topics for 2024

DEADLINE: July 1, 2024

When is the deadline?

Who can apply?

What will happen next?