CARLA Funding Sources

The Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition (CARLA) sponsors a wide variety of research and action initiatives related to second language learning. Funding for projects at CARLA has come from a variety of sources at the national, state, and local level.

The University of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota supports CARLA with generous infrastructure funding and in-kind contributions through its sponsoring unit, the Global Programs and Strategy Alliance. CARLA has received direct grants for specific purposes as well as supplementary funding support from many different University units for many of its conferences, seminars, and workshops.

Language Resource Centers (LRC)
CARLA has received key funding from the U.S. Department of Education's Language Resource Center program as authorized under Title VI of the Higher Education Act since 1993. This program supports several select Language Resource Centers nationwide to improve the nation's capacity to teach and learn foreign languages effectively. CARLA has received support for the Center's activities for eight funding cycles: 1993–1996 and 1996–1999, 1999–2002, 2002–2006, 2006–2010, 2010–2014, 2014–2018 and 2022–2026.

Project-Specific Funding

Social SCILS—Social Justice in Language Education: Strengthening Career Competencies, Intercultural Understanding, and Language Proficiency through Specialized Materials
CARLA’s Social SCILS project will develop and publish a suite of materials that address critical social justice topics (e.g., racism, global health, language policy, environmental sustainability) in Arabic, Chinese, Dutch, French, German, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, and Turkish. The project is funded from 2020–2023 by the U.S. Department of Education's International Research and Studies Program.

STARTALK: Transitioning to Teaching Language Online
This STARTALK program was offered for six consecutive years (2013–2018) to K-16 teachers of critical languages who wanted to learn how to teach their language online.

LCTL Database Enhancement Project
CARLA received special funding from the National Security Education Program (2012–2014) to systematically collect, organize, and disseminate information on language course instruction levels, assessment usage data and anticipated proficiency outcomes for critical languages taught in the U.S.

Asian Learner Language: Tools for Teachers
This project created materials for teachers to learn how to analyze learner language from five different perspectives, and consider ways you can support its development in the classroom. Materials include video recordings of learners using Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Persian in unrehearsed interaction, and multimedia activities, and a website that provides background information on learner language. The project was funded from 2009–2013 by the U.S. Department of Education's International Research and Studies Program.

TEAM UP (Teaching English Language Learners Action Model to Unite Professionals)
This project funded by the U.S. Department of Education's Title III National Development Program (2002–2007) was initiated as a collaboration between the University of Minnesota's College of Education and Human Development and CARLA.

Content Based Language Teaching through Technology (CoBaLTT)
The professional development component of this program was launched in the summer of 1999 with funding from the Eisenhower Professional Development Program through the Minnesota Higher Education Services Office. The program was developed with LRC funding from 1999–2002 and was funded for another round of LRC funding from 2002–2006.

The Quality Teaching Network
The Minnesota Department of Education has funded CARLA to provide coordination for the QTN for world language teachers in Minnesota (Spring 2003, 2003–2004, 2005–2006, 2006–2007).

Supporting Mainstream Elementary Teachers with High Numbers of English Language Learners
Originally launched with Title I funding, the Minneapolis Public Schools received funding from Title VII for five years to expand the project (1999–2004).

Maximizing Study Abroad Through Language and Culture Strategies
The research study on the impact of support material on study abroad was funded by the U.S. Department of Education's International Research and Studies Programs from 2002–2005. Project leaders incorporated feedback from the research study into the Maximizing Study Abroad guides, originally created through LRC funding 1999–2002.

Critical Languages Articulation Project
The project began in the fall of 1994 with funding from the Critical Languages and Area Studies Program of the U.S. Department of Education and ended in May 1999.

Proficiency Oriented Language Instruction and Assessment (POLIA)
This project was awarded two grants, one for 1997–98 and one for 1998–99, through the Minnesota Higher Education Services Office with funding from the federal Eisenhower Professional Development Program.

The Minnesota Articulation Project (MNAP)
This project received funding from the Fund for the Improvement of Post-Secondary Education from September 1993–August 1997 and the National Endowment for the Humanities from January 1994–August 1997.

English as a Second/Foreign Language (ESL/EFL) Teaching Technology Materials
This project was funded by a state supported non-profit corporation, Minnesota Technology, Inc.

Computer Adaptive Testing
In July 1995, CARLA received a multiple-year grant from the U.S. Department of Education's International Research and Studies Program. The grant was used for the development of computer administered reading tests in French, German, and Spanish.