Research Activities

This study will focus on language assessment in FLAS grantee programs and includes research on three different participant groups: 

FLAS Program Administrators: These are administrators within FLAS Fellowship programs at US-based institutions of higher education. 

IFLE Assessment Tool users: These are individuals within FLAS Fellowship programs who are responsible for administering the pre- and post-program assessment. Typically, these are language instructors in the program. 

FLAS Fellowship Recipients (Students): These are undergraduate or graduate college students who are funded by FLAS Fellowships to take part in intensive language study. They are administered the IFLE Assessment Tool as a pre- and post-program assessment of speaking proficiency. 

Phase 1

In Phase 1, we will first conduct two large-scale surveys and follow-up interviews with FLAS Program Administrators and fellowship recipients.

Phase 2

Phase 2 research will be conducted with IFLE Assessment Tool Users. As noted above, these are designated individuals within programs who administer the tool to students as a pre- and post-program assessment of spoken language proficiency.

Phase 3

In this phase, we will correlate the results of the IFLE Assessment Tool with external measures of language proficiency