get involved

The Research Task Force seeks to involve all foreign language professionals in the research process by promoting consensus on the prioritization of questions and issues facing our field, and by encouraging familiarity with the broadest range of investigative approaches and study designs to ensure that those questions are explored in appropriate, credible and effective ways.

This task force represents multiple research perspectives drawn from anthropology; linguistics; social, cognitive and cultural psychology; second and foreign language acquisition; and theories of learning and development.

Activities of the Research Task Force include: supporting the work of the other task forces as they identify important research questions; using available venues (conferences, summer institutes, workshops, listservs) to identify and prioritize areas in need of exploration; promoting familiarity with investigative approaches with which our field has less experience (such as action research and ethnography); ensuring effective dissemination of research findings with special attention to questions of accessibility; promoting school-based action research with teachers; organizing special editions and on-going feature sections of professional journals devoted to research reports and their implications for policy and practice; mentoring and supporting doctoral students and new faculty beginning research programs; and examining the role and contribution of research in foreign language teacher education programs and professional development.

If you are interested in collaborating with colleagues from across the nation in one of these important initiatives, please contact the chair of this task force.