Funding & Research

The Language Resource Center offers grants for effective and innovative projects that enhance language instruction at Cornell. We welcome proposals from all languages and all levels of instruction. The grants are sponsored by the Consortium for Language Teaching and Learning, funded by Cornell’s College of Arts & Sciences, and administered by the LRC.

Grant selections are made in October of each year. Project activity is to be completed by the following June, aligning with academic years. Grants usually range from $1,000-$2,000. Should funds remain from the first round, a second call for proposals will be sent out in early spring (selection by March).

Lecturers, senior lecturers, and professors who are involved with language teaching and do not have visiting status are eligible to apply for grants. Graduate students are also eligible to apply, working under the supervision of a faculty member. Recipients are expected to update the LRC each month throughout the grant period on their project progress. Recipients will also present their results at an LRC end-of-semester workshop. Within 60 days of completion of the project, grantees are required to submit a report that will be posted on the LRC website.

Projects may include a wide variety of activities in support of the teaching and learning of languages on Cornell’s campus and across the Consortium. These activities include, but are not limited to:

• Development of instructional materials in print or multimedia format
• Projects that will lead to curricular innovation
• Research on the efficacy of projects or methodologies
• Professional development such as offering a workshop or symposium involving participants beyond Cornell

A list of previous projects is available below, including project reports.

Lecturers, senior lecturers, and professors who are involved with language teaching and do not have visiting status are eligible to apply for grants. Graduate students are also eligible to apply, working under the supervision of a faculty member. 
Individuals who have an open grant project are not eligible to apply. Only one proposal per individual per academic year is eligible for funding consideration. Preference will be given to applicants who have not received a grant in the previous two years.

Proposal Submission Deadline

February 20, 2025 (round 2)

Accepted proposals will be funded up to $2,000. The LRC Grants Committee may only partially fund projects.
All funds will be transferred to the recipient’s research account.

• Duration and Project Changes. Projects should be completed within the fiscal year during which the award is made. Extensions may be granted for periods of up to three months. Requests must be submitted by email. At the end of the fiscal year or any granted extension, unused project funds will return to the LRC account. Any significant changes in the activities, time frame, personnel, or budget must be approved in advance.
• Reporting Requirements. Recipients are expected to update the LRC each month throughout the grant period on their project progress. Recipients will also present their results at one of the LRC’s end-of-semester workshops. A final report needs to be submitted to cornelllrc@cornell.edu within 60 days of project completion and will be posted on the LRC website. Any materials should acknowledge in an obvious manner the support of the Consortium and College (e.g., “This project was supported in part by the Consortium for Language Teaching and Learning and the College of Arts & Sciences at Cornell University.”).
• Intellectual Property. Ownership of the materials that are developed should be considered at the beginning of a project. If there is interest in marketing the results of a Consortium project, please consult with the LRC Director.
• Human Subjects’ Rights. Please consult with the Cornell Institutional Review Board (IRB) for Human Participants about procedures involving human subjects or other permissions.
• You will need to determine whether materials you use will require any copyright permission. Consult with the Copyright Information Center for advice on when and how to seek such permission. If permission from the copyright holder is required, the LRC will need a copy of the permission letter before the project can begin.
• Purchases of equipment are eligible for support, but at the conclusion of a project it is expected that equipment will become part of the LRC’s holdings. Equipment may not be purchased for individuals and/or personal use.

Applications should be submitted online. 

A copy of the signature form (you can download the form from Box), including a signature from an academic unit head (chair, associate chair, etc.), needs to be emailed to cornelllrc@cornell.edu by the announced deadline, along with a current CV not to exceed two pages.

All those contemplating a project are encouraged to consult with members of the LRC Grants Committee or with previous successful applicants for help in developing their proposals.

Applications need to contain the following components:

1. Signature form (you can download the form from Box). Please note that this form needs to contain a signature from an academic unit head (chair, associate chair, etc.) and needs to be emailed to the LRC at cornelllrc@cornell.edu (can be submitted after the application has been submitted online but needs to be received by the deadline).
2. A project description (submitted online). Proposals should be written so that they are comprehensible to colleagues outside the specific language area. The description of your project should include:

• A rationale based on review of existing materials and views in the field
• A description of the materials to be developed, project, research design, or professional development event
• A timeline for the implementation of the project within the grant cycle, indicating when the work will be done and by whom as well as some indication of the amount of work that is to be done by each participant
• An itemized budget
• A budget narrative, explaining how funds will be used
• Expected results and their impact on your career, on the department, and on the field
• Explanation of how your project benefits the teaching and research mission of your department and/or your professional development

3. A CV not to exceed two pages (to be emailed along with the application form)

We strongly encourage applicants to consider the following criteria as they develop their proposals:

• Scalability - projects should have practical application beyond the individual faculty member’s classroom, either for other instructors in their language, other departments at Cornell, or an audience beyond Cornell;
• Feasibility - projects should be realistic in scope;
• Linkages to other university initiatives such as the Active Learning Initiative;
• Global engagement;
• Enhancement of Less Commonly Taught Languages;
• Bridges to other disciplines and curricular areas;
• Collaboration and partnerships, at the level of the classroom, curriculum, or institution;
• Engagement of communities outside the classroom;
• Accessibility and diversity;
• Support of intercultural skills.

The LRC Grants Committee is available to help frame or fine-tune proposals. Please take advantage of the opportunity to consult with the LRC prior to submitting your final proposal.

Cornell is a member of the Consortium for Language Teaching and Learning, an association of eight institutions of higher education (Brown University, the University of Chicago, Columbia University, Cornell University, Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Princeton University, and Yale University) dedicated to the study and instruction of second languages at the post-secondary level.

Here is a list of previously funded projects. Project reports are available on Box (you need to be logged in with your Cornell NetID).

Academic Year 2024-2025

• Chilometro Zero: Developing a sustainability curriculum in intermediate Italian (Valentina Fulginiti)
• Intiq wawakuna willaynin: Andean stories in elementary Quechua (Vanessa Gubbins and Eddy Machaca)
• Applied linguistics for translation and interpretation (Emilia Illana Mahiques)
• Qualtrics online Korean placement test (Meejeong Song)
• Zine Fest in the Spanish language sequence: Engaging writers of all levels through zine-making (Spanish Lecturers)

Academic Year 2023-2024

• Conversational materials development for elementary Nepali, Part III (Hom Acharya)
• Real-life scenes from urban life in Myanmar (Yu Yu Khaing)°
• TBLT video series: A cross-institutional collaboration (Emilia Illana Mahiques & Alan van den Arend)
• Topic-based lessons for intermediate Turkish (Banu Ozer Griffin)
• Elementary Korean online workbook (Meejeong Song)

Academic Year 2022-2023

• Conversational materials development for elementary Nepali, Part II (Hom Acharya)
• Understanding Bengal through textiles – A journey in history and culture (Razima Chowdhury)
• Interactive media materials for beginning Ukrainian (Krystyna Golovakova)°
• Updating elementary Japanese online exercises (Naomi Larson)°
• Bilingual meetings – Clube de Leitura Ubuntu (Denise Osborne)
• Challenge the digital through revival of the analog (Grit Matthias Phelps)
• Audio-visual materials for elementary Hindi (Sujata Singh)
• Academic writing practice for advanced Korean students (Meejeong Song)
• Sweet poetry (Thierry Torea)

Academic Year 2021-2022

• Conversational materials development for elementary Nepali, Part I (Hom Acharya)
• Italiano a fumetti: A multiliteracies approach to final assessment (Valentina Fulginiti) 
• Japanese online listening comprehension exercises (Naomi Larson)
• Art exhibition on migration and social justice (Emilia Illana Mahiques & Macarena López)
• Incorporating music into SPAN 1230 (Alice McAdams)
• Elementary Turkish through TV series (Banu Ozer Griffin)
• Online writing practice for intermediate Korean heritage students (Meejeong Song)
• Audio materials for Arabiyyat al-Naas II (Munther Younes)

Academic Year 2020-2021

• Materials for developing pronunciation and prosodic skills in the intermediate Spanish classroom (Emilia Illana Mahiques & Alice McAdams)
• Teaching Turkish through Turkish caricatures (Banu Ozer Griffin)
• Human-nature based listening materials for elementary-level Indonesian, Part II (Jolanda Pandin)
• Unity across language: Best practices in multilingual organizing for social change (Timothy Shenk)*
• Integrated listening and speaking practice for Korean 1102 (Meejeong Song)
• Review worksheet on elementary grammar for Japanese high-intermediate students (Misako Suzuki)
• Audio materials for the companion website of Arabiyyat al-Naas fii MaSr (Munther Younes & Makda Weatherspoon)

Academic Year 2019-2020

• Development of multimedia material for Business Chinese instruction (Zhihong Chen)
•  Living Latin in Milwaukee (Michael Fontaine)
• Template-based authoring tool for Web Audio Lab, Phase 2 (Slava Paperno)*
•  American Sign Language (ASL) curriculum enhancement project (Brenda Schertz)
•  Integrated listening and speaking practice for elementary Korean (Meejeong Song)
•  Video workbooks for intermediate Korean heritage students (Meejeong Song)

Academic Year 2018-2019

• Seneca's Trojan Women: A study in active Latin learning through drama (Daniel Gallagher)
• Material preparation for WAL course Burmese level 2: Situations (Yu Yu Khaing)
•  Genki 1: Japanese online particle exercises (Naomi Larson)
•  Japanese Hiragana, Katakana, and Kanji project on WAL (Naomi Larson)
•  Template-based authoring tool for Web Audio Lab (Slava Paperno)
•  German in-class pronunciation exercises (Grit Matthias Phelps)
•  Elementary Korean online writing practice (Meejeong Song)

Academic Year 2017-2018

• New WAL version of Swahili 2101 (Happiness Bulugu)
• Japanese online placement test – Review and revision (Misako Chapman)
• Creating new audio materials for Ancient Greek: Plato’s Euthyphro (Michael Fontaine)
• WAL materials for Burmese 1121 (Yu Yu Khaing)
• The vibe of video in Chinese: Exposure, engagement, and exploration (Frances Yufen Lee Mehta)
• Updating the German Studies portfolio applications (Gunhild Lischke & Grit Matthias Phelps)
• Human-nature based listening materials for elementary-level Indonesian (Jolanda Pandin)
• Online video workbooks for advanced Korean students (Meejeong Song)

*These projects were funded internally by the LRC.

°These projects were funded by a generous, anonymous donation.