ADVOCACY
At its core, advocacy seeks to guarantee people, especially those who are most vulnerable in society, to have the ability to express their voices on issues that are important to them, guard and protect their rights and have their views and wishes fully measured when decisions are being made about their lives. Advocacy enables people to share their views and concerns, access information and services, promote their rights and responsibilities and explore choices and options.
Located at an urban minority-serving Title III and Title V research university, the Center for Urban Language Teaching and Research (CULTR) remains a staunch advocate for the importance of language learning for all. A core value, CULTR’s advocacy initiatives aim to increase awareness of the national need and support for language education and global skills preparation among parents, schools, communities and the private sector.
Funding Cycle Projects
Guided by its core values, CULTR’s initiatives fall into four central objectives: professional development, career readiness, advocacy and research. Regarding advocacy, CULTR promotes awareness of the national need for language education and cultivates increased support for language education and global skills preparation among parents, schools, communities and the private sector. The following projects are laid out in the 2022-2026 funding cycle.
A1: Global Languages Leadership Meeting (GLLM)
At this unique event, a diverse group of industry leaders from business, nonprofit, government and education converges to forge collaborations that promote language learning and cultural competence for a bourgeoning global workforce. Invited attendees include school leaders, legislators, representatives from government agencies, as well as businesses and NGOs with international initiatives. Participants will meet to discuss, advocate for and promote language learning throughout the K-16 educational continuum. GLLM materials, including videos of the keynote and reports, will be posted on the CULTR website. The GLLM initiative will result in a Global Skills Profiles database, a searchable archive of industry profiles with information specific to the connection between industry success and language opportunities.
To stay up to date on this CULTR initiative, please visit the Global Languages Leadership Meeting page.
A2: Virtual Korean Education Advocacy
Thanks to a partnership between the National Foreign Language Resource Center (NFLRC) at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa and the Center for Urban Language Teaching & Research (CULTR) at Georgia State University, high schools in the U.S. —whether online or in person—will soon have access to two new online Korean language courses through the North Carolina Virtual Public School (NCVPS). This exciting project responds directly to growing student interest in Korean language.
As the 2019 Modern Language Association report highlights, Korean is one of the few languages experiencing enrollment growth nationwide. Launching in the 2025–26 academic year, the new Korean 1 and 2 courses will feature engaging graphics and authentic dialogues voiced by South Korean high school students—bringing culture and language to life in a dynamic online setting.
Because NCVPS is part of the national Virtual Learning Leadership Alliance (VLLA), these courses have the potential to be adopted by schools across the country, greatly expanding their reach and impact.
In addition to enhancing opportunities for students, this initiative also supports professional growth for Korean language teachers involved in the project, who are able to gain valuable experience in online course development and digital teaching practices—skills that are increasingly vital in today’s educational landscape.
A3: LCTL Education Advocacy
World language learning constitutes a transformative experience that affords academic and professional opportunities to students as they develop linguistic, cultural, and intercultural competencies. Such a process can be especially meaningful to non-traditional college students as they develop professional identities in relation to their future careers throughout their college years. To date, however, little is known about the impact of world language learning on college students’ trajectories of academic and professional identities development. This proposed multi-year, cross- institutional project aims to address this issue by focusing on a selection of undergraduate students enrolled in four less commonly taught language (LCTL) programs (i.e., Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, and Korean) at Georgie State University and Spelman College, a private, historically black women’s liberal arts college. Through a combination of quantitative and qualitative data collection methods, this project identifies individual pathways and group- level trajectories characterizing the students’ development in language competence, intercultural awareness, and professional identity. This longitudinal project promotes world language learning beyond higher education as lifelong learning.