• 2023-10-11 - Stanford University, USA has recently updated the list of the World's Top 2% Scientists. This prestigious ranking is based based on the bibliometric information in the Scopus database and includes more than 190,000 researchers from all the world out of about 9 million scientists, with 22 scientific fields and 176 subfields taken into account. UIUC's own Silvina Montrul is listed at number 94, out...
  • 2023-09-27 - We are thrilled to announce that Katherine Kwak, a second-year PhD student, received external funding from the Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi. With the Phi Kappa Phi Love of Learning Award ($1,000), Katherine plans to build an experiment for her qualifying paper and collect data at the Second Language Acquisition and Bilingualism Lab. ...
  • 2023-09-27 - Congratulations to Dr. Silvina Montrul, who was recently featured in the article "The Parents Trying to Pass Down a Language They Hardly Speak" in The Atlantic magazine! This article describes the perspectives of heritage speakers in the United States and features quotes from a phone interview with Silvina. You can read the article here.
  • 2023-09-26 - This year marks the start of the first fall semester with the Linguistics Department hosting the Oral English Assessment Interview (OEAI). This interview-based assessment - formerly the English Proficiency Interview (EPI) hosted by CITL - serves as an on-campus opportunity for international students to demonstrate their English proficiency and qualify to receive teaching assistantships...
  • 2023-09-22 - We are excited to announce that Dr. Silvina Montrul has been recognized with a Marjorie Roberts Professorship in Liberal Arts & Sciences! This professorship was granted based upon her excellent record of scholarship, contributions to diversity, equity, and inclusion, and contributions to public engagement. In particular, the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences recognizes Silvina for being a...
  • 2023-08-30 - We are excited to announce that the 17th meeting of Generative Approaches to Second Language Acquisition (GASLA-17) will take place here, at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, May 2-4, 2024.    Call for Papers  Generative Approaches to Second Language Acquisition (GASLA) 17 ...
  • 2023-07-31 - Congratulations to Dr. Mithilesh Mishra, Director of the Hindi and South Asian Languages Program in the Linguistics Department, for receiving the Service to Hindi Award by the International Hindi Association. The text on the Award plaque translates as follows: "The Service to Hindi Award by the International Hindi Association is given to Dr. Mithilesh...
  • 2023-07-18 - The Illinois ESL Program received funding from the LAS Student Success Innovation project for redesigning and improving its in-house e-textbook, Academic Writing for English Language Learners, to deliver a more accessible, inclusive, and engaging learning experience.
  • 2023-06-19 - Hassana Alidou, a 1997 PhD alumna of the Linguistics Department, known as a distinguished figure in the field of African studies and a strong advocate for promoting education in Africa, has passed away. We extend our condolences to those who knew her in our department and to her family, friends, and those whose lives she touched. For more information on the dedication and impact of her career,...
  • 2023-05-16 - The Department of Linguistics had their Year-End Graduation and Awards Celebration on May 5th, 2023. It was a wonderful time to reflect on the past year, and to recognize our amazing students. Congratulations to our awardees! We wish you continued growth and success! Awards Departmental Awards: Linguistics and Less Commonly Taught Languages Henry R. Kahane Award for Outstanding TA in...
  • 2023-05-03 - Joshua Dees, PhD student at the Department of Linguistics, and Katie VanDyne, PhD student in Spanish Linguistics, have just presented at the 59th annual meeting of the Chicago Linguistic Society (CLS 59)! CLS, hosted at the University of Chicago, is the oldest linguistics organization in the US that is completely student-run....
  • 2023-04-27 - Researchers at the University of Illinois have partnered with Immerse, a virtual reality language learning platform, and Meta—formerly Facebook, Inc.—to provide underserved high school students with headsets to participate in virtual reality (VR) language learning courses. Dr. Randall Sadler, Associate Professor of...
  • 2023-04-26 - Maxine Katz, master’s student in the Department of Religion, has been enrolled in Elementary Hindi (HNDI 201) since Fall 2022. HNDI 201 is part of a comprehensive range of courses for studying Hindi, offered in the Department of Linguistics under the instructorship of Dr. Mithilesh Mishra. Maxine has recently received a 2023 National Security Program (NSP) David L. Boren Fellowship to study...
  • 2023-04-21 - We are thrilled to announce that two of our students, Robert Herbolich and Natalie Klunke, have been awarded highly competitive scholarships. Robert has been awarded the prestigious Critical Language Scholarship (CLS). This will provide him with a unique opportunity to travel to Tanzania where he will study Swahili and immerse himself in the vibrant Swahili culture. Alongside other equally...
  • 2023-03-27 - The Linguistics graduate students at U of I just hosted the 15th Annual Meeting of the Illinois Language and Linguistics Society! The annual academic conference took place on March 3rd - 4th at the Illini Union and attracted a total of 134 attendees, including 15 faculty members and 89 graduate students from U of I and other universities....