As of August 1st, 2011
THE CDLC has been officially closed
This is an archive website and it is no longer active
The Coalition of Distinguished Language Centers (CDLC) was
founded in October 2002 for the purpose of providing support
to the universities, institutions, and schools with programs
that teach foreign languages to the near-native level and to
individuals learning to those levels, whether at one of the
member institutions, at another institution anywhere in the
world, or working independently.
The CDLC is currently located in Washington,
DC. It serves as a central organ and instrument to provide
resources and publicity for its members, as well as for
institutions wishing to develop distinguished language
centers.
The lack of knowledge about how to develop
high levels of proficiency in foreign languages is a serious
deficit in the United States. Experience in teaching at/to
Level 3 (Superior) and Level 4 (Distinguished) language
proficiency is rare. The CDLC, indirectly through its
affiliates and directly through its various services, seeks to
foster collaboration among those experienced in this field in
order to improve upon the current status of high-level
language teaching, the importance of which increases as the
world becomes more globally interconnected.
The CDLC serves affiliated
institutions in the following and planned ways:
- Publication of a semi-annual
journal (Journal for Distinguished Language Studies)
and books devoted to theory, research, and practice;
- Organization and conduct of
conferences;
- Maintenance of a Washington Branch
for Instruction to serve as a conduit for internship,
as well as arrangement with appropriate institutions
for course work otherwise unavailable to/at
affiliates;
- Coordination of a comprehensive
research project to define Level 4 proficiency and
determine how best to teach/acquire it;
- Assistance with faculty development
efforts of affiliates;
- Maintenance of databases containing
research results;
- Facilitating collaboration among
member institutions;
- Advocacy and PR on behalf of
affiliates;
- Annual meetings;
- Small grants (planned for the
future) to jump-start new and "risky" programming;
- Communication and sharing of
information through a newsletter and listserve
(planned); and
- Awarding of a Certificate of
Nativelike Language Proficiency (for institutions
without their own such programs).
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The CDLC serves individual
members in the following actual and planned ways:
- Communication and sharing of
information through a newsletter and listserve
(planned);
- Awarding of a Certificate of
Nativelike Language Proficiency;
- Diagnostic assessment (through
affiliated institutions);
- Individualized Study Plans (through
affiliated institutions);
- Assistance with publishing on
high-level language learning topics;
- Opportunities for conference
presentations;
- Opportunities for assisting with
large-scale research projects (planned); and
- Course work (through affiliated
institutions);
- Annual meetings;
- Discounts on conference fees and
CDLC publications.
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