Departmental News

Dr. Burghardt Pivots Language Teaching in the AvatarWorld

Friday, March 27, 2026

SLS's Dr. Beatrix Burghardt has just completed an innovative project using the Virtual Speech platform to bring AI and virtual reality technology into her Communication Skills for International AIs (SLST-T502) course. During an 8-week long project, international graduate students practiced high-stakes classroom interactions with an AI-avatar to meet required English language proficiency standards of the course.Read more about this project on the VirtualSpeech website: https://virtualspeech.com/resources/case-studies/case-study-indiana-university-bloomington

Professor Sun-Young Shin's Paper Named Runner-up for ILTA Best Article Award 2024

Friday, March 13, 2026

IU SLS's very own Professor Sun-Young Shin and 2019 SLS PhD graduate Professor Senyung Lee (Chonnam National University, Republic of Korea) have had their co-authored article "Effects of the type of audio-visual input and listenability on young L2 learners’ listening comprehension" selected by the International Language Testing Association (ILTA) as the runner-up for the 2024 Best Article Award. The ILTA is a prestigious organization of scholars dedicated to promoting the improvement of language testing and assessment worldwide. Congratulations to Professor Shin and Professor Lee on this well-earned recognition!You may find a citation and link to the article below:Shin, S.-Y., & Lee, S. (2024). Effects of the type of audio-visual input and listenability on young L2 learners’ listening comprehension. TESOL Quarterly, 58(4), 1580-1608. https://doi.org/10.1002/tesq.3298

L2 Brain Lab Study Published with Journal PLoS One

Wednesday, October 22, 2025

Professor Laurent Dekydtspotter and collaborators from the IU SLS Second Language (L2) Brain Lab have published their new co-authored study "Cortical γ-oscillations implement basic language operations: Evidence from electroencephalography in anaphora during English filler-gap dependency processing" in the journal PLoS One. A full citation and link to the article may be found below: Dekydtspotter L, Miller AK, Meinert K, Cha J-h, Ahn JH, Swanson K, et al. (2025) Cortical γ-oscillations implement basic language operations: Evidence from electroencephalography in anaphora during English filler-gap dependency processing. PLoS One 20(10): e0333820. Https://doi. org/10.1371/journal.pone.0333820

DSLS Professor Rex Sprouse Awarded National Science Foundation Grant

Tuesday, October 29, 2024

Rex Sprouse, professor in the Department of Second Language Studies recieves a $457,000 National Science Foundation grant to co-lead a groundbreaking project that will make it easier to study how the German language has evolved over the past 900 years. Read the full news release here: https://news.iu.edu/college/live/news/38136-iu-researchers-awarded-450000-national-science

Dr. Bardovi-Harlig makes the Stanford Top 2% Scientist List

Monday, October 23, 2023

The annual list names the worlds top 2% of frequently cited scientists across all disciplines..

Professor David Stringer Featured in the Herald-Times

Monday, October 23, 2023

SLS Professor Mike Stringer has been featured in the Herald-Times...

SLS PhD Student Brian Rocca is Awarded Grant for his Dissertation Research.

Tuesday, October 10, 2023

The Journal: Language Learning has awarded DSLS's Brian Rocca a research grant to help fund his Doctoral dissertation....

National Science Foundation Gives Major Award to Professors Rex Sprouse and Christopher D. Sapp.

Wednesday, July 26, 2023

Professors Sprouse and Sapp receive grant for their work in Germanic Studies

J. César Félix-Brasdefe receives the 2023 James P. Holland Morley Award for Examplary Teaching and Service!

Thursday, June 15, 2023

Please join us in celebrating this amazing achievement!

Joint language program between SLS Practicum and Institute of English and American Studies of UD, Hungary concludes after three successful years.

Wednesday, May 17, 2023

The joint language program between Second Language Studies' Practicum and the Institute of English and American Studies of the University of Debrecen, Hungary concludes after three successful years.You can read more about the collaboration and participants' experiences here on the Institute of English and American Studies website.

Article Written by Danielle Daidone, Ryan Lidster and Franziska Kruger Goes Live on Open Access!

Wednesday, April 19, 2023

Join us in congratulating IUDSLS students Danielle, Ryan and Franziska on publishing an article that dives into free classification as a method for investigating the perception of nonnative sounds.You can read the article here as hosted on the Cambridge University Press website.

SLS Ph.D. student, Nora McNamara, awarded for presentation at IU Foreign/Second Language Share Fair

Friday, April 14, 2023

Nora McNamara, current Ph.D. student in Second Language Studies, was presented with two awards for her presentation at the Spring 2023 IU Foreign/Second Language Share Fair on April 7, 2023. Nora's presentation, Minimal Physical Response With Picture Dictionaries, was honored as Most Interactive Presentation and Most Useful/Practical Presentation.

Dr. Dudley Reynolds receives James E. Alatis Award for Service to TESOL

Friday, February 17, 2023

Dr. Dudley Reynolds has been honored as recipient of the 2023 James E. Alatis Award for Service to TESOL. Reynolds graduated from Indiana University in 1996 with a Ph.D. in Second Language Acquisition.

Practicum students teach English speaking course remotely to University of Debrecen students

Tuesday, January 10, 2023

Last spring, SLST-T 435/535 TESOL Practicum students partook in a continuing collaboration between IU Bloomington and the Univeristy of Debrecen. Under the supervision of Dr. Beatrix Burghardt, practicum students developed and delivered English lessons aimed at students studying English at the University of Debrecen. In a recent press release from the Faculty of Humanities of UD, UD students share their thoughts on the experience.

Dr. Beatrix Burghardt honored with award

Wednesday, November 30, 2022

Dr. Beatrix Burghardt honored at the Trustee Teaching Award, Center for Innovation Teaching and Learning Grants/Fellowships, and FACET inductees reception onNovember 29, 2022.

Kimberly Wan awarded Language Learning Dissertation fellowship

Tuesday, September 13, 2022

Kimberly Wan was awarded a Language Learning Dissertation fellowship for research expenses associated with her project, L2 English learners’ interpretation of pragma-prosodic meaning in conventional expressions.

Ph.D. graduate Paul Richards dissertation published by Language Learning and Technology

Monday, September 12, 2022

Recent Ph.D. graduate Paul Richards has had his dissertation article accepted by Language Learning and Technology for publication in 2023. The article title is "Pragmatic feedback on refusals in a computer simulated advising session."

Langscape publishes IU webinar on Indigenous resilience convened and moderated by David Stringer

Sunday, September 11, 2022

In July 2022, an edited transcript of the IU webinar on Indigenous resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic, convened and moderated by David Stringer, was published in Langscape.

TESOL Materials Writers Interest Section co-chair named

Saturday, September 10, 2022

Dr. Beatrix Burghardt is incoming co-chair of the TESOL Materials Writers Interest Section for 2022-2023.

Chair for Applied Linguistics Interest Section announced

Friday, September 9, 2022

Prof. Shin has started to serve as a Chair for Applied Linguistics Interest Section for year 2022-23.

SLS faculty and graduates publish new study online with journal Language Testing

Thursday, September 8, 2022

Y. Park, S. Lee, and Prof. Shin have published their recent study at Language Testing. Park, Y., Lee, S., & Shin, S.-Y. (2022). Developing a Local Academic English Listening Test Using Authentic Unscripted Audio-Visual Texts. Language Testing, 39(3), 401-424. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/02655322221076024

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