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Faculty Promotions

Congratulations to our faculty members on their promotions

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How Tomatoes Became Part of Egypt’s Culinary Story

Latest book by Arabic professor Anny Gaul

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Assistant Professor Michael Lavery Wins ACLS Fellowship

The Russian professor's project explores how Latin American fiction influenced and was reframed by Soviet culture

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2026 ARHU Commencement: Undergraduate Ceremony

We look forward to celebrating the important milestone of commencement with our graduates, their families and friends and our faculty and staff.

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2026 ARHU Commencement: Graduate Ceremony

We look forward to celebrating the important milestone of commencement with our graduates, their families and friends and our faculty and staff.

Read More about 2026 ARHU Commencement: Graduate Ceremony

Welcome to the School of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures in the College of Arts and Humanities at the University of Maryland, College Park.

We invite you to learn more about our languages and programs, our undergraduate and graduate degrees and our special programs like the Language House Living-Learning Program, the Language Partner Program, the Persian Flagship Program, Project GO and the Summer Language Institutes.

About Us

Undergraduate Programs

Undergraduate Programs

The School is a transdisciplinary teaching and research unit. Our students, faculty, and staff investigate and engage with the linguistic, cultural, cinematic, and literary worlds of speakers of ArabicChinese, French, German, Hebrew, Italian, JapaneseKorean, Persian, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish, as well as Cinema and Media Studies and Global Culture and Thought.


Graduate Programs

Graduate Programs

The School of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures offers three Ph.D. programs, four M.A. programs and an advanced graduate certificate in Second Language Acquisition. Our students pursue successful careers in academia, the government, secondary education and the private sector.

Graduate Programs

Faculty and Staff

Faculty and Staff

Search our directory to learn about our faculty and staff.

Directory

Alumni

Alumni

Stay connected with SLLC as an alum by sharing news of your accomplishments, joining our newsletter, attending events and giving back.

 

 


See SLLC in Action

The Qualitative Phase in Individual Differences Scale Development in SLA: A Methodological Synthesis

Four research questions examined how qualitative item development was documented, which methods and frameworks were employed, how item inclusion was justified, and how content validity was assessed.

Second Language Acquisition

Author/Lead: Moning Lyu
Contributor(s): Congyao Wu, Ruirui Jia, Ekaterina Sudina
Dates:

Self-report questionnaires on individual differences (IDs) are central to second language acquisition (SLA) research, yet the qualitative procedures that generate their item pools remain largely unexamined. Drawing on argument-based validation theory and cross-disciplinary measurement guidelines, this study offers the first systematic methodological synthesis of how that formative phase is reported. We reviewed 85 peer-reviewed SLA studies published between 1983 and 2025 that developed or substantially revised an ID scale, coding each along four dimensions: transparency, theoretical grounding, methodological rigor, and content-validity evidence. Four research questions examined how qualitative item development was documented, which methods and frameworks were employed, how item inclusion was justified, and how content validity was assessed. Results expose a pervasive reporting gap: Only 25% of studies described any qualitative data collection, 16% referenced an explicit theoretical framework, 2% linked draft items to participant quotations, and only one study reported a numerical content validity index. Details on coder agreement, reflexivity, and response-process evidence were nearly absent. These gaps threaten construct representativeness, invite cultural bias, and undermine validation claims. We translate our findings into a seven-section reporting checklist for the qualitative phase, with implications for editorial policy, doctoral training, and future meta-analyses.

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Discourse Markers in Persian Talk-in-Interaction: Actions and Practices

Provides the first book-length work on the subject of discourse markers in Persian

Persian, Persian Flagship, School of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures

Author/Lead: Ali Reza Abasi
Dates:
book cover for discourse markers in Persian

This book describes five ubiquitous discourse markers in Persian talk-in-interaction. It begins with a critical overview of literature on discourse markers and discusses why (neo)Gricean approaches have failed to provide descriptions that are grounded in and demonstrably relevant to how speakers actually use them in interaction, thus limiting their pedagogical value for teaching second language interactional competence.

Advocating the adoption of Conversation Analytic methodology (CA) to ground descriptions in empirical data, the book discusses the key fundamental structures of conversation implicated in the use of these markers. It then proceeds to describe in detail the interactional work of the five markers in separate chapters.

The book further addresses the challenging task of teaching discourse markers to second language learners. Uniquely, it offers a comprehensive pedagogical model informed by current knowledge about second language acquisition as well as CA descriptions, which can guide teachers and materials developers across all languages. It will be of interest to teachers and language learners (especially of Persian) worldwide, as well as academics and students in the field of Applied Linguistics.

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Julio Cortázar: cartas y (otras) lecturas

Uncover the intimate letters, fiery debates, and evolving friendship between literary giant Julio Cortázar and critic Saúl Sosnowski that reshaped the Latin American cultural landscape.

School of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures, Spanish and Portuguese

Author/Lead: Saúl Sosnowski
Dates:
book cover of julio cortazar: cartas y (otras) lecturas

Julio Cortázar: cartas y (otras) lecturas reúne una serie de textos en los que Saúl Sosnowski, uno de los más destacados críticos del latinoamericanismo contemporáneo y fundador de la revista Hispamérica, reconstruye su vínculo intelectual y personal con Julio Cortázar. A partir de cartas, entrevistas, intercambios y otros materiales, el libro recorre las redes culturales e intelectuales que marcaron una época, así como los debates, afinidades y tensiones que atravesaron el campo literario latinoamericano. Como señala Adriana Rodríguez Pérsico en el prólogo, en ese entramado documental sobresale la historia de una amistad que, con el paso del tiempo, transformó la relación inicial entre discípulo y maestro en un diálogo entre pares.

Julio Cortázar: Letters and (Other) Readings* brings together a series of texts in which Saúl Sosnowski, one of the most prominent critics of contemporary Latin Americanism and founder of the journal *Hispamérica*, reconstructs his intellectual and personal bond with Julio Cortázar. Drawing from letters, interviews, exchanges, and other materials, the book traces the cultural and intellectual networks that defined an era, as well as the debates, affinities, and tensions that swept through the Latin American literary field. As Adriana Rodríguez Pérsico points out in the prologue, standing out within this documentary network is the story of a friendship that, over time, transformed the initial relationship between disciple and master into a dialogue between peers.

 

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Land Acknowledgement

Every community owes its existence and strength to the generations before them, around the world, who contributed their hopes, dreams, and energy into making the history that led to this moment.

Truth and acknowledgement are critical in building mutual respect and connections across all barriers of heritage and difference.

So, we acknowledge the truth that is often buried: We are on the ancestral lands of the Piscataway People, who are the ancestral stewards of this sacred land. It is their historical responsibility to advocate for the four-legged, the winged, those that crawl and those that swim. They remind us that clean air and pristine waterways are essential to all life.

This Land Acknowledgement is a vocal reminder for each of us as two-leggeds to ensure our physical environment is in better condition than what we inherited, for the health and prosperity of future generations.

Office of Diversity and Inclusion