Explore presentations, publications, project updates, and resources on my website at: https://lanierlingvista.org.
I am an applied linguist with over 20 years of experience in language teaching and over 10 years in online learning and program administration. I am the Director of Michigan State University’s online graduate programs in Foreign Language Teaching, a project lead for professional development through the National Resource Center for Less-Commonly-Taught Languages (NLRC), and primary investigator on a multi-year study of collaboration and change in world language programs. My work as a scholar and educator focuses on the intersections of language, identity, culture, and technology, particularly in regard to critical and heritage languages. I am currently studying my sixth language, and I am also trained as an actor, director, and musician. Phone: 517-884-7764 Address: B135 Wells Hall 619 Red Cedar Road East Lansing, MI 48824
Language teacher development via video-based inquiry, 2023
Professional isolation and a lack of guidance for development are common experiences among instru... more Professional isolation and a lack of guidance for development are common experiences among instructors of less commonly taught languages (LCTLs). This article discusses virtual community building as a way to enhance practices among teachers of various LCTLs through virtual observation and annotation of video-recorded classes. We draw from lessons learned with the Virtual Video-based Inquiry for the Development of LCTL Teachers (ViVID) project to describe a structured onboarding and mentoring process where LCTL teachers form a community of practice to develop a shared repertoire of approaches to teaching LCTLs.
A guide to the Attitudes element of the Intercultural Competence framework to support language te... more A guide to the Attitudes element of the Intercultural Competence framework to support language teachers in guiding learner development over time.
A guide to support lesson planning for language teachers who want to develop intercultural compet... more A guide to support lesson planning for language teachers who want to develop intercultural competence in conjunction with proficiency.
As proficient speakers of less-commonly-taught languages seek to meet the demand for qualified in... more As proficient speakers of less-commonly-taught languages seek to meet the demand for qualified instructors, they face a range of personal and professional challenges. In an effort to understand the perspectives of these instructors and their particular educational experiences and needs, we conducted a phenomenological case study of two aspiring Arabic teachers. Specifically, we sought insights into their lived experiences, their motivations for pursuing a graduate degree, their attempts to connect coursework with pedagogical practices, and their needs in terms of professional development. Our findings illuminate the intersecting objectives these instructors must achieve. They need to position themselves as qualified candidates for the available positions as instructors, but they also need to reconcile a number of different roles as they develop their teacher identities and connect their backgrounds to ambitions for students’ growth. As teacher educators, we find that we need to faci...
Journal of the National Council of Less Commonly Taught Languages, 2010
Arabic language learning has received considerable attention in recent years due to its status as... more Arabic language learning has received considerable attention in recent years due to its status as a critical language, a heritage language,and a less-commonly taught language and its linguistic and sociopolitical complexity (Al-Batal, 2007; Wiley, 2007). Though the number of learners in the U.S. has increased dramatically since 2001 (Furman, Goldberg, & Lusin, 2007), much remains to be learned about learners' various needs and desires and the role of family support, particularly for younger learners. This paper draws on findings from surveys and interviews conducted at a U.S. public school with students in grades 6-8 and their parents. Results elaborate the motivations that students from different linguistic and ethnic backgrounds and their families bring to the learning experience. In particular, this paper defines heritage learners (HLLs), foreign language learners (FLLs),and religious heritage learners (RHLs) in this population and suggests implications for teaching these and...
A guide to the Attitudes element of the Intercultural Competence framework to support language te... more A guide to the Attitudes element of the Intercultural Competence framework to support language teachers in guiding learner development over time.
Using situated learning (Lave & Wenger, 1991) and communities of practice (Wenger, 1998) as our t... more Using situated learning (Lave & Wenger, 1991) and communities of practice (Wenger, 1998) as our theoretical framework, we focused on two female graduate students in applied linguistics as each attempted to negotiate memberships in multiple communities during an international exchange program. Eleven students at six universities took part in an internet-based intercultural communication course in addition to courses at their host university, generating data in the form of online postings, final course papers, emails to the instructor, and retrospective evaluations. Ines, a Mexican student in Canada, appeared to reconcile her identity successfully as a nexus of multimembership. Adrienne, a U.S. student living in Mexico, attempted to participate in practices at her host university but felt marginalized. Our analysis demonstrates the difficulty, complexity, and sometimes the impossibility of reconciliation as a process for weaving a nexus of multimembership into one identity when encoun...
The numbers of learners studying Arabic in the U.S. have increased more than any other language o... more The numbers of learners studying Arabic in the U.S. have increased more than any other language over the last ten years. As a critical language, important for strategic political and economic reasons, Arabic has received considerable support from the Departments of State and Education (Jackson & Malone, 2009; Wiley, 2007). However, Arabic is also a prominent heritage language, important for cultural and interpersonal reasons to the families and communities who speak it and for whom it is a binding force (Fishman, 2001; Van Deusen-Scholl, 2003). Nevertheless, research on learners of Arabic and their learning processes is still very limited. Existing studies have compared Arabic heritage learners’ motivation and the structure of their language knowledge with that of non-HLLs (Husseinali, 2006; Benmamoun, Montrul, & Polinsky, 2010), but HLL research has hardly addressed the complex social and cultural influences on their learning processes (He, 2010; Montrul, 2010). Drawing on investme...
Using situated learning (Lave & Wenger, 1991) and communities of practice (Wenger, 1998) as our t... more Using situated learning (Lave & Wenger, 1991) and communities of practice (Wenger, 1998) as our theoretical framework, we focused on two female graduate students in applied linguistics as each attempted to negotiate memberships in multiple communities during an international exchange program. Eleven students at six universities took part in an internet-based intercultural communication course in addition to courses at their host university, generating data in the form of online postings, final course papers, emails to the instructor, and retrospective evaluations. Ines, a Mexican student in Canada, appeared to reconcile her identity successfully as a nexus of multimembership. Adrienne, a U.S. student living in Mexico, attempted to participate in practices at her host university but felt marginalized. Our analysis demonstrates the difficulty, complexity, and sometimes the impossibility of reconciliation as a process for weaving a nexus of multimembership into one identity when encountering new practices across national borders.
Arabic language learning has received considerable attention in recent years due to its status as... more Arabic language learning has received considerable attention in recent years due to its status as a critical language, a heritage language, and a less-commonly taught language and its linguistic and sociopolitical complexity (Al-Batal, 2007; Wiley, 2007). Though the number of learners in the U.S. has increased dramatically since 2001 (Furman, Goldberg, & Lusin, 2007), much remains to be learned about learners’ various needs and desires and the role of family support, particularly for younger learners. This paper draws on findings from surveys and interviews conducted at a U.S. public school with students in grades 6-8 and their parents. Results elaborate the motivations that students from different linguistic and ethnic backgrounds and their families bring to the learning experience. In particular, this paper defines heritage learners (HLLs), foreign language learners (FLLs), and religious heritage learners (RHLs) in this population and suggests implications for teaching these and other comparable learner populations.
Language teacher development via video-based inquiry, 2023
Professional isolation and a lack of guidance for development are common experiences among instru... more Professional isolation and a lack of guidance for development are common experiences among instructors of less commonly taught languages (LCTLs). This article discusses virtual community building as a way to enhance practices among teachers of various LCTLs through virtual observation and annotation of video-recorded classes. We draw from lessons learned with the Virtual Video-based Inquiry for the Development of LCTL Teachers (ViVID) project to describe a structured onboarding and mentoring process where LCTL teachers form a community of practice to develop a shared repertoire of approaches to teaching LCTLs.
A guide to the Attitudes element of the Intercultural Competence framework to support language te... more A guide to the Attitudes element of the Intercultural Competence framework to support language teachers in guiding learner development over time.
A guide to support lesson planning for language teachers who want to develop intercultural compet... more A guide to support lesson planning for language teachers who want to develop intercultural competence in conjunction with proficiency.
As proficient speakers of less-commonly-taught languages seek to meet the demand for qualified in... more As proficient speakers of less-commonly-taught languages seek to meet the demand for qualified instructors, they face a range of personal and professional challenges. In an effort to understand the perspectives of these instructors and their particular educational experiences and needs, we conducted a phenomenological case study of two aspiring Arabic teachers. Specifically, we sought insights into their lived experiences, their motivations for pursuing a graduate degree, their attempts to connect coursework with pedagogical practices, and their needs in terms of professional development. Our findings illuminate the intersecting objectives these instructors must achieve. They need to position themselves as qualified candidates for the available positions as instructors, but they also need to reconcile a number of different roles as they develop their teacher identities and connect their backgrounds to ambitions for students’ growth. As teacher educators, we find that we need to faci...
Journal of the National Council of Less Commonly Taught Languages, 2010
Arabic language learning has received considerable attention in recent years due to its status as... more Arabic language learning has received considerable attention in recent years due to its status as a critical language, a heritage language,and a less-commonly taught language and its linguistic and sociopolitical complexity (Al-Batal, 2007; Wiley, 2007). Though the number of learners in the U.S. has increased dramatically since 2001 (Furman, Goldberg, & Lusin, 2007), much remains to be learned about learners' various needs and desires and the role of family support, particularly for younger learners. This paper draws on findings from surveys and interviews conducted at a U.S. public school with students in grades 6-8 and their parents. Results elaborate the motivations that students from different linguistic and ethnic backgrounds and their families bring to the learning experience. In particular, this paper defines heritage learners (HLLs), foreign language learners (FLLs),and religious heritage learners (RHLs) in this population and suggests implications for teaching these and...
A guide to the Attitudes element of the Intercultural Competence framework to support language te... more A guide to the Attitudes element of the Intercultural Competence framework to support language teachers in guiding learner development over time.
Using situated learning (Lave & Wenger, 1991) and communities of practice (Wenger, 1998) as our t... more Using situated learning (Lave & Wenger, 1991) and communities of practice (Wenger, 1998) as our theoretical framework, we focused on two female graduate students in applied linguistics as each attempted to negotiate memberships in multiple communities during an international exchange program. Eleven students at six universities took part in an internet-based intercultural communication course in addition to courses at their host university, generating data in the form of online postings, final course papers, emails to the instructor, and retrospective evaluations. Ines, a Mexican student in Canada, appeared to reconcile her identity successfully as a nexus of multimembership. Adrienne, a U.S. student living in Mexico, attempted to participate in practices at her host university but felt marginalized. Our analysis demonstrates the difficulty, complexity, and sometimes the impossibility of reconciliation as a process for weaving a nexus of multimembership into one identity when encoun...
The numbers of learners studying Arabic in the U.S. have increased more than any other language o... more The numbers of learners studying Arabic in the U.S. have increased more than any other language over the last ten years. As a critical language, important for strategic political and economic reasons, Arabic has received considerable support from the Departments of State and Education (Jackson & Malone, 2009; Wiley, 2007). However, Arabic is also a prominent heritage language, important for cultural and interpersonal reasons to the families and communities who speak it and for whom it is a binding force (Fishman, 2001; Van Deusen-Scholl, 2003). Nevertheless, research on learners of Arabic and their learning processes is still very limited. Existing studies have compared Arabic heritage learners’ motivation and the structure of their language knowledge with that of non-HLLs (Husseinali, 2006; Benmamoun, Montrul, & Polinsky, 2010), but HLL research has hardly addressed the complex social and cultural influences on their learning processes (He, 2010; Montrul, 2010). Drawing on investme...
Using situated learning (Lave & Wenger, 1991) and communities of practice (Wenger, 1998) as our t... more Using situated learning (Lave & Wenger, 1991) and communities of practice (Wenger, 1998) as our theoretical framework, we focused on two female graduate students in applied linguistics as each attempted to negotiate memberships in multiple communities during an international exchange program. Eleven students at six universities took part in an internet-based intercultural communication course in addition to courses at their host university, generating data in the form of online postings, final course papers, emails to the instructor, and retrospective evaluations. Ines, a Mexican student in Canada, appeared to reconcile her identity successfully as a nexus of multimembership. Adrienne, a U.S. student living in Mexico, attempted to participate in practices at her host university but felt marginalized. Our analysis demonstrates the difficulty, complexity, and sometimes the impossibility of reconciliation as a process for weaving a nexus of multimembership into one identity when encountering new practices across national borders.
Arabic language learning has received considerable attention in recent years due to its status as... more Arabic language learning has received considerable attention in recent years due to its status as a critical language, a heritage language, and a less-commonly taught language and its linguistic and sociopolitical complexity (Al-Batal, 2007; Wiley, 2007). Though the number of learners in the U.S. has increased dramatically since 2001 (Furman, Goldberg, & Lusin, 2007), much remains to be learned about learners’ various needs and desires and the role of family support, particularly for younger learners. This paper draws on findings from surveys and interviews conducted at a U.S. public school with students in grades 6-8 and their parents. Results elaborate the motivations that students from different linguistic and ethnic backgrounds and their families bring to the learning experience. In particular, this paper defines heritage learners (HLLs), foreign language learners (FLLs), and religious heritage learners (RHLs) in this population and suggests implications for teaching these and other comparable learner populations.
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Papers by Amanda Lanier
Related materials and project updates available here: https://maflt.cal.msu.edu/vivid.
Related materials and project updates available here: https://maflt.cal.msu.edu/vivid.