The Challenge – America’s Need for Competence in Multiple Languages

The United States has a critical need for professionals who can understand and communicate effectively with others around the globe; CASL is tasked with addressing this need and to overcome significant research deficits regarding:

• Accurate descriptions of languages and language variation
• Acquisition of languages, particularly to higher levels of skill
• Factors affecting language use and the impact of language skills on job performance
• The role of technology in supporting the use and learning of languages

OUR VISION – WHAT WE WILL BECOME
To be recognized and respected as the national resource for language research.

OUR MISSION – WHAT WE MUST DO  
University of Maryland Center for Advanced Study of Language is the nation’s only university-affiliated research center (UARC) dedicated to enhancing government language performance in the workplace.  Through our research partnerships, we must exceed the expectations of clients, commit ourselves to enterprise-wide values to achieve the highest levels of client satisfaction, and place an extraordinary emphasis on the creation of valuable products and services.

OUR ENTERPRISE VALUES – HOW WE WORK
Mission Driven - We are client-focused, conducting original research and effectively transferring knowledge
Trans-disciplinary - We integrate multiple academic disciplines and methods in our research
Collaborative - We work in close partnership with academe, government, and industry
Problem Driven - We solve real-world problems
Bold - We challenge established models and conventional knowledge
People Oriented - We value our CASL workforce, our research participants and the professional language cadres as our research supports
Excellence - We conduct the highest quality research
Accountable - We are good stewards of resources and improve through self evaluation
Trusted Agent - We serve our government clients’ interests objectively

OUR RESEARCH CHALLENGES
We have identified four broad-based problems that will guide our research agenda in the coming years.  Each area is posed as a question that we will ask ourselves to shape our agenda.

Acquire - How can we improve upon the acquisition of language and cultural knowledge?
Learn - How much can we learn about acquiring and mastering language skills?
Use - How can we enhance on-the-job language performance?
Invest - How can our research inform language public policy and programs now and in the future?