News & Events

We are delighted to welcome Dr. Ariel Chan to our department as Assistant Professor of Chinese and Applied Linguistics. Ariel received a Ph.D. in East Asian Linguistics from the Department of Asian Languages and Cultures at the University of California, Los Angeles in 2023 and comes to our department from Stanford University, where she was…

The Committee on Teaching (COT) presented our colleague, Maria Victoria González Pagani, with the 2024-25 Excellence in Teaching Award. Congratulations, Viqui!

As the first text to present, in one place, a comprehensive and systematic overview of Spanish language acquisition research, The Acquisition of Spanish: A Research Overview in Multilingual Learning Contexts discusses a range of theoretical perspectives that outline issues surrounding language learning and the gaps in its research and teaching. Drawing on classic and current empirical…

Bilingualism and the study of speech sounds are two of the largest areas of inquiry in linguistics. This Handbook sits at the intersection of these fields, providing a comprehensive overview of the most recent, cutting-edge work on the sound systems of adult and child bilinguals.

Lecturer Sakae Fujita receives the Excellence in Teaching Award 2023-24! Congratulations, Sakae! 

Bittar will conduct fieldwork on language use and change among Paraguayan immigrants in Spain.

Congratulations to Mark Amengual, Associate Professor of Languages and Applied Linguistics, who has been awarded UC Multicampus Research Programs and Initiatives (MRPI)

Vivencias: Lengua, cultura y sociedad a través de relatos sonoros is a multimodal text for advanced learners of Spanish based exclusively on authentic materials. Vivencias exposes students to testimonies of speakers from many parts of Latin America, including those from historically marginalized communities. Through the examination of complex social issues such as healthcare systems, environmental conflicts, and freedom…

We hosted an intercultural mixer with 24 visiting Mexican students and Spanish-language learners on campus. They were playing traditional Hispanic board games like Lotería, Parchís, and Dominó while speaking in Spanish. We all had such a blast!

On Friday, June 2nd, Maxine Uy Altura, a junior in the Applied Linguistics and Multilingualism major presented her research entitled “Cross-linguistic influence in Tagalog-English bilingual speech” at the Koret Undergraduate Research Slam at McHenry Library.

El Centro invited the Spanish language section in the Department of Languages and Applied Linguistics, to participate in their annual event “La Bienvenida 2023” on October 14th at the Quarry Plaza on campus.

On Monday, October 16th, the Chinese program brought our students together for a special collaborative class centered on the lively Mid-Autumn Festival, a significant Chinese holiday.

We are delighted to welcome Dr. Saori Hoshi to our department as Assistant Professor of Japanese and Applied Linguistics. Saori received a Ph.D in East Asian Languages and Literatures (Japanese) from the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa in 2017 and comes to our department from the University of British Columbia.

On May 10, the department of Languages and Applied Linguistics hosted a visit by Harbor High School students and their parents. The group consisted of 9 parents who form part of Harbor High’s English Learner Advisory Council as well over 30 students, many of whom have recently migrated to Santa Cruz from Latin-American countries.

On December 3, 2022, UCSC will host a memorial to celebrate the life of Miriam Ellis, lecturer emerita of French, fellow of Cowell College, and founder of the Miriam Ellis International Playhouse (MEIP)

The Spanish Studies program in the Department of Languages and Applied Linguistics at the University of California, Santa Cruz is proud of our alumni and their accomplishments. We are starting this Alumni Spotlight as a way of highlighting those alumni who are doing great things.

Miriam Ellis, lecturer emerita of French at UCSC from 1979 to 2004, died at home on March 14, 2022, a few hours before the seventh anniversary of the death of Paul, her dear husband. Her whole life, she shared a very close relationship with her children: her daughters Debra and Vicki, her son Jonathan and…

The Department of Languages and Applied Linguistics is delighted to announce the creation of the Peter Rushton and Jacqueline Ku Endowed Memorial Fund for Chinese Languages, thanks to support from Nicole Tsao and a generous gift from Philip Rushton.

Lecturer Edith Leni has received a grant to develop a Global Classroom partnership between UCSC and the Universidad Arturo Prat in Iquique, Chile.

A Spanish lecturer in the Languages and Applied Linguistics department, Javier Fernández-Agüera, brings a life-long passion for language combined with a heart for inclusion to the UC Santa Cruz campus.

The Spanish Studies program in the Department of Languages and Applied Linguistics at the University of California, Santa Cruz is proud of our alumni and their accomplishments. We are starting this Alumni Spotlight as a way of highlighting those alumni who are doing great things.

The Department of Languages and Applied Linguistics is excited to announce that the new Spanish Studies Undergraduate Minor has been approved.

Stephanie Lain, Lecturer in Spanish, selected as a 2018-2019 CITL Faculty Fellow.

The UCSC Bilingualism Research Laboratory facilitates research focused on the linguistic, social, and cognitive consequences of knowing more than one language. We are interested in how the bilingual language experience, language learning history, language dominance, proficiency levels, and cognitive factors affect the production, perception, and processing of both languages of the bilingual/multilingual individual.

Eve Zyzik has been named the Associate Executive Director of Language Learning.

Carine Rohmer, Lecturer in French, was honored with one of only six Excellence in Teaching Awards granted this year.

The Department of LAAL wishes to acknowledge Spanish Lecturer Alvaro Romero on the publication of his book.

My time in Taipei was extraordinary. I went into it with a bit of anxiousness about living on my own and functioning in a country where I wasn’t confident in my language ability, but by the end I discovered a new confidence.

Tonia Prencipe received a grant from the Italian Institute of Culture in San Francisco to partially sponsor a new course for Italian at UCSC.

We are delighted to welcome Assistant Professor Mark Amengual to our department. Mark received a Ph.D in Hispanic Linguistics from the University of Texas at Austin in 2013.