Projects
English
for Heritage Language Speakers (EHLS)
Funder: U.S. Department of Defense, National Security Education
Program
September 2005 – August 2010
Many sectors of the U.S. government have expressed an urgent need for individuals with high levels of proficiency in both English and another language. CAL’s English for Heritage Language Speakers (EHLS) program responds to this need. EHLS enables heritage speakers of critical languages to develop professional-level English proficiency, with a particular focus on the language skills specific to the federal workplace.
CAL manages the EHLS program under contract with the National Security Education Program (NSEP), which provides funding. CAL’s responsibilities include assisting with recruitment of program participants, supporting development and refinement of the specialized curriculum and assessments, monitoring participant progress, and evaluating the success of the program.
During 2006, 2007, and 2008, program instruction took place at the University of Washington (Seattle, WA) and Georgetown University (Washington, DC). Since 2006, a total of 85 speakers of Arabic, Dari, Farsi, Hindi, Indonesian, Mandarin Chinese, Russian, and Urdu have graduated from the EHLS program.
The 2009 cohort of the EHLS program is taking place exclusively at Georgetown University and includes a total of 28 participants: four Mandarin speakers, three Farsi speakers, four Dari speakers, and 16 Arabic speakers.
Project background
Before initiating the actual EHLS program, CAL conducted a feasibility study to locate communities of qualified speakers of critical languages, determine their English language needs, ascertain areas of need within the federal government, and identify possible models and locations for the program. The report on the feasibility study is available in pdf format and can be downloaded by clicking the link below.
Read the report's executive summary
Download the full report
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