Center for Second Language Research

The federally funded Careers in Language Education and Academic Renewal (CLEAR) grant provided the administrative infrastructure, staff, technology, and materials for developing and implementing an undergraduate liberal studies program in Bilingual Studies. This program is intended to promote academic success and foster heritage/foreign language abilities among K-16 students in Hawai`i. CLEAR specifically provides teacher education preparation for students from heritage language backgrounds who are interested in careers in K-16 ESL and heritage language teaching. Through working closely with the Hawaiian and Asian Pacific Department, the Department of Second Language Studies, and the College of Education at UH, the program helps undergraduate students develop academic abilities in their first languages, academic skills in English, and professional educational expertise in bilingual teaching across content areas.  A key developer of this program, Hye-sun Cho, conducted participatory action research with project participants, resulting in her doctoral dissertation (Cho, 2008).