Business Language Research and Teaching
Previous Grant Awards

2007

The first BLRT grants were awarded at the CIBER Business Language Conference in Columbus, Ohio, on March 30, 2007.

• Tomoko Takami, at the University of Pennsylvania, won a grant based on her proposal to develop learning materials using international business case studies for business Japanese.
• Haidan Wang, lecturer at the University of Hawaii, will use a grant to survey contemporary curricula and pedagogy used in teaching Business Chinese, in order to identify gaps between the existing programs and real needs in the working environment.
• Min Zhou and Miao Zhao, of Roger Williams University, will conduct research on more effective methods for teaching Chinese language and culture through Chinese commercials.

2007 grantees completed their research projects over the course of the year, and presented their findings at the 2008 CIBER Business Language Conference in Florida.

2008

In 2008 the Consortium decided to award research grants in three categories: One award for tenured/tenure track faculty ($5,000); A second for business language pedaagogy ($2,500); and a third to a Ph.D. candidate ($2,500). For the two $2,500 grants, the BLRT Consortium also provides funding for their attendence at the following year's CIBER Business Language Conference.

• Research Grant for Tenured/Tenure Track Faculty ($5,000)
  Dr. Ruey-Jiuan Regina Wu, at San Diego State University, will conduct a conversation-analytic study of the conceptualization of face in modern China and will explore its implications for business Chinese education.

• Business Language Pedagogy ($2,500)
  Margaret Gonglewski and Anna Helm, both professors at George Washington University, will explore the use of business cases in the foreign language classroom and identify best practices across disciplines.

• Ph.D. Candidate ($2,500)
  Pat McAloon, a graduate student at Ohio State University, will examine non-natives' use of Chinese at work and evaluate advanced language use in China-related careers.