LANGUAGE LEARNING CENTER FACT SHEET

The Language Learning Center (LLC) serves more than 6,500 students annually. Our multimedia and technological resources enhance the language learning process, helping students develop language proficiency and satisfy University language requirements.

For language instructors, we support the integration of technology into language courses and make language learning more exciting, current, and relevant, by creating and providing access to resources that increase linguistic and cultural proficiency.

The LLC is a state-of-the-art facility housed in the lower level of historic (and recently renovated) Denny Hall. The center is home to two multimedia classrooms, a multi-lingual multimedia computer lab, an active learning video conferencing room, a media production studio, a media conversion editing and archiving suite, streaming satellite television, various tools to enable web delivery of multimedia, foreign language keyboards, as well as foreign and legacy format media conversion equipment. The center's computers are connected to high speed ethernet, allowing for high quality video conferencing and online streaming delivery of live video. Our facilities are used in a variety of ways to enhance language learning. Instructors bring their students to our digital classrooms for pair and small group communication practice, interactive listening exercises, and oral exams. Our self-study audio/visual labs are used by many language students. Our multilingual staff prepares and produces audio and video materials for use in language courses.

The LLC helps to provide testing for students who can demonstrate speaking and writing proficiency in a language not taught at the UW, in order to help satisfy the language exit requirement.

We create software specific to foreign language study including games, quizzes, assessment, and online practice. We provide workshops for instructors on new technology for enhancing language teaching and learning. We also support novel research projects related to the interface of technology with language acquisition and learning. 

UW Units Served

• American Ethnic Studies
• Asian Languages and Literature
• Cinema & Media Studies
• Classics
• College of Education
• English/English Language Program
• French and Italian Studies
• Germanics
• Jackson School of International Studies
• Linguistics
• Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures
• Scandinavian Studies
• Slavic Languages and Literatures
• Spanish and Portuguese Studies
• UW Professional & Continuing Education

• Akkadian
• American Sign Language
• Amharinya
• Arabic
• Aramaic
• Bengali
• Bosnian
• Bulgarian
• Chinese
• Croatian
• Czech
• Danish
• English
• Estonian
• Finnish
• French
• German
• Greek (Ancient & Modern)
• Hebrew
• Hindi
• Icelandic
• Indonesian
• Inuktitut
• Italian
• Japanese
• Kazakh
• Khmer
• Kirghiz
• Kiswahili
• Korean
• Krio
• Latin
• Latvian
• Lithuanian
• Lushootseed
• Makah
• Mongolian
• Navaho
• Norwegian
• Persian
• Polish
• Portuguese
• Romanian
• Russian
• Sahaptin
• Salish
• Sanskrit
• Serbian
• Slovak
• Spanish
• Swedish
• Tagalog
• Tajik
• Tamil
• Thai
• Tibetan
• Tigrinya
• Turkish
• Uyghur
• Ukrainian
• Urdu
• Uzbek
• Vietnamese

LLC also supports work in Linguistics.

The LLC tailors technology to the needs of UW students and instructors. We have developed a variety of interactive audio, video, satellite, and application resources for UW language courses (as well as self-study). These include:

• on-site active, archival, and online recordings of authentic culture and language content in more than 90 languages;
• more than 200 gigabytes of audio and video online streaming language learning and culture resources;
• digital satellite feeds in over three dozen languages; 
• textbooks and online dictionaries for less-commonly taught languages.

Among the many projects related to language education that the LLC manages or supports is a longitudinal research project, Mapping and Enhancing Language Learning (MELL), with the UW Center for Global Studies (GCS), Center for West European Studies (CWES), East Asia Center (EAC), the Ellison Center for Russian, East European and Central Asian Studies (REECAS), South Asia Center, Southeast Asia Center, Washington State Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI), Washington State Coalition for International Education, and Washington Association for Language Teaching (WAFLT) to research world language teaching trends in Washington state. Other projects include Culture and Linguistics for Cybersecurity (CLCS); Using music for teaching less-commonly taught languages and cultures; Vocabot; and Languages Without Borders.

The LLC utilizes cloud-based servers to deliver streaming media to the UW community. The center also supports Moodle, a learning management system that is particularly suited for language learning, and works with faculty to develop fully online and hybrid courses.

The LLC participates in a variety of collaborative partnerships:

• STARTALK: The LLC conducts summer combined student and teacher programs. The programs are funded through the National Security Agency. Our STARTALK student program is conducted totally in the target language using STEM content. The teacher program introduces teachers to current pedagogical models and best practices.
• GenCyber: The LLC conducts summer student programs. The programs are funded through the National Security Agency. Our GenCyber student program is conducted totally in the target language using cybersecurity content.
• Language immersion programs: With the Seattle Public Schools, the LLC and the UW language immersion committee support language immersion programs in Seattle’s international schools by assisting with technology, conducting research, and hosting workshops on heritage languages.
• Indigenous language education efforts: The LLC is honored to be able to work with our neighboring communities and Indigenous nations to support efforts to educate the next generation of Indigenous language speakers. Some projects include application development, online course development and hosting, resource archiving and distribution, as well as training with new Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) technologies.
• World language teaching: Partnering with the Washington State Coalition for International Education, the LLC contributes to workshops on world language teaching as well as assessment and early language learning. We also participate on the World Language Advisory Committee, for the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI).

The LLC maintains memberships in:

• American Association of Teachers of Slavic and East European Languages (AATSEEL)
• American Translators Association (ATA)
• Computer- Assisted Language Instruction Consortium (CALICO)
• International Association for Language Learning Technologies (IALLT)
• Northwest Association for Language Learning Technologies (NWALL)
• Northwest Translators and Interpreters Society (NOTIS)
• Satellite Communications for Learning Association (SCOLA)
• Slavic East European Teachers Association of Washington (SEETAW)
• Washington Association for Language Teaching (WAFLT)
• Washington State Court Interpreters and Translators Society (WITS)

Winter 2022

• 7 Full-time Staff
• 2 Graduate Students Supporting Language Departments
• 2 Hourly Student Employees

Language Learning Center
Box 353140
University of Washington
Seattle, WA 98195
(206) 543-0536
depts.washington.edu/llc

last update: December 2021