ACTFL Assessments are recognized as the gold standard. ACTFL proficiency tests are used worldwide by academic institutions, government agencies, and private corporations.
ACTFL-NFMLTA/MLJ Paul Pimsleur Award for Research in World Language Education
The Paul Pimsleur Award for Research in World Language Education was created in 1977 in response to the initiative of an anonymous donor. It was established as a memorial to Paul Pimsleur and recognizes his contributions to the profession as an outstanding teacher, researcher, and expert on test creation and interpretation. His professional influence was felt internationally, and his work lives on through the Pimsleur Aptitude Tests and the materials for independent language learning that he created.
Since 1989, recipients have received a $1,000 honorarium provided by the National Federation of Modern Language Teachers' Association (NFMLTA) and The Modern Language Journal. Beginning in 2001, $500 is awarded to the author and to the principal co-author(s) of articles chosen for the Pimsleur Award. The award is evidence of the commitment of ACTFL, NFMLTA, and The Modern Language Journal to research in world and second language acquisition and to the application of its results to the classroom.
The recipient(s) of the Pimsleur Award shall be the author(s) of an outstanding contribution to research in world language or second language education. The study shall have been published during the previous calendar year (i.e., the 2024 Award will be given for work published during the calendar year 2023). The quality of the research and its potential impact on world language learning or teaching comprise the principal criteria for selection. The research may be language-specific or language-general. Studies using any quantitative, statistical procedures for data gathering and data analyses, qualitative/descriptive research approaches, or mixed approaches will be considered. Each study will be assessed in the light of the salience of the question(s) asked, the appropriateness and rigor of its research approach, and the significance of its contribution to knowledge within the language education field.
Procedures for Nomination
ACTFL and Modern Language Journal will advertise the award widely and ACTFL will solicit nominations for the award from editors of relevant North American journals (such as, but not limited to, Applied Language Learning, Applied Linguistics, CALICO Journal, Canadian Modern Language Review, Foreign Language Annals, French Review, Hispania, Japanese Language and Literature, Journal of Chinese Language Teachers Association, Language Learning, Language Learning and Technology, Modern Language Journal, Studies in Second Language Acquisition, TESOL Quarterly, Unterrichtspraxis/Teaching German). Each editor may submit up to three nominations.
The recipient is not required to be an ACTFL member nor a subscriber to the MLJ.
The nomination dossier must include the following documents (in order):
Letter of support by the nominating editor.
Article for consideration.
Complete nomination dossiers must be submitted to ACTFL in one PDF file by the deadline.
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Procedures for Selection Committee
The award Selection Committee will be co-chaired by a member of the MLJ Editorial Board, appointed by the MLJ Editor, and a member of ACTFL, invited by the current ACTFL President. The co-chairs will serve in a non-voting capacity.
Committee members will be selected from those that apply as volunteers.
Committee members rate and rank the dossiers using the award rubric and return their ratings and rankings to the Committee Chair or Co-Chairs by an agreed upon date.
The Committee may meet as many times as needed to decide on the award recipient.
At the discretion of the Committee, the award may or may not be presented during a given year.
2023: Oana Costache Dutch Center for Language Education (Netherlands), Eva S. Becker University of Cologne (Germany), and Thomas Goetz, University of Vienna (Austria)
2022: Holger Hopp, Technische Universität Braunschweig (Germany); Dieter Thoma, University of Mannheim (Germany)
2021: Xiaowan Zhang & Paula Winke, Michigan State University and Shaunna Clark, Texas A&M University
2020: Kevin McManus, The Pennsylvania State University and Emma Marsden, University of York (United Kingdom)
2019: Marisela Bonilla López, KU Leuven (Belgium), Universidad de Costa Rica
2019: Elke Van Steendam, KU Leuven (Belgium)
2019: Dirk Speelman, KU Leuven (Belgium)
2019: Kris Buyse KU Leuven, (Belgium)
2018: Paulina Maczuga, University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada
2018: Mary Grantham O’Brien, University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada
2018: Johannes Knaus, Max Planck Digital Library, Munich, Germany
2017: Shoko Sasayama, Georgetown University
2016: Tara Fortune and Diane Tedick, CARLA, University of Minnesota
2015: Wendy Baker-Smemoe, Dan P. Dewey, Jennifer Bown, and Rob A. Martinsen, Brigham Young University
2014: Masatoshi Sato, Universidad Andres Bello
2013: Laurent Cammarata, University of Alberta & Diane Tedick, University of Minnesota
2012: Susan Gass & Luke Plonsky, Michigan State University
2011: Rachel L. Shively, Illinois State University
2010: Laura Collins, Pavel Trofimovich, Joanna White, Walcir Cardoso, and Marlise Horst, Concordia University, Montreal Canada
2009: Julie Belz, Indiana University and Nina Vyatkina, University of Kansas
2008: Matthew E. Poehner, Pennsylvania State University
2007: Paul D. Toth, University of Wisconsin-Madison
2006: Richard Donato, University of Pittsburgh
2006: Frank B. Brooks, Indiana University of Pennsylvania
2005: JoAnn Hammadou Sullivan, University of Rhode Island
2004: Hiram H. Maxim, Georgetown University, Washington, DC
2003: Junko Mori, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI
2002: Paul Toth, University of Akron, Akron, OH
2001: John Norris, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI
2001: Lourdes Ortega, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA
2000: Rob Schoonen, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands
2000: Jan Hulstijn, Free University Amsterdam, The Netherlands
2000: Bart Bossers, Free University, The Netherlands
1999: Matthew Saxton, Royal Holloway University of London, Surrey, England
1998: Roy Lyster, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
1998: Leila Ranta, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
1997: Richard Donato, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA
1997: Janis L. Antonek, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Greensboro, NC
1997: G. Richard Tucker, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA
1996: Teresa Cadierno, Odense University, Denmark
1995: Susan M. Gass, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI
1995: Evangeline Marlos Varonis, University of Akron, Akron, OH
1994: Susan Bacon, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH
1993: Catherine Doughty, Georgetown University, Washington, DC
1992: George Yule, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, and Doris M. Macdonald, Northern Illinois University, Dekalb, IL
1991: Michael D. Finnemann, Augustana College, Rock Island, IL
1990: Fred Genesee and Wallace E. Lambert, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
with graduate students Naomi E. Holobow and Louise Chartrand
1989: Russell N. Campbell, University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA
1989: Amado A. Padilla, Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA
1989: Marguerite Ann Snow, California State University at Los Angeles
1988: Teresa Pica, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
1987: Marva A. Barnett, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA
1986: Henry Edwards, Richard Clement, Bastian Kruidenier, and Marjorie Wesche, University of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
1986: Stephen Krashen, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA
1985: Patricia L. Carrell, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, IL
1984: Jacqueline Ross, Boulder Public Schools, Boulder, CO
1984: Charles Stansfield, Educational Testing Service, Princeton, NJ
1983: John E. Lalande II, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO
1982: Thomas C. Cooper and Genelle G. Morain, University of Georgia, Athens, GA
1981: Ellen Bialystok, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, Ontario, Canada
1980: Alice C. Omaggio, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL
1980: Janet King Swaffar and Margaret S. Woodruff, University of Texas, Austin
1979: William Flint Smith and Linda L. Nieman, Purdue University, Lafayette, IN
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