Grant Programs for 2024

The Board of Directors of Language Learning is pleased to announce the continuation of our grant programs for 2024 under the terms and conditions described below. Inquiries about the Language Learning Early Career Research Grant Program and the Dissertation Grant Program should be addressed to Prof. Eve Zyzik, Executive Director (ezyzik@ucsc.edu); inquiries about the Language Learning Research Grant to Registered Reports by Early Career Researchers should be addressed to Prof. Scott Jarvis, Journal Editor (Scott.Jarvis@nau.edu).

No currently acting member of the Board of Language Learning, its officers, Editors or Associate Editors, or short-term employees may apply for or be recipients or personal beneficiaries of any of the competitive grants awarded by Language Learning. Likewise, a doctoral candidate whose dissertation director is a member or officer of the Board, or whose dissertation director is an Editor or Associate Editor for Language Learning, is not eligible to apply for a Language Learning Dissertation Grant.

Language Learning Early Career Research Grant Program

In 2024, the Language Learning Early Career Research Grant Program will provide research support of up to $10,000 for up to three new research projects. Language Learning seeks to receive and review proposals for studies that are within the mission, scope, and areas of research published in the journal.

Eligibility. Applications for research grants may be submitted by any public or private academic institution, worldwide, such as a university or college. Each funded project will have only one principal investigator and no co-investigators. The involvement of research assistants is permitted (and encouraged, if they are students). Consultants are also allowed where the need is justified. The principal investigator must have completed his or her doctoral degree within the six years immediately preceding the application deadline (i.e., a PhD completion date no earlier than December 1, 2017, for grants awarded in 2024; or justified equivalent). This grant is not to be used to cover conference travel expenses. No overhead charges, indirect costs by the applicant’s institution, nor funds for work or release-time by the principal investigator are allowed.

Research Objectives. The Early Career Research Grant program provides limited and relatively rapid financial support, on a competitive basis, for research in the language sciences. Funding decisions will be based on scientific merit as determined by peer review using the review criteria below, with priority given to research that has the potential to lead to larger projects that are likely to attract future funding by major funding agencies.

Application Procedures. Applications are to be submitted in electronic format using the Language Learning grant application form (available upon request from the Executive Director) to the Executive Director of Language Learning by December 1, 2023. Confirmation of receipt will be sent within 10 days. Awards will be made in April 2024. The narrative portion of the grant application should include precise dates for the different phases of the proposed project.

Each application for an Early Career Research Grant should include an explanation of how the data and materials relating to the proposed research will be made available for open access in some form of registered archive such as IRIS or the Open Science Framework.  This requirement is in keeping with several journals, including Language Learning, which now use Open Science badges to recognize authors who make their data and materials openly available (see the Open Science Initiatives tab at https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/page/journal/14679922/homepage/ForAuthors.html). If the application is funded, at the end of the research activity the awardee will be expected to explain how others can access the data and materials on which the research is based. If the research leads to the publication of one or more articles, a brief note should appear in the published article describing data and materials availability. We recognize that sharing data and materials may not be appropriate in some cases. If this is the case, an explanation should be included in the proposal justifying why data and materials will not be shared with the research community.

The principal investigator (PI) of each approved grant will be expected to render an interim report 6 months after the beginning of the project and a final report 3 months after its completion. Language Learning assumes first right of refusal for any article-length manuscript(s) arising from the research funded by this grant. In any publications of the research, authors should acknowledge the support of a Language Learning research grant.

Review Considerations. Eligible applications will be evaluated for scientific merit by an appropriate peer review group (i.e., scholars with relevant content-related and methodological expertise) following a two-stage process. First, they will be reviewed in-house by members of the Language Learning Board of Directors and, if deemed appropriate, they will be sent out for external review. At both stages, each proposal will be assigned a categorical rating using the Review Criteria below. Grant proposals must receive positive recommendations to be considered for funding.

Review Criteria. When reviewing applications, the following criteria will be considered:

1. relevance to the mission, scope, and areas of research published in Language Learning
2. innovativeness/significance of the research idea; creativity and validity

of the approach; potential for further research

3. qualifications of the PI and other staff
4. appropriateness of the research design, methods, and analyses
5. appropriateness of the budget for the tasks proposed

Award Criteria. The Board of Directors of Language Learning makes final decisions on funding based on the peer review reports. Criteria for the funding of applications include the scientific merit of the application, relevance to the language sciences, and availability of funds.

Language Learning Registered Reports by Early Career Researchers Grant Program

Language Learning is pleased to offer the Language Learning Research Grant to Registered Reports by Early Career Researchers. Up to two grants of up to $10,000 will be awarded yearly by the Board of Directors to Registered Report (RR) submissions to Language Learning that receive in-principle acceptance in 2023 and/or 2024.

Research Objectives. The purpose of this grant is to foster a culture of Registered Reports and strengthen open science practices among junior scholars. General information about RRs in Language Learning can be found at https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/page/journal/14679922/homepage/registered_reports.htm. Full RR submission guidelines can be downloaded from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/page/journal/14679922/homepage/forauthors.html. The journal’s Editorial introducing Registered Reports and presenting the rationale behind them can be at https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/lang.12284.

Eligibility. Applications for Registered Research grants by early career scholars may be submitted by a principal investigator who is the lead author of a RR manuscript being submitted to Language Learning for review and who has completed his or her doctoral degree within the six years immediately preceding the application deadline (i.e., a PhD completion date no earlier than December 1, 2017, for grants awarded in 2024; or justified equivalent). The manuscript can be co-authored with other researcher(s), but the lead researcher on the research team must be an early career scholar. Article Publication Charges for Open Access are allowed. This grant is not to be used to cover conference travel expenses. No overhead charges, indirect costs by the applicant’s institution, nor funds for work or release-time by the principal investigator are allowed.

Application Procedures. To apply for this grant, authors submitting a RR to Language Learning should indicate in their cover letter to the Editor (a) that the researcher (or the lead researcher on the research team) is an early career researcher; (b) that they are applying for a Language Learning Research Grant to Registered Reports by Early Career Researchers; and (c) include a research budget for up to $10,000.

The Stage 1 manuscript will be peer reviewed following regular journal procedures, with no consideration of the proposed budget or availability of funds. That is, (a) the budget will not be sent to reviewers for consideration at Stage 1, and (b) early career researchers applying for this grant when submitting a RR to Language Learning are exempted from the stipulation in the regular RR journal guidelines that all necessary support (e.g., funding, facilities) must be in place at the time of submission of the Stage 1 manuscript. Once a Stage 1 Registered Report submission has received in-principle acceptance, the Board of Directors of the Language Learning Research Club will consider the application and judge the quality of the research and the appropriateness of the budget.

If awarded, the grant amount will be sent to the researcher's institution upon proof that they have publicly registered the in-principle accepted Stage 1 manuscript together with all accompanying materials and that they have obtained a timestamp of registration (e.g., on the OSF). The awarded author will also be asked to confirm at that time that all necessary support beyond the grant (e.g., other needed funding, facilities) and approvals (e.g., ethics) are in place. In the final publication of the research in Language Learning, as well as in any other subsequent related publications, authors should acknowledge the support of a Language Learning research grant.

Language Learning Dissertation Grant Program

The Language Learning Dissertation Grant Program is aimed at facilitating the research work of doctoral candidates in the language sciences. Language Learning seeks to receive and review proposals for dissertation studies that are within the mission, scope, and areas of research published in the journal. Please note there is only one dissertation grant application deadline, specified below, and that up to 10 applications will be funded in total.

These grants are designed to cover actual expenses—up to $2,000 per grant, connected with the research component of the dissertation (e.g., travel for data collection, essential equipment, compensation for participants, materials)—that have not yet been incurred prior to the date of the application. Applicants should be at the level of "advanced candidacy" (i.e., have completed required courses and comprehensive exams), and their dissertation proposal should have been approved by the relevant departmental authorities at their institutions.

Applications are to include an email with the following attachments:

• a one- to two-page abstract of the applicant’s dissertation proposal (single-spaced; references can be on a third page)
• a detailed research budget, not to exceed $2,000, with justification given for each item
• a CV (maximum 3 pages)
• a letter of endorsement by the applicant’s dissertation director, which can be submitted by the applicant or directly by the dissertation director. This letter should address the applicant’s strengths as a researcher, the value of the proposed study, and it should also include a statement that the dissertation proposal has been approved by the department and that the applicant’s primary data have not yet been collected.
• a brief letter signed by an authorized official of the applicant’s university (e.g., a grants and contracts manager in the university’s equivalent of an Office of Research and Sponsored Programs) confirming the institution’s agreement to the following conditions of the grant:

1. The university is willing to administer the grant.
2. The university will not charge overhead/indirect costs.
3. The university will allow the funds to be used only to cover actual expenses that have not been made prior to the date the grant is awarded.
4. The university will allow the funds to be used to cover expenses directly connected with the research component of the grantee's dissertation (e.g., travel for data collection, essential equipment, compensation for participants, data collection materials, analytical tools or materials) and nothing else (e.g., this grant is not to be used to cover conference travel expenses).

It is important that this letter also include the official’s name, mailing address, and email address because this is the person to whom the formal “Notice of Award” will be sent if the grant is approved. (The funds will be paid to the applicant’s university.)

Applications should be submitted electronically to Prof. Eve Zyzik, Executive Director (ezyzik@ucsc.edu). Dissertation grant applications will be received between July 8 and 15, 2024. Early and late submissions will not be considered.  Confirmation of receipt will be sent within 10 days. Members of the Language Learning Board of Directors will review all submitted applications and rank them according to the strengths of their research designs, how well they fit within the scope of Language Learning’s interests, and their potential to make meaningful contributions to current and future research in the language sciences. Applicants who are awarded a Language Learning Dissertation Grant will be encouraged to make the data and materials from their dissertation research available for open access in some form of registered archive, such as IRIS or the Open Science Framework, or to explain why this would not be possible or appropriate in their particular circumstances. Language Learning assumes first right of refusal for any article-length manuscript(s) arising from the research funded by this grant. In any publications of the research, authors should acknowledge the support of a Language Learning research grant.