Jiede Empirical Research Grant

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The Jiede Empirical Research Grant for Chinese Pedagogy / Chinese Applied Linguistics 皆得學術研究基金

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CALL FOR PROPOSALS:

The Chinese Language Teachers Association invites proposals for the Jiede Empirical Research Grant, established in 2003 by an anonymous member, and enhanced thereafter by the original donor and other donors. The grant will support empirical research in Chinese pedagogy and applied linguistics that contributes to building a sound understanding of teaching and learning Chinese as a Foreign Language. The selected study will receive a grant of $2,000 with $1,200 payable upon acceptance and the remaining $800 upon submission of a one-page final report to the CLTA Awards Committee. The report must be submitted no later than the CLTA Annual Conference in the year following the award (e.g., receiving $1,200 at the 2026 CLTA Annual Conference and the remaining $800 upon submitting the final report by the 2027 CLTA Annual Conference).  The recipient is expected to fulfill one of the following requirements: 1) attend the CLTA Annual Conference Awards Ceremony and present their preliminary work in the year they receive the award (e.g., receive the award and present preliminary work at the 2026 CLTA Annual Conference); or 2) present their research findings at the CLTA Annual Conference in the year following the award (e.g., receive the award at the 2026 CLTA Annual Conference and present findings at the 2027 CLTA Annual Conference).

Eligibility:

Except for university/college tenured associate and full professors, applications from all teaching professions including assistant professors, instructors, lecturers, K-12 teachers, heritage school teachers, independent researchers, and graduate students in registered M.A. or Ph.D. programs who are current CLTA members (active membership from grant application to research presentation) and conduct empirical research in the Chinese language are welcome to apply. The recipient should have no other grant support for the same project.

Application:

Submit the following materials electronically to the CLTA Award committee at cltaaward@gmail.com, with the subject line of “2025 Jiede Application” the due date (September 30, 2025).

  1. A three to five-page proposal to include a clear description of the research project, such as the theoretical background, the objectives, research design and methods, timeline, and budget of the project (itemize in detail). Please do NOT identify yourself or your institution in the proposal.
  2. A separate attachment of a brief (two pages maximum) curriculum vitae, indicating your current status, institutional affiliation (if any), educational background and contact information.
  3. The completed award application form.

Deadline:

Proposals must be submitted by September 30, 2025. Applicants will be notified of results by December 1, 2025. Please follow the timeline indicated in this document for the 2025 Jiede Award cycle.

PAST RECIPIENTS OF THE JIEDE EMPIRICAL RESEARCH GRANT

 

 

2003: Helen Shen (University of Iowa)
Research Title: “Linguistic Complexity and Reading Comprehension Among CFL Beginning Learners.”
2004: Meng Yeh (Rice University)
Research Title: “Exploring Chinatown: Integrating Language, Culture and Community.”
2005: Miao-fen Tseng (The University of Virginia)
Research Title: “The Attrition of Production and Reception Skills in Mandarin Chinese.”
2006: Chan Lu (Carnegie Mellon University)
Research Title: “The Properties of Textbook Characters and its Influence on Character Learning for Learners of Chinese as a Second Language”
2007: Sun-A Kim (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)
Research Title: “Developmental Stages in Reading Chinese Characters as a Second Language”
2008: 1. Chang Pu (University of Texas, San Antonio)
Research Title: “Chinese American Children’s Bilingual and Biliteracy Practice and Development in Heritage Language and Public Schools”2. Dongbo Zhang (Carnegie Mellon University)
Research Title: “Teacher Questioning in Chinese-as-a-Foreign-Language Classrooms: A Sociocultural Approach”
2009: 1. Shu-Ling Wu (University of Hawai’i at Manoa)
Research Title: “Learning to Express Motion Events in L2 Chinese”2. Yang Chunsheng (The Ohio State University)
Research Title: “The acquisition of Mandarin prosody by American CFL Learners”
2010: 1. Chen-huei WU 吳貞慧 (University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign)
Research Title: “A Corpus Study of Native and Non-native Accented Speech: Learning Chinese as a Foreign Language”2. Li YANG 杨黎 (The University of Iowa)
Research Title: “Pragmatic and Grammatical Awareness in CSL and CFL Contexts”
2011: Yi Xu (University of Pittsburgh)
Research Title: “Instructional Instrument to Develop the Reading Ability in Chinese”
2013: Yingling Bao (Indiana University, Bloomington) and Wenhao Diao (Carnegie Mellon University)
Research Title: “Writing to Build Shi: Chinese Learners’ Rhetoric Structure as Cultural Praxis”
2014: Yun Yao (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)
Research Title: “Chinese Character Recognition in Native and Second Language Learners”
2015: Haomin Zhang (Carnegie Mellon University)
Research Title: “Lexical Inference Ability in Chinese as a Heritage Language Learners”
2016: Eric A. Pelzl (University of Maryland)
Research Title: “Native Chinese Listeners’ Comprehension and Processing of Foreign-Accented Mandarin Speech”
2017: Tianyu Qin (秦天玉) (Carnegie Mellon University)
Research Title: “Dynamic Assessment of L2 Chinese Implicature Comprehension”
2018: Hang Zheng (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)
Research Title: “Processing strategies in NSs and NNSs’ reading of Chinese formulaic sequences: What can think-aloud protocols tell us?”
2019: Zhiying Qian (Florida State University)
Research Title: Research title: “The effect of musical pitch training on second language acquisition of Mandarin lexical tones”.
2020-21: Zhou, Jieyu (University of Washington)
Research Title: Research title: “Improving Elementary-Level Chinese Learners’ Narrative Skill and Language Cohesiveness through Explicit Instruction and Practice on Topic Chain – A pedagogical Intervention”Jun Lang (University of Oregon)
Research title: “Bridging linguistic theories, corpus research, and pedagogical practices: the teaching and learning of the notoriously challenging ba construction and shi…de construction”
2022: Matthew D. Coss (Michigan State University, George Washington University)
“A Multi-Site Mixed-Methods Investigation into the Impact of Writing Modality on CFL Assessment Performance and Writing Processes”
2022-23: Kaidi Chen (Columbia University/University of Connecticut)
“Effects of acoustic and semantic contextual cues on Mandarin spoken word recognition by English-speaking American learners of Mandarin”
2023-24: Xiaolong Lu, University of Arizona
2024-25: Ai-Ling Lu (The Ohio State University): “Interactional Repertoires in Third Turns: Co-constructing Intersubjectivity in and Beyond the Chinese as a Foreign Language Classroom”
2025-26: Yali Feng (Georgia State University) “Rater Effects in Assessing Oral Production of L2 Chinese Pragmatic Performance: The Influence of Teaching Experience and Teaching Context”