Mission

The BLC is a leader in teaching, learning and researching world languages.

Teaching: we support instructional excellence in language education; cultivate a community of practice among language instructors; support the development of effective and inclusive learning materials; and provide essential resources and infrastructure for language instructors and their students. 

Learning: we support student success in language and culture learning; foster the exploration of multilingual and multicultural identities; advocate for the importance of linguistic diversity and the development of intercultural awareness; and cultivate lifelong engagement with languages and cultures.

Researching: we curate research in applied language studies; promote research-based innovation in language curriculum and pedagogy; provide access to new research developments; and produce new research focused on technology and language learning.

The BLC’s mission is constructed around six pillars:

  1. Language Advocacy: Recognize, support and advocate for multilingualism and multiculturalism on the UC Berkeley campus, in the UC system, and beyond;

  2. Developments in the Field: Provide opportunities to engage with new developments in language pedagogy, second language acquisition theory, applied linguistics, and sociolinguistics;

  3. Research & its Dissemination: Support applied language studies and world languages education research and its dissemination at professional meetings and in professional journals and to the wider public;

  4. Materials/Curricular Design: Support the production of new language/culture learning materials and the design of innovative curricula;

  5. Facilities & Equipment: Provide state-of-the-art learning facilities and equipment;

  6. Resource Archive: Provide preservation of / access to language and culture learning materials and resources.

To support the realization of these goals, we collaborate with and maintain close connections to language departments, as well as numerous centers and programs across campus, including but not limited to: the Arts & Humanities Dean’s office, the Townsend Center for the Humanities, the Department of Linguistics, the Romance Languages & Literatures Program, the Berkeley School of Education, the Center for Teaching and Learning, the GSI Teaching and Resource Center, the Center for African Studies, the Institute of European Studies, the Center for Southeast Asian Studies, and the Berkeley Translation Initiative.

For each pillar of our mission, the table below highlights some of our key programming.

Berkeley Language Center Mission

Programming Examples

1. Language/Culture Study Advocacy: Provide opportunities for undergraduates to explore and celebrate their multilingual and multicultural identities and experiences and support for instructors to maintain language program vitality.

Exploring the Boundaries of Translation Contest: Undergraduates submit their untranslatable word entries in order to critically reflect on meaning making across languages.


Words in Action: An annual multilingual / multicultural student performance featuring songs, plays, dances, and poetry, directed and produced by Annamaria Bellezza.

2. Developments in the Field: Provide opportunities to all members of the community to engage with new developments in language pedagogy, second language acquisition theory, applied linguistics, and sociolinguistics.

BLC Event Series: Lectures and workshops delivered by invited scholars to the entire BLC community, including graduate students, undergraduate students, and language instructors.

3. Research and its Dissemination: Support applied language studies and language education research for undergraduates, graduates, and language instructors and their dissemination at professional meetings and in professional journals and to the wider public.

Undergraduate Research Apprenticeship Program (URAP): Undergraduates participate in the design and implementation of a research project while learning about applied language studies and its relevant methodologies.


L2 Journal: An open access, fully refereed, interdisciplinary journal that promotes the research and the practice of world language learning and teaching. It publishes articles on all aspects of applied linguistics broadly conceived, i.e., second language acquisition, second language pedagogy, bilingualism and multilingualism, language and technology, curriculum development and teacher training, testing and evaluation

4. Materials/Curricular Design: Support graduate students and language instructors in the production of new language/culture learning materials and the design of innovative curricula.

Lecturer and Graduate Fellowship Program: Language instructors and graduate students complete individually-designed instructional research projects and present these materials to the larger community at the end of the semester.


Fuel Your Language Teaching (FYLT): Informal gatherings of language instructors to explore a particular aspect of their teaching practice and/or to apply ideas from the event series.

5. Facilities and Equipment: Provides state-of-the-art learning facilities and equipment for language instructors, including graduate student instructors

Classroom Technology: Support for distance learning courses, performance-based courses that use a drama as part of their pedagogy, and film courses, for example. Facilities include Zoom rooms.


Recording Studio: Offers professional quality audio and video production, analog media digitization, and technical media support to all language instructors and departments.

6. Resource Archive: Provides preservation of/access to language and culture learning materials and resources.

OER Instructional Materials: The BLC website houses different types of open-access materials (e.g., using film in the language/culture classroom).


Lumière: This online library contains 20,742 clips drawn from 7,944 films in 191 languages. 


BOLT: The Berkeley Online Language Testing platform offers partial placement exams for Chinese, Japanese, and Korean and proficiency exams or Japanese.