The students and faculty in the Second Language Studies Program can, and are encouraged to, work in robust laboratory environments that are directed by faculty and sponsored through external grants, the Second Language Studies Program, the Department of Linguistics and Languages, and the College of Arts and Letters. The labs are dedicated to specific research lines that are specialties of the faculty who direct the labs, but other research, and in particular cross-lab work, is strongly supported and encouraged as well.

Additionally, in Wells Hall, where the SLS Program is located, applied linguists and second language acquisition researchers can reserve Mac or PC labs, plus take advantage of the resources for data collection through CeLTA. Students can reserve classrooms and laboratories across campus for research purposes. Click below for more information on the labs.

Faculty Labs

The Eye-Tracking Labs

A collaborative space for student and faculty research on the cognitive underpinnings of language acquisition, instruction, and assessment. Equipped with state-of-the-art eye-tracking equipment in the 2nd floor of Wells Hall (the Eye-Link Lab) and the 4th floor of Wells (the Tobii Lab)

Language Policy and Practice Lab

The Language Policy and Practice Lab is a new lab within Michigan State University’s Department of Linguistics, Languages, and Cultures. The mission of the lab is to create a space for students and faculty who share an interest in language policy, and policy practices, to share research and resources.

Multilingual Lab

The Multilingual Lab conducts and supports scholarly work that explores both the benefits of multilingualism, as well as the social challenges that are faced by many multilingual and marginalized communities. The Lab explores multilingual topics from interdisciplinary perspectives

The Second Language Studies Corpus Lab

A space for collaborative work related to corpus linguistics. It shares work related to a wide variety of research areas including but not limited to second language acquisition and use, second language writing, language varieties, and text analysis.

Second Language Assessment and Curriculum (SLAC) Lab

An environment in which students and faculty can research assessment and curricular designs, and factors that influence testing and teaching. The lab is housed in a data-collection computer room on the 4th floor of Wells Hall.