Cheng & Tsui SIG Awards

Call for Proposal

With a generous donation from Cheng & Tsui, for a five-year period from 2017 to 2022, the Special Interest Group (SIG) Awards will support projects related to pedagogical research and material development from CLTA SIGs. The CLTA Professional Development Committee invites proposals for the CLTA: Cheng & Tsui SIG Awards. Each year, the CLTA Professional Development Committee intends to select two to four CLTA SIGs to share the $2,000 CLTA: Cheng & Tsui SIG Awards, which means each awarded proposal can receive $500 to $1000.

This award is given to proposed projects that can be effectively implemented to promote the teaching and learning of Chinese as an additional language in the U.S. Proposals that are innovative, evidenced-based, publicly accessible to all CLTA members, and creatively utilize multimodalities (e.g., podcasts, videos, websites, social media, etc.) to reach a high impact will be prioritized.

The award can be used to defray costs that incur in the implementation of the project, including (but not limited to) purchasing materials and/or equipment, speaker fees, technological support (e.g., subscription of a website service), etc. However, expenses that do not directly benefit CLTA members will not be accepted (e.g., publication subventions, registration for attending conferences other than CLTA). The project has to be completed within a year from the time of receipt, and expenses beyond that timeline will not be considered. A brief budget narrative with justification (no more than one page) needs to be included in the proposal.

Awards and Eligibility

To be eligible for this award, the applicant(s) must be:

In order for a submitted proposal to be considered for the award, the following criteria have to be met:

  • The applicant(s) must specify in the proposal which SIG it is representing and include an e-signature from the relevant SIG leader; in case of SIGs with multiple leaders, only one signature is needed.
  • Each applicant can submit only one proposal, regardless of the number of SIGs of which s/he may be a member. An applicant who (co)submits more than one proposal will be automatically disqualified.

Due to varying sizes of the SIGs, different numbers of slots have been allocated based on the membership. We ask leaders of SIGs to ensure that the final number of applications from each SIG does not exceed the allocated quota.

  • SIGs with more than 200 current CLTA members: Each SIG in this category can submit up to three proposals for this award.
  • SIGs with no more than 200 but no fewer than 100 current CLTA members: Each SIG in this category can submit up to two proposals for this award.
  • SIGs with fewer than 100 current CLTA members: Each SIG in this category can submit up to one proposal for this award.

Application

The awardee(s) are expected to conduct the following activities:

  • The awardee will be notified shortly before the annual conference. Upon the receipt of the award, present the proposal at the Cheng & Tsui SIG Award panel of presentations at the CLTA Annual Conference. In this presentation, the awardee(s) are expected to orally present the purpose and rationale of the project, the expected deliverables, and ways for CLTA members to access the outcomes;
  • Upon the completion of the project, prepare a 2-minute video recorded report to demonstrate the outcome(s) and impact of the project. This video report should highlight the deliverables and ways to access them for CLTA members. The video report will be included at the CLTA Annual Conference of the following year, and it may also be shown on the CLTA website.

To apply, please submit the following documents:

  • A proposal detailing the project (3-page maximum, including budget), double-space, 12pt font. The proposal should contain the following information:
    • The SIG it is representing, and an e-signature of the SIG leader;
    • Purpose of the proposed project;
    • Rationale;
    • Deliverables (e.g., a website of teaching resources, a workshop series, etc.);
    • Feasibility and timeline (e.g., what experience does the applicant already have, what network of distribution has the applicant secured to increase the impact of the project);
    • A brief budget narrative (no more than 1 page of the proposal).
  • A brief CV (two pages maximum). Please include relevant information that would strengthen your proposal (e.g., your training and experience that is relevant to your proposed project).
  • If the proposal contains academic references, please provide a list of the references. However, the reference is not required for proposals that do not include any.

Applicant(s) should send the aforementioned materials to the current chair of CLTA’s Professional Development Committee, Dr. Wenhao Diao, at wdiao@arizona.edu with the subject “SIG Award Application.” The deadline for application is January 31, 2021.

Evaluation

Applications will be anonymized and evaluated by members of the CLTA Professional Development Committee based on the following criteria:

  • Innovativeness
  • Impact (e.g., how would the proposed project influence the teaching and learning of Chinese?)
  • Feasibility and timeline
  • Accessibility of the deliverables
  • Budget justification

Members of the CLTA Professional Development Committee cannot apply for this award. If a member of the CLTA Professional Development Committee is also leading an SIG, then that person must recuse him/herself from the evaluation process.

Questions

A webinar was hosted by the CLTA Professional Development Committee over Zoom on December 10th .

Those who have missed the webinar can access the recording, which expires on January 31, 2021, when the proposal is due:

View the Recorded Webinar (Expires 1/31/2021)

 

Award Recipients

2018–2019

  • Special Interest Group: Chinese as a Second Language Research (建设健康持续发展的汉语项目 I & II) by Xizhen Qin (University of South Florida), Lijuan Ye (Messiah College), Guangyan Chen (Texas Christian University), Jia Zhu (University of Central Arkansa), and Yao Liu (University of South Florida). View the 2019_CLTA_SIG_Award_Report.
  • Special Interest Group: Create a Meaningful Frame of Image and Text: Teaching Chinese Language and Culture Through Documentaries (建立图像与文字的意义框架：以纪录片为媒介的对外汉语语言和文化教学)  by Jing Wang (Princeton University), Yang Wang (Brown University) and Man He (Williams College). View the 2019-CLTA-SIG-Award_Report.

2017–2018

  • Special Interest Group: Content-based Chinese Language Courses at Advanced Levels. “Advanced Chinese Language Courses Based on the Theme of Chinese Philosophy: Design and Practices” by Hsin-hsin Liang (University of Virginia), Yu Feng (Brandeis University), and Mien-hwa Chiang (University of Pennsylvania). View the Award Report (docx)
  • Special Interest Group: Educational Technology. “Integrating Educational Technology into K-12 Chinese Language Education” by Chen-hui Tsai (University of California, Berkeley), Shenglan Zhang (Iowa State University) and Congcong Wang (University of Northern Iowa). View the Award Report (pdf)