Language Offerings

Summer 2025 Offerings:

• Arabic Reading for Research: July 7 – Aug 15, 2025, online
  • Weekly synchronous meetings: Tuesday & Thursday, 12:00pm-3:00pm Central

About the instructor:

Zainab Hermes (Arabic Reading for Research) is an Associate Instructional Professor in the Department of Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Chicago where she teaches courses on Arabic language and linguistics. She received her Ph.D. in Linguistics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and has over a decade of experience teaching at the university level. At the University of Chicago, she has gained extensive experience in developing Arabic language proficiency assessments including the Academic Reading and Comprehension Assessments (ARCAs). She teaches the Arabic Reading for Research seminar.

Summer 2025 Offerings:

• Chinese Foundational Reading: June 9 – June 27, 2025, online
  • Weekly synchronous meetings: Monday Wednesday Friday, 10:00am-1:00pm Central
• Chinese Reading for Research: July 7 – Aug 15, 2025, online
  • Weekly synchronous meetings: Monday & Friday, 10:00am-1:00pm Central

About the instructors:

Meng Li (Chinese Foundational Reading) is an Instructional Professor of Chinese at the University of Chicago. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Chicago and has more than 20 years of teaching experience, specializing in Chinese language at all levels, as well as Russian literature. She developed the first-of-its-kind foundational seminar that prepares students for the Reading for Research seminar in Chinese.

Yi-Lu Kuo (Chinese Reading for Research) is an Associate Instructional Professor of Chinese at the University of Chicago. She holds an M.A. in TESOL & Applied Linguistics, an M.A. in Chinese Language Pedagogy, and a Ph.D. in Language Education from Indiana University Bloomington. With over 15 years of experience teaching Chinese at all levels, she brings a wealth of expertise to APRI. Her research interests include second language acquisition, language assessment, curriculum design, and reading strategies. She co-developed the seminar designed to equip students with the skills and strategies to read Chinese for research purposes.

Yujia Ye is an Assistant Instructional Professor of Chinese at the University of Chicago. She received an M.A. from both the Chinese University of Hong Kong and the University of Massachusetts Amherst and has been teaching since 2016, specializing in Chinese language pedagogy. She co-developed the Chinese Reading for Research seminar that equips students with the ability to read for research purposes in Chinese.

Summer 2025 Offerings:

• French Foundational Reading: June 9 – June 27, 2025, online
  • Weekly synchronous meetings: Tuesday Thursday Friday, 11:30am-2:30pm Central
• French Reading for Research: July 7 – Aug 15, 2025, online
  • Weekly synchronous meetings: Tuesday & Thursday, 11:30am-2:30pm Central

About the instructors:

Nicolas Portugal (French Foundational Reading) is an Assistant Instructional Professor of French at the University of Chicago. He received a Ph.D. in French Literature and Civilization from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and has over 10 years of teaching experience, specializing in French pedagogy, curriculum development, and the integration of technology into second language instruction. He currently teaches a first-of-its-kind curriculum that equips students with the ability to read for research purposes in French and has successfully taught the Reading for Research – French seminar for three years.

Laure Bordas-Isner (French Reading for Research) is a Lecturer of French at the University of Chicago. She received her Ph.D. from the State University of New York (SUNY) at Buffalo and her Master’s degree in Teaching English as a Second Language from Penn State University. She has been teaching French for more than 12 years. She has extensive experience working in French and ESL language assessment and has been developing French Academic Reading Comprehension Assessments (ARCAs) at UChicago for over 4 years. Laure has been teaching the French Reading for Research seminar since 2021.

Summer 2025 Offerings:

• German Foundational Reading: June 9 – June 27, 2025, online
  • Weekly synchronous meetings: Monday Wednesday Friday, 10:00am-1:30pm Central
• German Reading for Research: July 7 – Aug 15, 2025, online
  • Weekly synchronous meetings: Monday & Wednesday, 10:00am-1:30pm Central

About the instructors:

Colin Benert (German Foundational Reading) is an Assistant Instructional Professor of German at the University of Chicago. He received his Ph.D. in German Literature and Critical Thought in 2002 from Northwestern University and has over twenty years’ experience teaching German language, literature, and culture. In 2021 he was among  the first to redesign the Reading for Research curriculum into a two-seminar online sequence, and has  further refined them over the past three years.  Colin has taught German Reading for Research  since 2012 and is also a developer and rater of the Academic Reading Comprehension Assessments (ARCAs) in German in a wide variety of fields.

Frederic Kopp (German Reading for Research) has been teaching German language courses at the University of Chicago since 2013. Originally from Germany, he completed his undergraduate studies at the Freie Universität in Berlin, and earned his M.A. and Ph.D. in History at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). He specializes in German cultural history and has also taught history at various other universities for over 25 years. He has taught Reading for Research – German for over 10 years and has developed German Academic Reading Comprehension Assessments (ARCAs). He collaborated on the creation of the online version of the Reading for Research and Foundational Reading seminars. With his extensive experience and expertise in designing and delivering this one-of-a-kind advanced second language reading curriculum in German, he is a uniquely qualified and seasoned instructor.

Summer 2025 Offerings:

• Hebrew Reading for Research: July 7 – Aug 15, 2025, online
  • Weekly synchronous meetings: Tuesday & Friday, 10:00am-1:00pm Central

About the instructor:

Ari Almog (Hebrew Reading for Research) is a Senior Instructional Professor in the Department of Middle East Studies at the University of Chicago. With an M.A. in Center for Middle Eastern Studies (CMES) from the University of Chicago, she specializes in various aspects of Hebrew language and Jewish studies. Her areas of expertise encompass Modern and Biblical Hebrew, Modern Jewish Thought, Modern Israeli Literature, and the Modern History of the Middle East, with a particular focus on the Modern History of Israel. With over 36 years of teaching experience at the University of Chicago, Ari has developed the first-of-its-kind course that focuses on equipping students with the skills necessary to read Hebrew for research purposes. She teaches the Reading for Research – Hebrew seminar.

Summer 2025 Offerings:

• Italian Foundational Reading: June 9 – June 27, 2025, online
  • Weekly synchronous meetings: Monday Wednesday Friday, 10:00am-1:00pm Central
• Italian Reading for Research: July 7 – Aug 15, 2025, online
  • Weekly synchronous meetings: Monday & Wednesday, 10:00am-1:00pm Central

About the instructor:

Juliano Saccomani (Italian Foundational Reading and Italian Reading for Research) is an Assistant Instructional Professor of Portuguese and Spanish at the University of Chicago. With a Ph.D. from The University of Georgia and over 20 years of teaching experience, he specializes in contextualized culture and language teaching & learning. He has experience and expertise developing Portuguese and Italian Academic Reading Comprehension Assessments (ARCAs). Additionally, he created and taught the pioneering seminar designed to enable students to read Italian for research purposes.

Summer 2025 Offerings:

• Japanese Reading for Research: July 7 – Aug 15, 2025, online
  • Weekly synchronous meetings: Tuesday & Thursday, 4:00pm-7:30pm Central

About the instructor:

Yoko Katagiri (Japanese Reading for Research) is an Instructional Professor of Japanese at the University of Chicago, where she has taught since 2006. She holds an M.A. in Japanese Pedagogy from San Francisco State University. With over thirty years of teaching experience in both Japan and the U.S., her research interests focus on Japanese language pedagogy, second language acquisition, and the design of curricula and language activities. She has also contributed to the development of multiple Academic Reading Comprehension Assessments (ARCAs) and has created the Japanese Reading for Research seminar specifically tailored for scholars in various fields.

Summer 2025 Offerings:

• Korean Reading for Research: July 7 – Aug 15, 2025, online
  • Weekly synchronous meetings: Tuesday & Thursday, 10:00am-1:30pm Central

About the instructor:

Jieun Kim (Korean Reading for Research) is a Senior Instructional Professor of Korean at the University of Chicago. She received her Ph.D. in Korean Linguistics at the University of California at Los Angeles and has over 20 years of teaching experience. Her research interests are functional linguistics, interaction and grammar, and second language acquisition. She developed an online intensive course for Korean heritage learners as well as the Reading for Research seminar. She has also developed Korean Academic Reading Comprehension Assessments (ARCAs).

Summer 2025 Offerings:

• Persian Foundational Reading: June 9 – June 27, 2025, online
  • Weekly synchronous meetings: Monday Wednesday Friday, 10:00am-1:30pm Central
• Persian Reading for Research: July 7 – Aug 15, 2025, online
  • Weekly synchronous meetings: Wednesday & Friday, 10:00am-1:30pm

About the instructor:

Pouneh Shabani-Jadidi (Persian Foundational Reading and Persian Reading for Research) is an Instructional Professor of Persian at the University of Chicago. She received her Ph.D. in Linguistics from the University of Ottawa and has taught courses on Persian language and literature as well as media Persian and Persian literary translation at the University of Chicago, McGill University, and the University of Oxford since 2006. She developed the first-of-its-kind seminar that equips students with the ability to read for research purposes in Persian. She teaches both the Foundational Reading and the Reading for Research seminars, and has developed Persian Academic Reading Comprehension Assessments (ARCAs).

Summer 2025 Offerings:

• Russian Reading for Research: July 7 – Aug 15, 2025, online
  • Weekly synchronous meetings: Tuesday & Thursday, 1:00pm-4:00pm Central

About the instructors:

Erik Houle (Russian Reading for Research) is an Associate Senior Professor of Instruction of Russian, Polish, and Ukrainian, and Coordinator of the Russian Language Program at the University of Chicago. He earned his Ph.D. in Slavic Linguistics from the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures at the University of Chicago in 2013. His academic interests include historical and comparative Slavic morphology and syntax, language contact, language and culture, foreign language pedagogy, and second language acquisition. He has over twenty years of experience teaching various levels of Russian, Polish, and Ukrainian and has received multiple grants to develop assessments and curriculum targeting reading skills for the university’s Russian Language Program. Additionally, he is one of the two creators of the Reading for Research – Russian seminar at the University of Chicago.

Mark Baugher (Russian Reading for Research) is an Associate Instructional Professor for Russian at the University of Chicago. He received his Ph.D. in Russian and Second Language Acquisition from Bryn Mawr College in 2012 where his research focused on implicit and explicit learning and the acquisition of Russian verbal morphology. He has taught Russian at Bryn Mawr College, Temple University and the University of Chicago, where he started in 2016. His most recent research has been focused on the use of guided self-assessment in foreign language instruction at the college level. Mark designed the Russian Reading for Research seminar.

Summer 2025 Offerings:

• Spanish Foundational Reading: June 9 – June 27, 2025, online
  • Weekly synchronous meetings: Monday Wednesday Friday, 10:30am-2:00pm Central
• Spanish Reading for Research: July 7 – Aug 15, 2025, online
  • Weekly synchronous meetings: Monday & Wednesday, 10:30am-2:00pm Central

About the instructors:

James León Weber (Spanish Foundational Reading) is an Assistant Instructional Professor of Spanish at the University of Chicago. He holds an M.A. in European Studies from Aarhus University in Denmark, and a Master’s in Translation Studies from Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona. He has taught Spanish on a variety of levels at UChicago since 2016. In 2023 James designed and successfully launched the Spanish Foundational Reading seminar.

Celia Bravo Diaz (Spanish Reading for Research) is an Assistant Instructional Professor of Spanish at the University of Chicago. She received her Ph.D. in Hispanic Linguistics with a focus on second language acquisition from the University of Minnesota. She has 10 years of teaching experience in Spanish language and culture, and has also taught courses in sociolinguistics. Her academic interests include second language phonology, the integration of technology in second language learning, and curriculum design for advanced language courses. Celia developed and now teaches the Spanish Reading for Research seminar.

Summer 2025 Offerings:

• Turkish Foundational Reading: June 9 – June 27, 2025, online
  • Weekly synchronous meetings: Monday Tuesday Thursday, 10:00am-1:30pm Central
• Turkish Reading for Research: July 7 – Aug 15, 2025, online
  • Weekly synchronous meetings: Tuesday & Thursday, 10:00am-1:30pm Central

About the instructors:

Kağan Arık (Turkish Foundational Reading) is the Ayaslı Instructional Professor of Turkish and Turkic Languages and Central Asian Studies, and has coordinated the Modern Turkish language program at the University of Chicago since 2008. He has also been active at the University of Chicago as Lecturer in Uzbek and founder of the Central Asian Studies Program since 2000.He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Washington and has over 30 years of teaching experience, specializing in the languages, history and cultural anthropology of the Turkic peoples, and in language pedagogy for Modern Turkish and Turkic Languages and Literature. He has taught Modern Turkish, Modern Uzbek, and Modern Kazakh at first, second, and third-year levels at the University of Chicago and is a member of the board of the American Association of Teachers of Turkish and Turkic Languages. Kağan teaches the Turkish Foundational Reading seminar.

Ömer Eren (Turkish Reading for Research) is a Humanities Teaching Fellow in the Linguistics Department at the University of Chicago. He earned his Ph.D. in Linguistics from the University of Chicago in 2023, and an M.A. in Linguistics and a B.A. in Foreign Language Education, both from Boğaziçi University. His research bridges theoretical and applied linguistics through language policy and planning. His academic interests include heritage language education, endangered language revitalization, and language contact phenomena. He has also developed curricula and coursebooks for endangered languages, currently in use by the National Ministry of Education in Türkiye. Originally from Turkey, he has extensive experience teaching Turkish to foreign learners, including  all levels and skills of Turkish, with a focus on research-oriented instruction.