Human interaction in society depends upon language and communication and the Institute of Education Sciences is one of several federal agencies that supports research and development (R&D) activities to further our knowledge in this area.
However, so far, there has been no systematic accounting or description of the range of language and communication R & D that the Federal Government supports.To address this gap, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy's National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) convened the Federal Government's Interagency Working Group on Language and Communication. Led by co-chairs from the Department of Education and the Department of Defense, representatives from 13 different federal agencies developed a report of current and recent federal investments in language and communication R & D activities.
This investment is discussed across four broad areas:
- Knowledge and Processes Underlying Language and Communication;
- Language and Communication Abilities and Skills;
- Using Language and Communication; and
- Language and Communication Technologies.
In addition, the report describes the types of current R & D activities in these areas, and provides programmatic recommendations for key areas of investment and collaboration in language and communication research going forward.
On behalf of the working group, IES is gathering information from a wide community interested in language and communication R & D through a recently released request for information (RFI). The purpose of this RFI is to assist the working group in its efforts to further improve coordination and collaboration of R & D agendas related to language and communication across the Federal Government. If you are interested in submitting a response to the RFI, please do so by the deadline of December 30, 2016.
Written by Elizabeth Albro, Associate Commissioner of Teaching and Learning, National Center for Education Research
